Senior Blog: Thursday 22nd October 2020.

A funny thing happened on the way to the…This is the title of our new game. Seeing as it is now half term and you can relax a little, we thought it would be a good idea to delve into the world of imaginative games. So here we go! Hope you have your brains in gear?

We also have our usual items, ‘Feel The Burn’, ‘Media Charts’, but no ‘Educational Activities’ this week, instead a look at a great charity event that you can easily get involved in and a brief stop to look at the world of social media….. and ethical social media – do you know what the difference is?

Of course we cannot forget that it is Halloween and Bonfire night coming up very soon, so we wanted to ask you if you would send us some photographs of your special family events for us to use in our end of year picture gallery.

Enjoy this issue and we shall see you next time, make the most of half term!

Sam

A funny thing happened on the way to the…

This is a game we play often as a family and it always has us rolling around in stitches. We thought because you were on half term you would have more time for games and what could be better than a game that uses your imagination and creative writing skills?

So what do you need to do?

Get a piece of paper and a pen for each person that is playing. At the same time each of you starts to write. Your piece should start with the words, A funny thing happened on the way to the…You then use your imagination to be as creative as possible and write the first paragraph. When you have all finished, you all fold your pages over so that the only thing visible is the very last line of your paragraph, you then hand your sheet to the person to your left and begin to write a paragraph that you think fits in with the line of words that you can read on your new sheet of paper. And again, when you come to the end of your paragraph you fold over the page so that only the last line of your paragraph can be seen and so on until all of the players have had a go on each piece of paper. When you have finished and you are holding the piece of paper that you started off with, you can unfold the sheet and take it in turns to read out your story. We always make a special effort to be as funny as possible, but you can theme your stories if you wish!

It always makes us laugh when we read some of the amazing or ridiculous things that can be created by our brains.

Have fun!

Social Media

We all know that social media has been in the news for having addictive tendencies. Using Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat and the list goes on… all use up your time, energy and brain capacity. Have you looked at how much screen time you have had today? Take a guess before you look and then see whether you are close. When you think about Social Media what does it make you think of? Can you live without it? Have you ever imagined living without social channels? How would you communicate with your friends and family if you did not use social media? What are the good aspects of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat? And what about the reverse of that?

Being honest with yourself, can you answer the following questions?

How many of you have felt disappointed or elated at the number of ‘likes’ you received when posting a picture of yourself?

How many of you felt upset about something you had read on one of your social media channels?

How many of you have used social media to find out information about friends or people you don’t know?

Once you have had a think about these questions take a read through the next artical…. Ethical Social Media and see how you feel about Social Media afterwards. Have a chat with your parents or as a family to open up the discussion.

Ethical Social Media

What does ethical even mean? At its simplest, ethics is a system of moral principles. Ethics is concerned with what is good for individuals and society and is also described as moral philosophy. The term is derived from the Greek word ethos which can mean custom, habit, character or disposition.

How many of you have watched a You Tube video and then been prompted to watch another just like it? When you use social media the programme has an algorithm built in to then push forward posts, videos, information that is linked. You may think this is handy as you were going to search for the next video of a cat falling off a chair anyway…When you use Facebook, Google or Snapchat the programme’s algorithm pushes for you to like/dislike/comment/forward on/stay on the page longer. Well perhaps you were going to do that anyway? The reason that these algorithms have been built into these platforms is to encourage you to spend more time on that channel. Advertising will be geared up to your likes and taste, data is being collected and stored about you, your google search history will predetermine the type of results that appear depending on your location, likes, previous searches etc…

This article is not telling you what to think or what to do, it is just a catalyst for thought and for research.

Take a look at the latest TV documentary which talks to over 20 professionals previously from the ranks of Google, FaceBook, Twitter, Snapchat etc all experienced programme builders and designers talking about how these media channels evolved, what their true intentions were at the very beginning of their birth back in 2009/2010/2011 and how they have grow beyond anyones imagination. These ex members of staff do not now work for their previous employers and all of them say the same things, they left their amazing jobs due to a worry about the ethics used when creating these algorithms and programmes, none of them let their children use social media and all of them have some good guidelines on how to use social media effectively avoiding the traps that the algorithms set for its users.

Look at a number of different view points on the subject and come to your own conclusions. It might help to look at the following:

Article Independent

Article The Guardian

Article NME

The Netflix Documentary

We find this topic so interesting and really want to know what you think. Write to us at info@katiejayne.co.uk help to inform and direct future discussions, we would love to hear from you.

Wrap Up London

Every year Wrap Up London collects your old, unwanted coats. You pop your old coats into a box, pop on the free postage label and take the box to your nearest pick up point. Your coat travels to the Wrap Up London HQ and gets sorted. Its journey then begins, your coat will end up helping someone stay warm this winter. Coats are given to those who have no fixed home, families who are living on the minimum wage, refugees and the elderly.

A little piece from Wrap Up London:

Once we’ve collected coats from the public, the volunteers get to work at our sorting sessions. We spend many hours sorting coats into different piles for men, women, children and babies. We check pockets and make sure the coat is in good enough condition to be given away.

In December, the sorted coats will be distributed to charities across London. We work with charities and community organisations that provide frontline services to the homeless, the elderly, refugees, children and families living in poverty and people fleeing domestic violence. These coats are intended for people, not charity shops. If you can help us transport the coats from Safestore to one of our charity partners, get in touch today.

Wrap Up London don’t distribute the coats to those in need directly, because we want to help charities create lasting exchanges with those they set out to help. So when a vulnerable Londoner reaches out to a charity for a coat this winter, they will also discover the other resources and forms of support available to them.

It’s amazing that a coat YOU donated could kick-start a relationship between those in need and the charities that can help them by providing year-round services and support.

Wrap Up London is now in its ninth year, and our impact continues to grow thanks to the Londoners who take the time to find and donate their old coats, and the incredible volunteers that give their time. Our campaign is run by a small team of hardworking volunteers organised by the registered charity, Hands On London. Click here to read more about the work that Hands On London does.

Media Chart

Film

Has to be ‘The Social Dilemma’ on Netflix – Documentary

Music

Mood

24kGoldn Ft Iann Dior

App

Bazaart – Free app that allows users to creat effects and remove backgrounds from photographs.

Feel The Burn

Try this free fat burning workout with the guys from Body Project.

Katie Jayne’s Interesting Facts

Did you know that the following guidelines are in place for the amount of screen time you should have?

Under two years old – no screen time at all

Children aged 2 -12 one hour a day

Children from 12 years up – two hours a day maximum

Thought For The Week

Set yourself a goal of how much screen time you think you should set yourself daily, and then try and stick to it over the half term break. How about chatting with your family to discuss social media rules for your household, decide together what this should look like. Social media rules work both ways with parents and children. Have a dinner time of no phones at all and if you are talking to someone definitely put the phone down and concentrate on your conversation. Parents can also get tied up in the web of responding to work emails or messages in the evening when it is family time. See how your family interaction changes when you limit your social media usage.