Online Safety & Mental Health

What Parents and Educators Need to Know about Streaming Services

Streaming services have become the go-to entertainment choice for many families, with children often favouring on-demand platforms over traditional television. This edition explores the realities behind these services, from rising subscription costs and advert-supported tiers to the impact of autoplay and endless content libraries on young viewers’ screen time and wellbeing.

It also highlights key safeguarding concerns, including age-inappropriate material, binge watching, algorithm-driven recommendations and phishing scams. With clear, practical advice for setting profiles, PINs and time limits – alongside tips for discussing algorithms and stereotypes – this guide supports parents and educators in promoting safer, healthier streaming habits.

Guide to - Streaming Services

What Parents and Educators Need to Know about Image-Altering Filters

Image-altering filters are now embedded in everyday online interactions, from playful effects to more subtle appearance-enhancing tools. This guide examines how these features can influence perceptions of beauty and reality, particularly for children and young people navigating social media. It highlights how filtered content can quietly shape expectations and online behaviours.

Focusing on risks such as low self-esteem, social pressure and hidden advertising, the guide also addresses more serious concerns like sexualised edits and blurred boundaries between real and altered images. It provides supportive, practical advice to help parents and educators build media literacy, encourage confidence and promote healthier relationships with online content.

Guide to - Image Altering Filters