Video games ‘good for well-being’ says University of Oxford study

  • People who play video games for long periods of time tend to report feeling happier than those who do not, a study has indicated
  • The Oxford Internet Institute research focused on two games: Nintendo’s Animal Crossing and EA’s Plants vs Zombies
  • In an unusual step, the developers of the games shared anonymised data about how long each participant had played
  • These logs were then linked to a survey in which the players answered questions about their well-being
  • A total of 3,274 gamers took part. All were over 18.
  • In previous research, data gathered about the duration of subjects’ gaming sessions were based on self-reported “guesstimates”, which can be inaccurate

Online-bullying increased for children during lockdown 

  • One in three children say they have been bullied during the pandemic and a growing number have reported incidents of cyberbullying, a survey has found
  • It suggests nearly two in five children were worried about bullying when they returned to class at the start of the term after months of school closures
  • The Anti-Bullying Alliance, which commissioned the survey, said Covid-19 may have changed the way bullying is happening this year, with rising numbers reporting incidents online and in the community
  • The poll, which questioned more than 2,000 secondary school pupils in England during in October, found that 33% had been bullied in the last six months
  • It comes as Childline revealed that its counsellors held 1,593 sessions with young people about online bullying between April and October, which is on average around seven a day, and a rise of 70% compared with before the national lockdown

Bangladeshi Teen wins award for anti-bullying app

  • A teenager in Bangladesh has won the International Children’s Peace Prize for his efforts to educate young people about cyberbullying
  • Sadat Rahman, 17, was inspired to create a mobile app to help young people report online abuse after hearing about a 15-year-old girl who took her own life because of bullying
  • About 1,800 teenagers in his local district have now used the app.
  • Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai described him as “an inspiration”
  • “He’s calling on young people all over the world to stop cyberbullying and to help peers in their community who suffer from mental and emotional violence. Sadat is a true changemaker,” she said in an online speech
  • The International Children’s Peace Prize is an annual award that recognises the work of young people who promote children’s rights. Previous winners include Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg

Children are more likely to be infected by second wave of Covid-19