Munch, Poke, Ping

Vulnerable Young People, Social Media and E-Safety



I thought it was worth putting a post together based on a Guardian article entitled “Mobile phones have they made some young people more vulnerable than ever”.

The article examines the issues surrounding young vulnerable people using smart phone technologies to access and use online social media platforms.





The heart of this article is a report entitled Munch, Poke, Ping! Which focuses on vulnerable young people, social media and e-safety and was commissioned by the UK government’s Training and Development Agency (TDA) and authored by Stephen Carrick-Davies.

Many professionals working with vulnerable young people who were interviewed for the report said that for these young people, the mobile phone has become the single most important activity that gives identity, connection and a sense of community. Indeed, with the array of apps and features on smart phones, such as private message services (BlackBerry Messenger, for example), the opportunity to poke (a virtual nudge to draw attention), ping (broadcast to many) or use "munch" apps (which grab and save what's on the screen), is it any wonder that the mobile has become a young person's portable, private and personal life-support system?

In the report, it is argue that the technology no longer simply mirrors or amplifies offline interactions and communications. The new social web has changed the platform to that of an incubator; it is a place where communication is captured, aggregated, added to, morphed, changed and re-hatched as a new broadcast or ping. Those with the skill and confidence to narrate their lives online, manage their reputation, mitigate the risks and build up resilience, may well be able to survive and thrive. Those who have few supportive adults, low levels of literacy and are unsupervised and vulnerable to abuse, are far less confident and hence more at risk.

The report goes on to say that " Better training and support for staff working with vulnerable young people would help protect them from risky situations online. It is time to embed e-safety within the wider teaching of emotional, social and digital literacies. A new three Rs of literacy would help us to understand the risks, better manage online reputations and together build resilience to cope with the contradictions and opportunities of the online world".





Futher resources associated with the Munch, Poke, Ping project include:








Full findings, recomendations and resources.


Full report



It is well worth taking the time to read the Guardian article, read Munch, Poke, Ping and to check out Stephens blog.





Jason