The Waiting Room: "A recycle a day keeps the doctor away" - animation video

Apricot

Tastes and smells have the power to awaken images and memories.

New Boy

Child Labour

Another campaign made for the international day against child labour. This video called Hammerchild is from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

“With rising poverty and inequality, and funding for schools under pressure in developing and transition countries in particular, the economic crisis is likely to add even more children to the 200 million who are already at work instead of getting a proper education. This is a tragic scenario just ten years since the ILO adopted Convention 182 on eliminating the worst forms of child labour,” said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder.

Tens of millions of adults are losing their jobs due to the crisis, putting family incomes under huge pressure and making it even more difficult for poorer families to cover the costs of education.

“The consequences of child labour, often devastating for the children concerned, are also felt in terms of economic and social development in the longer term. Countries which do not ensure universal education will not have the broad base of skills and knowledge required for solid economic foundations for the future,” Ryder added.

Every kid needs a champion | Rita Pierson - video and transcript

I have spent my entire life either at the schoolhouse, on the way to the schoolhouse, or talking about what happens in the schoolhouse. Both my parents were educators, my maternal grandparents were educators, and for the past 40 years, I’ve done the same thing.

And so, needless to say, over those years I’ve had a chance to look at education reform from a lot of perspectives. Some of those reforms have been good. Some of them have been not so good. And we know why kids drop out. We know why kids don’t learn. It’s either poverty, low attendance, negative peer influences. We know why.

But one of the things that we never discuss or we rarely discuss is the value and importance of human connection. Relationships. James Comer says that no significant learning can occur without a significant relationship. George Washington Carver says all learning is understanding relationships. Everyone in this room has been affected by a teacher or an adult. For years, I have watched people teach.

I have looked at the best and I’ve looked at some of the worst. A colleague said to me one time, “They don’t pay me to like the kids. They pay me to teach a lesson. The kids should learn it. I should teach it, they should learn it. Case closed.”

Well, I said to her, “You know, kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.”

She said, “That’s just a bunch of hooey.”

And I said to her, “Well, your year is going to be long and arduous, dear.”

Needless to say, it was. Some people think that you can either have it in you to build a relationship, or you don’t. I think Stephen Covey had the right idea. He said you ought to just throw in a few simple things, like seeking first to understand, as opposed to being understood. Simple things, like apologizing. You ever thought about that? Tell a kid you’re sorry, they’re in shock.

I taught a lesson once on ratios. I’m not real good with math, but I was working on it. And I got back and looked at that teacher edition I’d taught the whole lesson wrong. So I came back to class the next day and I said, “Look, guys, I need to apologize. I taught the whole lesson wrong. I’m so sorry.” They said, “That’s okay, Ms Pierson. You were so excited, we just let you go.”

I have had classes that were so low, so academically deficient, that I cried. I wondered, “How am I going to take this group, in nine months, from where they are to where they need to be? And it was difficult, it was awfully hard. How do I raise the self-esteem of a child and his academic achievement at the same time? One year I came up with a bright idea I told all my students, “You were chosen to be in my class because I am the best teacher and you are the best students, they put us all together so we could show everybody else how to do it”

One of the students said, “Really?”

I said, “Really. We have to show the other classes how to do it, so when we walk down the hall, people will notice us, so you can’t make noise. You just have to strut.” And I gave them a saying to say: “I am somebody. I was somebody when I came. I’ll be a better somebody when I leave. I am powerful, and I am strong. I deserve the education that I get here. I have things to do, people to impress, and places to go.”

And they said, “Yeah!” You say it long enough, it starts to be a part of you.

I gave a quiz, 20 questions A student missed 18. I put a “+2” on his paper and a big smiley face. He said, “Ms Pierson, is this an F?”

I said, “Yes.”

He said, “Then why’d you put a smiley face?”

I said, “Because you’re on a roll. You got two right. You didn’t miss them all.” I said, “And when we review this, won’t you do better?”

He said, “Yes, ma’am, I can do better.”

You see, “-18” sucks all the life out of you “+2” said, “I ain’t all bad.” For years, I watched my mother take the time at recess to review, go on home visits in the afternoon, buy combs and brushes and peanut butter and crackers to put in her desk drawer for kids that needed to eat, and a washcloth and some soap for the kids who didn’t smell so good.

See, it’s hard to teach kids who stink. And kids can be cruel. And so she kept those things in her desk, and years later, after she retired, I watched some of those same kids come through and say to her, “You know, Ms Walker, you made a difference in my life. You made it work for me. You made me feel like I was somebody, when I knew, at the bottom, I wasn’t. And I want you to just see what I’ve become.”

And when my mama died two years ago at 92, there were so many former students at her funeral, it brought tears to my eyes, not because she was gone, but because she left a legacy of relationships that could never disappear. Can we stand to have more relationships? Absolutely. Will you like all your children? Of course not.

And you know your toughest kids are never absent. Never. You won’t like them all, and the tough ones show up for a reason. It’s the connection. It’s the relationships.

So teachers become great actors and great actresses, and we come to work when we don’t feel like it, and we’re listening to policy that doesn’t make sense, and we teach anyway. We teach anyway, because that’s what we do. Teaching and learning should bring joy. How powerful would our world be if we had kids who were not afraid to take risks, who were not afraid to think, and who had a champion? Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be Is this job tough? You betcha.

Oh God, you betcha. But it is not impossible. We can do this. We’re educators. We’re born to make a difference.

Thank you so much.

Scroll Free September

Scroll Free September offers a unique opportunity to take a break from all personal social media accounts for 30 days during September

A good relationship is one of balance, and Scroll Free September is here to help you gain that with social media both on and offline

Why go #ScrollFree this September? With its almost universal reach and unprecedented ability to connect people from all walks of life, social media holds great potential to support good mental health and wellbeing. It has revolutionised the way we communicate and share information. But have you ever thought about your relationship with social media? Maybe it’s starting to have a negative impact on your life? Even making you a little anti-social? Emerging evidence is raising concerns about the potential impact of social media on our mental health and wellbeing. In 2017, our #StatusOfMind report highlighted a range of potential negative effects of social media, including anxiety and depression, negative body image, cyberbullying, poor sleep and FOMO (fear of missing out). By going Scroll Free for a month, you’ll have a chance to reflect on your social media use – what you missed, what you didn’t, and what you got to do and enjoy instead. By taking notice of and learning which elements of social media make you feel good and which make you feel bad, participating in Scroll Free September could help you build a healthier, more balanced relationship with social media in the future – a relationship where your use is conscious and mindful, and where you are the one in control.

How do I get involved?

We are asking all social media users (not just young people!) to take a break from all personal social media accounts throughout September (work use and instant messaging apps are fine!).

We know that going cold turkey on social media will be a challenge, so before you start tweeting your excuses, don't worry – we are providing you with a few different options to make your participation that bit easier...

Which plan will you go for?

Social media devotees are being encouraged to "take back control" and stop scrolling through their feeds for an entire month.

The Royal Public Health Society is behind Scroll Free September, which is targeting users of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.

It believes logging off could improve sleep, relationships and wellbeing.

NHS England said it was right to highlight social media's role in a rise in young people's mental health issues.

The campaign is asking phone addicts to give up, or cut down on, their use of personal social media accounts.

• Why we ditched our mobile phones
• Social media is 'deliberately' addictive
• Instagram 'worst for young mental health'
• Simon Cowell gives up phone for 10 months

Half of users aged 18-34 think going "cold turkey" for a month would have a positive effect on their sleep and real-world relationships, research by RSPH found.

And almost half (47%) thought it would be beneficial to their overall mental health.

'It's constant'

Marianne Blandamer, Emma Jackson and Rianna Parry are all big fans of Snapchat and Instagram.

"It's constant. I go straight to it when I get up. You feel like you have to keep up with what everyone is talking about," Rianna, 15, said.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm a slave to my phone. I'm scrolling for nothing."

This September, the Wigan teenager is going to try and stop using social media in the evenings.

Image copyrightRSPH

Image caption(L-R) Emma Jackson, Rianna Parry and Marianne Blandamer are going to try and reduce their use of social media this September

Her friend Emma, also from Wigan, said she always had her phone on her. "I think I do use it too much, but it's a habit. It's definitely distracting," the 14-year-old told BBC News.

Emma said she could not see herself giving it up completely, but would try to avoid looking at social media when she got home from school every evening.

Marianne managed to give up social media during her GCSEs.

"It was weird at the start, but because I was so busy it was fine," the 16-year-old from Trafford said. "You scroll when you're bored."

This September, Marianne will start sixth form where she will be allowed to have a phone with her, but she has decided not to use it.

"I know if I go and start using it, it'll become normal. I need to keep it separate."

'No longer in control'

Comedian Russell Kane, 42, has revealed he is having counselling for internet addiction.

Speaking on his Joe.co.uk podcast, Boys Don't Cry with Russell Kane, he said: "I'll throw something out there. I've had six counselling sessions for internet addiction... because it's affecting my life."

Image copyrightPA

Image captionRussell Kane is a stand-up comedian and has appeared on panel shows such as Celebrity Juice and Mock the Week

"I was getting in, say from a gig, going back on a Sunday morning, and all my family's arrived to a barbecue and I'll go and get changed.

"But I wasn't just going up there to get changed, I was going up there because I wanted to refresh my socials and have a few minutes on the phone.

"I am no longer in control of how I'm using that machine."

The RSPH's Shirley Cramer said social media had "great potential to have positive impacts on mental health and wellbeing", by connecting people.

But for many young people, the overall impact could be detrimental, she added.

The RSPH report warned that social media could be fuelling a mental health crisis in young people - with Snapchat and Instagram the worst culprits.

NHS England's national director for mental health, Claire Murdoch, said everyone - including social media giants - needed to take responsibility to tackle the "mental health epidemic in the next generation".

Confessions of a smartphone addict

By BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones

Media caption

WATCH: Are Rory and Lily addicted to their phones?

Apple's new mobile operating system, which will be available to everyone in September, has a new feature called ScreenTime which allows you to monitor how you are using an iPhone and set yourself limits.

Just after 10 one morning, I found I had already clocked up two hours and 38 minutes of screen time. I had picked up the phone nine times every hour and had received 33 notifications.

I had spent an hour looking at Twitter or sending tweets. No surprise really - first thing at morning and last thing at night I tend to glance at the social media app which has become my early warning system for breaking news.

When I met up with Lily, 12, to compare notes, it turned out that hers was a similar story of social media use, albeit on a much more restrained scale. By just after 15:00 she had been on her phone for one hour and 44 minutes, with 38 minutes of that on Instagram and nine on Snapchat.

Lessons from the longest study on human development - video

For the past 70 years, scientists in Britain have been studying thousands of children through their lives to find out why some end up happy and healthy while others struggle. It's the longest-running study of human development in the world, and it's produced some of the best-studied people on the planet while changing the way we live, learn and parent. Reviewing this remarkable research, science journalist Helen Pearson shares some important findings and simple truths about life and good parenting.

The Future Of The Oceans | Blue Planet - video

We're building an artificial intelligence-powered dystopia, one click at a time

Don't Be Afraid to Fail Big, To Dream Big - Denzel Washington

«Alike»: How Society Destroys Your Creativity, In An Award-Winning Pixar-Like Short Film

Modern society tells us to do well in school, work as hard as we can, and eventually teach our kids to do the same. It’s an endless cycle that doesn’t exactly leave much room for creativity. This short film is encouraging people to look at things differently, and is striking a cord.

Alike, a Pixar-like affair by Madrid-based animators Daniel Martínez Lara and Rafa Cano Méndez, is a 7-minute lesson on what happens to your life when creativity is drowned out by the daily grind. It’s also about parenthood, and the importance of letting kids to forge their own journeys. The critically-acclaimed short was made entirely with Blender, an open-source 3D rendering program, and is dedicated “to our families, for helping us not to lose our colour.”

As Canadian journalist Graydon Carter once said, “it’s a rare moment when we take a break from the tribulations of the daily rat race to reflect on assumptions and values that we casually accept as gospel.” Take one of these moments for yourself, and give Alike a go.

British Airways safety video (British Airways & Comic Relief)

Moby & The Void Pacific Choir - Song «Are You Lost In The World Like Me?» - Video and lyrics

Look harder, say it's done
Black days and a dying sun
Dream a dream of god lit air
Just for a minute you'll find me there

Look harder and you'll find
The 40 ways it leaves us blind
I need a better place
To burn beside the lights

Come on and let me try

Are you lost in the world like me?
If the systems have failed?
Are you free?
All the things, all the loss
Can you see?
Are you lost in the world like me?
Like me?

Burn a courtyard, say it's done
Throwing knives at a dying sun
A source of love in the god lit air
Just for a minute, you'll find me there

Look harder and you'll find
The 40 ways it leaves us blind
I need a better way
To burn beside the lights

Come on and let me try

Are you lost in the world like me?
If the systems have failed?
Are you free?
All the things, all the loss
Can you see?
Are you lost in the world like me?
Like me? [x2]

If the systems have failed

Why the only future worth building includes everyone | Pope Francis - TED Talks (video)

A single individual is enough for hope to exist, and that individual can be you, says His Holiness Pope Francis in this searing TED Talk delivered directly from Vatican City. In a hopeful message to people of all faiths, to those who have power as well as those who don't, the spiritual leader provides illuminating commentary on the world as we currently find it and calls for equality, solidarity and tenderness to prevail. "Let us help each other, all together, to remember that the 'other' is not a statistic, or a number," he says. "We all need each other."

It’s ‘digital heroin’: How screens turn kids into psychotic junkies

Susan* bought her 6-year-old son John an iPad when he was in first grade. “I thought, ‘Why not let him get a jump on things?’ ” she told me during a therapy session. John’s school had begun using the devices with younger and younger grades — and his technology teacher had raved about their educational benefits — so Susan wanted to do what was best for her sandy-haired boy who loved reading and playing baseball.

She started letting John play different educational games on his iPad. Eventually, he discovered Minecraft, which the technology teacher assured her was “just like electronic Lego.” Remembering how much fun she had as a child building and playing with the interlocking plastic blocks, Susan let her son Minecraft his afternoons away.

At first, Susan was quite pleased. John seemed engaged in creative play as he explored the cube-world of the game. She did notice that the game wasn’t quite like the Legos that she remembered — after all, she didn’t have to kill animals and find rare minerals to survive and get to the next level with her beloved old game. But John did seem to really like playing and the school even had a Minecraft club, so how bad could it be?

Still, Susan couldn’t deny she was seeing changes in John. He started getting more and more focused on his game and losing interest in baseball and reading while refusing to do his chores. Some mornings he would wake up and tell her that he could see the cube shapes in his dreams.

Although that concerned her, she thought her son might just be exhibiting an active imagination. As his behavior continued to deteriorate, she tried to take the game away but John threw temper tantrums. His outbursts were so severe that she gave in, still rationalizing to herself over and over again that “it’s educational.”

Then, one night, she realized that something was seriously wrong.

“I walked into his room to check on him. He was supposed to be sleeping — and I was just so frightened…”

She found him sitting up in his bed staring wide-eyed, his bloodshot eyes looking into the distance as his glowing iPad lay next to him. He seemed to be in a trance. Beside herself with panic, Susan had to shake the boy repeatedly to snap him out of it. Distraught, she could not understand how her once-healthy and happy little boy had become so addicted to the game that he wound up in a catatonic stupor.

There’s a reason that the most tech-cautious parents are tech designers and engineers. Steve Jobs was a notoriously low-tech parent. Silicon Valley tech executives and engineers enroll their kids in no-tech Waldorf Schools. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page went to no-tech Montessori Schools, as did Amazon creator Jeff Bezos and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.

Many parents intuitively understand that ubiquitous glowing screens are having a negative effect on kids. We see the aggressive temper tantrums when the devices are taken away and the wandering attention spans when children are not perpetually stimulated by their hyper-arousing devices. Worse, we see children who become bored, apathetic, uninteresting and uninterested when not plugged in.

But it’s even worse than we think.

We now know that those iPads, smartphones and Xboxes are a form of digital drug. Recent brain imaging research is showing that they affect the brain’s frontal cortex — which controls executive functioning, including impulse control — in exactly the same way that cocaine does. Technology is so hyper-arousing that it raises dopamine levels — the feel-good neurotransmitter most involved in the addiction dynamic — as much as sex.

This addictive effect is why Dr. Peter Whybrow, director of neuroscience at UCLA, calls screens “electronic cocaine” and Chinese researchers call them “digital heroin.” In fact, Dr. Andrew Doan, the head of addiction research for the Pentagon and the US Navy — who has been researching video game addiction — calls video games and screen technologies “digital pharmakeia” (Greek for drug).

That’s right — your kid’s brain on Minecraft looks like a brain on drugs. No wonder we have a hard time peeling kids from their screens and find our little ones agitated when their screen time is interrupted. In addition, hundreds of clinical studies show that screens increase depression, anxiety and aggression and can even lead to psychotic-like features where the video gamer loses touch with reality.

In my clinical work with over 1,000 teens over the past 15 years, I have found the old axiom of “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” to be especially true when it comes to tech addiction. Once a kid has crossed the line into true tech addiction, treatment can be very difficult. Indeed, I have found it easier to treat heroin and crystal meth addicts than lost-in-the-matrix video gamers or Facebook-dependent social media addicts.

According to a 2013 Policy Statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 8- to 10 year-olds spend 8 hours a day with various digital media while teenagers spend 11 hours in front of screens. One in three kids are using tablets or smartphones before they can talk. Meanwhile, the handbook of “Internet Addiction” by Dr. Kimberly Young states that 18 percent of college-age internet users in the US suffer from tech addiction.

Once a person crosses over the line into full-blown addiction — drug, digital or otherwise — they need to detox before any other kind of therapy can have any chance of being effective. With tech, that means a full digital detox — no computers, no smartphones, no tablets. The extreme digital detox even eliminates television. The prescribed amount of time is four to six weeks; that’s the amount of time that is usually required for a hyper-aroused nervous system to reset itself. But that’s no easy task in our current tech-filled society where screens are ubiquitous. A person can live without drugs or alcohol; with tech addiction, digital temptations are everywhere.

So how do we keep our children from crossing this line? It’s not easy.

The key is to prevent your 4-, 5- or 8-year-old from getting hooked on screens to begin with. That means Lego instead of Minecraft; books instead of iPads; nature and sports instead of TV. If you have to, demand that your child’s school not give them a tablet or Chromebook until they are at least 10 years old (others recommend 12).

Have honest discussions with your child about why you are limiting their screen access. Eat dinner with your children without any electronic devices at the table — just as Steve Jobs used to have tech-free dinners with his kids. Don’t fall victim to “Distracted Parent Syndrome” — as we know from Social Learning Theory, “Monkey see, monkey do.”

When I speak to my 9-year-old twin boys, I have honest conversations with them about why we don’t want them having tablets or playing video games. I explain to them that some kids like playing with their devices so much, they have a hard time stopping or controlling how much they play. I’ve helped them to understand that if they get caught up with screens and Minecraft like some of their friends have, other parts of their lives may suffer: They may not want to play baseball as much; not read books as often; be less interested in science and nature projects; become more disconnected from their real-world friends. Amazingly, they don’t need much convincing as they’ve seen first-hand the changes that some of their little friends have undergone as a result of their excessive screen time.

Developmental psychologists understand that children’s healthy development involves social interaction, creative imaginative play and an engagement with the real, natural world. Unfortunately, the immersive and addictive world of screens dampens and stunts those developmental processes.

We also know that kids are more prone to addictive escape if they feel alone, alienated, purposeless and bored. Thus the solution is often to help kids to connect to meaningful real-life experiences and flesh-and-blood relationships. The engaged child tethered to creative activities and connected to his or her family is less likely to escape into the digital fantasy world. Yet even if a child has the best and most loving support, he or she could fall into the Matrix once they engage with hypnotic screens and experience their addicting effect. After all, about one in 10 people are predisposed towards addictive tendencies.

In the end, my client Susan removed John’s tablet, but recovery was an uphill battle with many bumps and setbacks along the way.

Four years later, after much support and reinforcement, John is doing much better today. He has learned to use a desktop computer in a healthier way, and has gotten some sense of balance back in his life: He’s playing on a baseball team and has several close friends in his middle school. But his mother is still vigilant and remains a positive and proactive force with his tech usage because, as with any addiction, relapse can sneak up in moments of weakness. Making sure that he has healthy outlets, no computer in his bedroom and a nightly tech-free dinner at the dinner table are all part of the solution.

*Patients’ names have been changed.

Dr. Nicholas Kardaras is executive director of The Dunes East Hampton, one of the country’s top rehabs and a former clinical professor at Stony Brook Medicine. His book “Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids — and How to Break the Trance” (St. Martin’s) is out now.

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