Written evidence submitted by Azoomee (SMH0115)

Introduction

Azoomee welcomes The Commons Science and Technology Committee’s inquiry into the impact of social media and screen time on the health of young people. At Azoomee, we have been working to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of screen time since our inception. Indeed, by developing the only safe online environment for entertainment, education and communication for children aged 3-11, Azoomee has created a place designed to have a real, positive impact on the next generation.

Available on any mobile device, Azoomee is built from the ground up to make a substantial impact on society by nurturing children to become responsible users of digital media and communication tools, what we call ‘good digital citizens’. Given the significant (and unavoidable) impact of the internet in our social and professional lives, it is imperative that the next generation has the right skills to navigate and master this new environment. No other platform provides innate online safety learnings by modelling behaviour through play.

Primary aims of Azoomee:

1. Improved understanding of safe internet practices: Azoomee provides implicit and explicit guidance on internet safety benefits children and families immediately and provides a solid foundation for their future digital experiences, an approach supported by EU policy and research[1].
2. Better understanding of digital communication etiquette: Through use of Azoomee and engagement with our content library, we aim to help children to become better digital citizens, an ambition not shared by competing products.
3. Digital wellbeing: We believe that Azoomee can and will play a pivotal role in developing children’s understanding of digital technologies and communication tools, and teach them how to be smart, safe and kind online in the future. As everyday life grows ever-more entwined with technology, it is essential that our children are properly prepared; society’s future depends on our children!

Mitigating harm by providing a safe and positive way to explore the digital world

A Safe Space for Children to be Children: Children deserve to benefit from all the best things about being online (access to a wealth of information, entertainment, inspiration, etc.). However, as recent news stories have once again highlighted, the Internet was not designed with children in mind. Azoomee provides a secure space for children to access the benefits of the digital world without the associated risks. From day one, our service has been designed to empower children to make their own decisions, explore the content they enjoy and importantly, through features like Azoomee’s safe instant messaging service, learn from their mistakes to become smarter, safer and kinder as they enter the wider online world.

Azoomee Chat: This approach is exemplified in Azoomee Chat, a closed communication network that allows children to share text messages, stickers and artwork with their siblings and parents, as well as a small, parent-moderated list of invited friends. Research from Crone and Konijn (2018) published in Nature Communications highlights the impact of social reward and emotion-based use patterns on the developing neural systems of children, which can contribute to increased sensitivity to acceptance, rejection, peer influence, and emotion-loaded interactions in media-environments.[2] Azoomee Chat purposefully excludes features like activity timelines and group chat to mitigate this risk and, through the guided use experience, helps children develop a behavioural toolkit that prepares them to better deal with the experiences (both positive and negative) that they will have when they graduate to WhatsApp, Instagram or Snapchat.

Promoting Digital Citizenship and Awareness: In 2015, the Office for National Statistics found that there was a clear association between children’s time spent online and their mental health, this really struck a chord with us. Working with the NSPCC, we began production on Search It Up – our BAFTA nominated animated series which tackles a variety of issues real children face online.

Search It Up was released in 2016 and has won multiple awards, a BAFTA nomination (primary – learning category) and praise from teachers and parents. The series comprises 18 episodes each averaging 3 minutes in length and was created to show children how to make informed and conscious choices in today’s complicated digital world.

There is a significant lack of quality content for primary school-aged children that explains what internet safety actually means. Search It Up addresses this by guiding children through a variety of scenarios and topics ranging from cyberbullying to what’s okay to share online. The series is comic in tone and packed with memorable examples, led by brother and sister, Jack and Maya, who encounter situations children can easily recognise.

Examples of topics covered:

•          What’s personal information?

•          How much time to spend on device

•          Cyber-bullying

•          Digital permanence

•          Computer viruses

•          Sharing pictures online

•          How being kind online is the same as offline

The series was built on the three pillars of being smart, safe, and kind online and is aimed at children aged 5-11. The show dives into complex topics through relatable scenarios with digital lessons that are accessible and digestible for young children. With a news-style recap, key messages are explicitly reviewed at the end of each episode.

Activities and exercises: Building on Search It Up (consistently one of the most popular shows on Azoomee), our team of educators have put together a selection of online safety sessions, activities and lesson plans combining an episode of the series with activities designed to reinforce what children have discovered. We distribute these to schools, youth organisations and families throughout the country (700k+ reach during Safer Internet Day 2018), encouraging them complete the sessions together, start a conversation and learn how to be smart, safe and kind online!

Positive Screen Time: Bringing all these aspects together is our fundamental belief that all screen time was not created equal. This is backed by research conducted by Livingstone and Third (2017) highlighting the positive aspects of children being online and the need to strike a balance between protection and empowerment.[3] At Azoomee, every game, video and activity, whether purely educational, creative, inspiring or just pure fun, is hand-picked by parents and teachers to be safe, engaging and to provide an affirmative experience for children. The entire experience is built to have a positive impact on society and the lives on the next generation, empowering them to make informed decisions, learn new skills, inspiring them to discover more about art, the environment, or STEM, and have fun with their friends and family in a safe space.

Ongoing content development & production

Azoomee is continuing to develop new content designed specifically to manage mental health impacts of online media. Drawing upon the learnings of our first series, Search It Up, Azoomee conducted a survey and interviews with 300 teenagers. The purpose was to understand where they saw gaps in knowledge as they reflected on their own experiences. This study, along with expert research related to children’s mental health and wellbeing, serves as the foundation of the production, which aims to have the following impact:

• Explain in an engaging way the key concepts such as protecting personal information, digital addiction and its mental impact, online bullying, self-image or dealing with constant commercial solicitations
• Provide practical strategies based on health research and best practice: how to protect personal information, how to question news, how to decide what to share or not
• Encourage consistent discussions: reassure kids that questions, emotions and feelings can be shared with trusted adults in order to learn how to make the best choices

Our new production will be an innovative multimedia experience comprising a game and a series of short form videos, which aims to prepare children (7-12) for online interaction and social networking through an allegorical fun and engaging format. Intended primarily to equip and empower children to take care of themselves online (for mental health and wellbeing) the game and video series draw on the research and input of a team of experienced stakeholders in kids’ entertainment, online safety and psychology.

At this age, children are emerging as connected individuals and will be using devices and computers more and more in their day to day lives. Many of them will already have a phone – and most of them will have encountered situations using computers or apps that will include making decisions (registering accounts, consuming entertainment, searching for news or knowledge, sharing data and personal information) and dealing with new developmental milestones and emotions (device addiction, peer group pressure, bullying).

Background research:

• In 2015, the Office for National Statistics found that there is a “clear association” between time spent on social media and mental health problems. 
• In 2017 Azoomee’s in house study found that 89% of the teenagers we surveyed felt that social media and sites like YouTube and Instagram were harming people’s friendships and schoolwork.
• 'Nurturing Young minds: Mental Wellbeing in the Digital Age' in 2017 makes links between freemium gaming and increased anxiousness, withdrawal symptoms and engagement in gambling mechanics from a young age. 
• The Children's Commissioner found that half of 11 to 14-year olds say it is easier to be themselves on the internet rather than face to face.
• Azoomee found that 74% of teenagers surveyed wished that they knew more about online safety when they were growing up. This is supported by The Children’s Commissioner who found that children do not always trust their teachers to understand the issues and Ofsted finding staff training in this area to be inconsistent. 

This new multimedia series will be released on Azoomee to coincide with Safer Internet Day 2019.

April 2018