NDM Story #55 Sexting: Young girls and boys bullied for explicit sex videos

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/child-protection/11503577/Sexting-Young-girls-and-boys-bullied-for-explicit-sex-videos.html

Increasing numbers of children are being bullied into taking explicit sexual pictures of themselves online, an expert has warned. More and more young girls and boys are becoming victims of “sextortion” cases in which they are lured into sharing naked photographs and then blackmailed into producing ever-more explicit material. The children are told if they do not co-operate their sexual images will be distributed to friends and to their parents – luring the frightened youngsters to produce highly sexual photographs and videos. Bob Lotter, the creator of online safety tool My Mobile Watchdog, said his company is dealing with growing numbers of sextortion cases, while other types of sexting have become an “epidemic” among young people. “We have seen children involved in revenge porn and sextortion, and this is on the increase,” said Mr Lotter.

It is sad that people have to use sexual images and content of children to threaten them into getting what they want. However, I do not believe that it is always completely innocent from the child's side as some people may choose to produce their own content in which they then get themselves in trouble with.

NDM Story #54 Instagram deletes woman's period photos - but her response is amazing

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11503621/Instagram-deletes-womans-period-photos-her-reply-is-great.html

Photographer Rupi Kaur has effectively made Instagram, one of the most popular photo-sharing websites in the world, accept that periods are not inappropriate. Last week she posted a photograph of a fully clothed woman lying in bed with a period stain on Instagram. It was deleted twice by the social media site because it didn’t “follow [their] Community Guidelines.” The guidelines prohibit sexual acts, violence and nudity, they do not mention anything about periods. Kaur took to Facebook to write: “Thank you Instagram for providing me with the exact response my work was created to critique. You deleted my photo twice stating that it goes against community guidelines.“I will not apologise for not feeding the ego and pride of misogynist society that will have my body in an underwear but not be ok with a small leak when your pages are filled with countless photos/accounts where women (so many who are underage) are objectified, pornified, and treated less than human.”
She explained that she created a series around menstruation to “demystify the period and make something that is innate ‘normal’ again.”

It is obvious that this image does not go against Instagram's guidelines as they quite clearly do not state anything about periods. Moreover, the woman in the image is fully dressed therefore there is no 'nudity' involved. I believe it was wrong of Instagram to take down this image twice as it shows something perfectly normal.

NDM Story #53 Teachers 'facing more abuse on social media'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-32145849

Sexist, racist and homophobic remarks were being used by pupils against school staff, as well as offensive comments about appearance, the NASUWT said. There were also examples of parents being abusive on social media, it added. About 60% of 1,500 teachers questioned in a poll said they had faced abuse, compared with 21% last year. In one case, a photograph of a teacher was posted online with an insulting word underneath. In another, pupils used the name of a heavily pregnant school worker to post insults, the teachers' union said. Of those who had been subjected to insults, nearly half (48%) said these remarks were posted by pupils, 40% said they were put up by parents, and 12% said both parents and pupils were responsible. Almost two-thirds (62%) said pupils had posted insulting comments, while just over a third (34%) said students had taken photos or videos without consent. A third (33%) received remarks about their performance as a teacher, 9% had faced allegations from pupils about inappropriate behaviour and 8% had been subjected to threatening behaviour. More than half (57%) of pupils responsible were aged between 14 and 16, and 38% were 11 to 14, the teachers' poll found, with a fifth aged 16 to 19 and 5% were seven to 11.

Although it is not right that pupils and teachers use social media to abuse teachers, I do not think that it is something that can be avoided either. Social media gives users the power to do anything online and this is one of them.

NDM Story #52 A third of young people think social media will influence their vote

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/mar/10/a-third-of-young-people-think-social-media-will-influence-their-vote?CMP=dis_2831

A third of young people think social media will influence their vote, according to research by Ipsos Mori and King’s College London. However, looking at the electorate as a whole the report finds that voters have a mixed attitude towards the impact of social media on the political debate. More than a third (34%) of those aged 18-24 said that reading something on social media was likely to influence their vote - second only to the TV debates. Across Britain as a whole, social media is listed fourth as a potential influence on voting - after the TV debates, newspapers and election broadcasts, and just ahead of leaflets through the letter box. Ipsos Mori’s results also show that while 71% believe that social media provides a platform and voice to people who wouldn’t normally take part in political debates, there is concern that social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, are making political debate more divisive and superficial. The feeling is shared both by those active on social media and by those that aren’t. Among social media users, 57% and 50% agreed that social media has made the debate more divisive and superficial that it used to be.

Young people are prone to being influenced by social media, whether it is about voting or anything else. However, with this particular topic not all young people are educated when it comes to political parties and voting, therefore have a higher chance of being influenced by others opinions and votes.

NDM Story #51 Knowing ploy or social media fail? Penguin Books runs #YourMum Mother’s Day Twitter campaign

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2015/03/09/knowing-ploy-or-social-media-fail-penguin-books-runs-yourmum-mother-s-day-twitter

To celebrate Mother’s Day this year, Penguin Books launched a dubious social media campaign asking users to tweet with the hashtag #YourMum. Predictably, the scheme was hijacked by social media users who repurposed Penguin’s well intentioned buy-a-book-for Mother’s Day brand proposition with crass ‘Your Mama’ jokes – the staple insult of playgrounds throughout the world. The hashtag, which somewhat clashed with the tone of Sunday’s top trending term ‘#InternationalWomensDay’, saw social media users spout filth about #YourMum. It took the publishing house some time to realise the error of its ways.

It is interesting and amusing to most audiences that Penguin Books decided to use a #YourMum hashtag in order to promote their books as gifts for mothers day. Whether it was intentional or not, it definitely caught attention and caused controversy on Twitter.

NDM Story #50 Apple Watch: are you feeling the terror?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/11/apple-watch-are-you-feeling-the-terror

From the printing press to the telephone to the tablet computer, new technologies have usually passed through three stages. First, they are laughed off as stupid novelties with little use other than to entertain geeks. Then, as they begin to become popular, they are deplored as threats to civilisation which will turn into mindless, atomised narcissists. Finally, everyone uses them and we wonder what all the fuss was about.The launch of the Apple Watch heralds the arrival of stage two for the smartwatch. This time, however, I think it’s true both that we have good reasons to raise a few alarms and that in time they will come to be seen as perfectly harmless. That the smartwatch is going to normalise several things that should appal us is precisely what we should fear.

As technology increases and develops, so will companies products such as the Apple watch. It is not something to fear as audiences are excited about new releases and new products.

NDM Story #49 TripAdvisor removes 'feminist' review

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/12/tripadvisor-removes-feminist-review

A review in which a customer described seeing a manager biting a waitress and slapping her on the bottom has been removed by TripAdvisor for contravening its guidelines.A review in which a customer described seeing a manager biting a waitress and slapping her on the bottom has been removed by TripAdvisor for contravening its guidelines. Christina Fowler of Bedford left the review on TripAdvisor on 8 March, also International Women’s Day, after eating at The Bell at Westoning in Bedfordshire. In her original review, she wrote: "Today, on International Women’s Day, I saw the pub owner bite a young waitress on the shoulder, which she tried to shrug off but then appeared to complain to her fellow waitress. Five minutes later he slaps her on the bum and made kissy noises when she jumped. A huge reminder that we still need feminism, even in 2015". Fowler said: “I was quite surprised I don’t really understand what was wrong with it. I was allowed to repost it in the end removing the words ‘misogynist’ and ‘feminist’, but I don’t see that either of those words are particularly shocking.”

This comment was removed by TripAdvisor because it did not meet the the review guidelines. I do not think it was moved particularly because it is related to feminism, but possibly because of the image it creates for the pub and the people involved (management and staff).