The Week Junior - UK (2022-04-23)

22 The Week Junior • 23 April 2022

On screen

TWS SPORTS

PODCAST

A group of

young people

from Tettenhall

Wood School in

Wolverhampton,

England, created

this podcast to talk about sports and they’ve

already interviewed stars from the worlds of

cricket, football, gymnastics and WWE wrestling.

A

new study by the Office of Communications

(Ofcom) has examined how young people are

using apps and online services. Ofcom

is an organisation that monitors

communication services in the UK,

including TV and radio. It asked

thousands of young people and

parents about their media habits.

This won’t surprise you: nearly

all eight to 11-year-olds (97%)

play games in some form on

consoles, tablets or mobile phones.

The most popular games for this age

group were creative and building games

such as Roblox and Minecraft, which 57% of

eight to 11-year-olds play. Multiplayer online games,

such as Fortnite, Fall Guys and Among Us, were the

second-biggest category.

Ofcom also talked to parents about

their concerns with online gaming. Those

worries include their young people

talking to strangers while playing

online; being bullied; and feeling

under pressure to pay for in-game

purchases. However, 95% of parents

say they set rules for their children

to deal with these worries. If you

sometimes feel like you’re the only one

of your friends whose parents set rules for

your gaming, it’s almost certainly not true.

The study also found that just over eight in 10

young people have seen something to scare or upset

them in the last year, and 36% had suffered nasty

or hurtful behaviour. More positively, 71% said they

would always tell someone if they saw something

worrying or nasty online. A lot (64%) of eight to

11-year-olds have more than one profile on social

media apps. Reasons included having one that only

their close friends can see, or for hobbies such as

gaming, photography or skateboarding.

YouTube is still the most popular online video

service for eight to 11-year-olds (83% use it). That

is well ahead of TikTok, which is used by 40%. What

are young people watching? The study said funny

videos, cartoons, music videos and gaming clips.

Digital habits

Building games are popular

with young people.

WORDLE WORD FINDER

word.tips/wordle

The popular web game Wordle is designed to

challenge your brain but if you need a little help,

this site will analyse the letters you’ve guessed to

suggest which words to try next.

LEGO STAR

WARS: THE

SKYWALKER

SAGA

Want a truly epic

game to play? This latest from Lego, for consoles

and PCs, is based on all nine main films in the Star

Wars saga. With such a huge and sprawling world,

you can choose from hundreds of characters to

play as, including Luke and Anakin Skywalker,

Darth Vader and even Obi-Wan Kenobi.

How young people use games, social media, videos and more.

WEBSITE WEEK

OF

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Among Us

is popular.

REX

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TOC

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GAME OF THE WEEK PODCAST WEEK

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