For many of us keen to be engaged in the world of social media, our priority is to be online rather than be legally aware of what we are signing up to and signing over. The law firm Schillings has recognised this and taken it upon themselves to reduce the rather extensive terms and conditions for Instagram to one side of A4 paper. What’s more, it’s in plain English to make it far easier for the majority of teenagers who use the app every day to understand. The translation follows a request from Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, as part of a report on children in the digital age. Research revealed that 13 year olds asked to read Instagram’s terms and conditions struggled to understand what they meant, yet they are agreeing to them. Interestingly the plain English version highlights that personal data can be shared and images can also be used by the company which is owned by Facebook. As we go into the new year, one of our resolutions might be to take inspiration from this and be more aware of what we are agreeing to by using these platforms.

After a joyful month of festivities, the dreaded January #BackToWork tweets came flooding in as the New Year celebrations came to an end. The hashtag was trending on Twitter with many users tweeting about their dread of getting back into the swing of things.
One user said: “having to get used to a proper breakfast again rather than a handful of celebrations #backtowork”. Others posted about the forgetfulness we all experience on our first day back: “how do I write a new email? Where has the button gone? #backtowork”. At least the morning commute this week has been made a little easier knowing we’re not the only ones suffering with #BackToWork brain fuzz and that the entire nation has a bad case of Christmas withdrawals.