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Watch the Castle Conference Catch Up

We hope that The Castle Conference inspired you, got you thinking and talking about the topic of Digital Wellbeing. We really hope you have been talking about the conference to your friends, family and colleagues.

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The Castle Conference Catch-Up was a chance to keep talking, a chance to share your thoughts, a chance to find out what questions we have been asked since the day and a chance to ask us new questions.

Andy & Lucy

Recap from the event

We have combined the slides into a video for you to rewatch

This is only the slides - no audio. Videos are below.

Lucy Smith: Digital Safeguarding and Neurodiversity

Listen to Owen's interview here

Professor Peter Kawalek: A crisis but not of their making

Listen to Peter's Interview here

Luisa Fassi: Social media and adolescence, a research perspective

Listen to Luisa's interview here

David Brown: If u care share

Listen to David's interview here

Speaker Videos

Lucy Smith: Digital Safeguarding and Neurodiversity

Professor Peter Kawalek: A crisis but not of their making

Luisa Fassi: Social media and adolescence

David Brown: If U Care Share

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Tone Tags: What Are They?

Digital Wellbeing

May 03, 2024•2 min read

Tone Tags: what is a tone tag and how do you use it?

I must admit, I am very new to the world of tone tags and the massive benefits they could have for people who are neurodiverse as well as people who are not! I was introduced to tone tags by an individual who I provide workplace support for, and they explained to me that by adding a tone tag to the end of a sentence, you can mitigate the risk of the tone of a message being misinterpreted by the receiver.

Tone tags are very simple; it's the addition of ‘/’ followed by the tone you intend the sentence to be read in. To show what an effective addition this is to written communication, here is an example:

“Good morning, I see you were late for work, is everything okay?"

versus...

“Good morning, I see you were late for work, is everything okay? /caring”

For a neurodivergent person, who might experience rejection sensitivity, a message without a tone tag could send them into a spiral of worry, thinking that they were in trouble or that they had annoyed their colleague. The simple addition of '/caring' decreases that risk and therefore reduces the levels of stress that would otherwise potentially overwhelm that individual.

The same effect can be achieved when you want to make a joke or a lighthearted comment, which is something that can be easily misinterpreted over text or email. All you have to do to avoid accidentally causing offense or hurting someone’s feelings is add '/joking' or '/lighthearted' to the end of your sentence. Yes, it really is that simple!

In a world where communication moves more and more online, the margin for error when it comes to getting your tone across increases, so why not adopt tone tags and see what a difference they can make to the way you communicate online! It really is as simple as that, so there is nothing else to say other than: go on, give tone tags a go and see just how helpful they can be. /encouraging