Tech Shock - from Parent Zone

Episode 5: Dr Garth Graham: Bringing Education to the World at Scale

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 08:00:00 +0100

In episode 5, Vicki is joined by Dr Garth Graham, Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health at Google and YouTube. A clinician, researcher and parent of four, Dr Graham brings a rare combination of perspectives to the conversation.

This episode moves from policy to the practical and personal. How do platforms like Google and YouTube think about the concept of information as a social determinant of health and what that means for platforms reaching billions of people every day? And what does eﬀective digital parenting look like when you've spent your career at the intersection of medicine, public health and technology?

Talking points:

How does Google and YouTube think about health information at scale and what is the diﬀerence between rooting out misinformation and actively providing good information?
What does the evidence tell us about how children develop digital resilience and how should parents think about graded autonomy as children grow?
What practical steps can parents take — from co-viewing and family media plans to watching for replacement behaviours — and what does Dr Graham do in his own home?

Tech Shock is a Parent Zone production. Follow Parent Zone on social media for all the latest on our work on helping families to thrive in the digital age. Presented by Vicki Shotbolt. Tech Shock is produced and edited by Tim Malster.

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Episode 4: Lisa Felton and Jeffrey DeMarco: A Partnership for Thriving

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 07:00:00 +0100

In the fourth episode of Tech Shock's 12th season, Vicki is joined by two guests: Jeffrey DeMarco, Senior Policy Advisor at Save the Children, and Lisa Felton, Managing Director, Vodafone Foundation. Their organisation’s partnership was born from a shared recognition that children were highly connected but not necessarily thriving and that the support available to them simply hadn't kept pace with the digital world they were growing up in.

This episode is grounded in research, practical programmes and a genuinely positive vision for children's digital lives. With the government consultation now closed, the conversation moves beyond the ban debate. Instead it asks what a whole-system approach to children's online safety and wellbeing actually looks like and what it will take to get there.

Talking points:

What does the research from Save the Children and Vodafone Foundation reveal about the gap between children's digital skills and their digital wellbeing and what does it actually mean to thrive online?
How does the SMILE framework and Skills Upload Junior programme build resilience and digital wellbeing in children across eight countries and what does rights-based design look like in practice?
Beyond the ban debate, what does a whole-system approach to children's online safety look like and what role do parents, educators, platforms and policymakers each need to play?

3. Katie Searle: Switched on to privacy: chat, choose, check.

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0100

In the third episode of Tech Shock's 12th season, Vicki is joined by Katie Searle, Director - Children's Strategy at the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The ICO is the UK's independent regulator for data protection and information rights and their new Switched On to Privacy campaign is designed to help parents start regular, practical conversations about online privacy.

Online privacy is one of the most important but least understood issues in children's digital lives. Children are building a detailed digital profile from as young as four, often sharing data they, and their parents, don't fully understand. This episode explores what that data trail looks like, where the risks lie, and what families can actually do about it.

Talking points:

What is online privacy, why does it matter for children, and what kinds of data are children sharing that parents might not realise?
What are the specific risks - from location tracking to in-game chats - and what should parents know about sharenting and edtech data?
What is the ICO's Switched On to Privacy campaign, and what are the three practical steps that parents can take today?

https://ico.org.uk/switched-on-to-privacy/

2. Leon Xiao: The House Always Wins. The Home Loses.

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100

In the second episode of Tech Shock's 12th season, Vicki is joined by Leon Xiao, Assistant Professor at City University Hong Kong, specialising in video game law and the regulation of loot boxes, gacha mechanics and other gambling-like monetisation in video games.

Neither Vicki nor Leon are anti-gaming, quite the opposite. However, gaming and gambling have been converging for years and the risks remain poorly understood by many. This episode cuts through the complexity - from loot boxes and skin gambling to gacha games and social casino mechanics - asking what parents actually need to know, why regulation is failing, and what a better approach might look like.

Talking points:

What are the links between gaming and gambling - loot boxes, skin gambling, social casino games and gacha mechanics - and what does the emerging evidence tell us about the risks to young people?
Why is regulation failing - from Belgium to the UK, why are existing laws not being enforced and does industry self-regulation stand any chance of working? What instead can the UK learn from South Korea's more proactive approach?
What do parents need to know - the financial reality of loot boxes, the odds problem, and what to look out for in the games their children are playing?

Spring Special Episode 4: Melinda Tankard Reist: ‘A Callous Society?’

Wed, 13 May 2026 08:00:00 +0100

In the final episode of Tech Shock's Spring Special Series on the social media ban and government consultation, Vicki is joined by Melinda Tankard Reist. Melinda is the Movement Director of Collective Shout, a grassroots campaigning movement against the objectification of women and the sexualisation of girls. Collective Shout has been heavily involved in both the age verification trial for pornography and the raised age of access to social media in Australia.

Melinda brings a distinctive voice to the series. Her contribution goes beyond the ban debate, drawing connections between social media, pornography, and violence against women and girls that are rarely made explicit in policy discussions. This episode covers some serious and challenging content, reflecting the gravity of the work Collective Shout does every day.

Talking points:

What has Australia's experience of raising the age of access to social media taught us and what are the limitations of the platforms currently covered?
What is the evidence for the links between social media, pornography, and violence against women and girls — and what does Collective Shout's grassroots work reveal about the scale of harm?
What needs to change at a systemic level — in the legal system, in schools, and in culture — and is there reason to be hopeful?

1. Natalie Foos: VoiceBox and AI chatbot support for parents

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0100

In the first episode of Tech Shock's 12th season, Vicki is joined by Natalie Foos, Director of VoiceBox — a global youth organisation that surfaces the lived experience of young people for decision makers. VoiceBox has long acted as an early warning system on emerging digital risks, and their Coded Companions report, published three years ago, was one of the first to examine the risks of young people forming relationships with AI chatbots.

In this episode, Natalie shares findings from VoiceBox's latest collaboration with Parent Zone. They tested five leading AI chatbots to see how useful they are at helping parents understand the financial risks in the games their children play. The headline result: how you prompt matters more than the bot you interact with.

Talking points:

What did the New Digital Advisors report find about AI chatbots as a tool for parents navigating financial risks in gaming and what are the chatbot personality differences parents should know about?
Three years on from Coded Companions, how can we better support young people who find themselves in difficulty and what does the VoiceBox community think is the direction of travel for AI?
How are gambling-like behaviours being normalised among young people, both within gaming and beyond?

Spring Special Episode 3: Haroon Chowdry: ‘Levelling the Playing Field’

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0100

This week in our special episodes examining the arguments for and against the social media ban, Vicki speaks to Haroon Chowdry, Chief Executive of the Centre for Young Lives.

The Centre for Young Lives was set up by Baroness Anne Longfield, former Children’s Commissioner for England, and uses research, evidence, advocacy, public affairs and system change to improve outcomes for children and families.

Being in favour of the preventative measures proposed by the government consultation, Haroon discusses why he thinks restrictions are necessary as well as why and how to put the onus on tech companies.

Talking points:

Why should we take a Public Health approach to social media’s impact on children?
Is it just semantics to try and change the language we use in this debate - from ban to minimum age restriction?
Are we proposing a blanket ban, or a partial ban? And what’s the difference?

Spring Special Episode 2: Andy Burrows: ‘Towards a Safer Future’

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

As we continue our special series of Tech Shock exploring arguments for and against the social media ban and the government consultation, this week we are joined by Andy Burrows, CEO of the Molly Rose Foundation.

The Foundation works at the intersection of online safety, mental health and suicide prevention, and holds a firm belief that technology can be a positive force for children. However, how can a safer online world be achieved? Are we learning from our mistakes with social media when it comes to AI regulation? Should we be optimistic about the future?

Previously head of Child Safety Online Policy at the NSPCC, Andy brings years of experience engaging in child safety and online safety debates to the discussion.

Talking points:

What are the problems of a social media ban for under-16s, its unintended consequences and would it provide a false sense of safety for parents?
Why has the OSA disappointed, what role did Ofcom play and what should be done about small platforms?
What impact will AI have on our world and the ability to keep children safe online?

Spring Special Episode 1: Maeve Walsh: ‘Has the Online Safety Act Failed?’

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The beginning of March saw the government launch its consultation on whether to ban social media for under-16s, as well as calling on the public to share opinions and concerns on more nuanced interventions.

But how did we get here? With the Online Safety Act (OSA) being in force for two and a half years, why do parents and policymakers call for a blanket ban that risks being yet another false promise that could make young people less safe? Has the OSA failed or can it be part of the UK’s progress to a safer online world?

In the first of a special group of Tech Shock episodes surrounding the Ban and Consultation, Vicki is joined by Maeve Walsh - Director of the OSA Network.

Talking points:

Can we see that progress has been made through the OSA and what wins should we be shouting about?
What are the big gaps in the Act and what other areas could and should it concern?
Are we able to strengthen the OSA promptly and appropriately? What is the OSA Network's 10-point plan for strengthening the Act immediately?

7. How to find friends and alienate people: geolocation, gender, and unhelpful legislation

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

December saw the launch of an international coalition to end violence against women and girls with additional support to tackle online harms. At the same time, debates around the banning of ‘nudification’ apps continue within the UK.

Developments like these represent a shared desire to affect change – and for the online world to be a safer place. But amid the Australian ban on social media for under-16s (now in effect) and Scottish Labour pushing for a complete phone ban in schools, we may need to pause and ask: are we going about reducing harm in the right way?

In the final episode of season 11, Vicki is joined by UCL professor of Sociology of Gender and Education, Jessica Ringrose to explore young people’s lived experiences and some possibly better ways to bring about change.

Talking points:

From ‘sex subscriptions’ and ‘AI girlfriends’ to cyberflashing, how does harmful sexual content impact different groups of young people?
Why are policies around restricting (or outright banning) tech not properly “thought through”?
Two years on since the Online Safety Act passed, are platforms still operating without a genuine duty of care – and what can we do in the meantime?

6. Being ‘literate’ in the age of AI

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Amidst a paradigm shift in technology, it looks to be the case that a failure to understand (and use) AI is a failure to prepare for a rapidly approaching future.

But plenty of questions remain. How best to support literacies related to AI? Where exactly should AI sit within a revised curriculum? And might the provision of AI tools to children (without appropriate support) simply foster a ‘copy and paste’ mindset – one which is antagonistic to learning?

In this episode, Vicki is joined by Irene Picton – senior project and research manager at the National Literacy Trust to explore recent research into children’s literacy and the debate around AI.

Talking points:

What does literacy look like – and require – in the age of AI?
How might children’s use of AI entrench existing inequity, and what more could schools do to support literate use of these tools?
Are we guilty of a ‘screens = bad’ binary, or are concerns like the role of AI in EdTech warranted?

5. Deepfakes, disinformation, and a trundle towards ‘reality apathy’?

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

AI technologies are becoming more and more embedded in daily life – in ways that go well beyond smart speakers or nifty thermometers.

But this embedding raises lots of questions. Some people have little faith in Big Tech (or the countries trying to regulate it) to get it right. Providing it really isn’t just a matter of the optics, the now safety-less renaming of the US ‘AI Safety Institute’ to the ‘Centre for AI Standards and Innovation’ is a case in point. The planned EU legislative rollback points to a contentious roadmap.

So amid deepfakes, relationship chatbots and a reality we might describe as ‘synthetic’, what remains for trust and authenticity? How can we start thinking about harms – and mitigating them – as well as harnessing the potential of AI? In this episode, globally recognised AI expert Henry Ajder joins Vicki to explore these topics further.

Talking points:

Just how worried should we be about AI when it comes to the ballot box?
What does a ‘digital nutrition label’ look like, and how might this be one way to help identify what’s genuine?
When it comes to recognising AI generated content, can increased levels of media literacy actually result in harmful overconfidence?

4. Experience AI

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Understanding AI has never been more critical. It’s part of most conversations around emerging tech. It raises endless questions around safety, creativity, copyright and intellectual property. The UK government, too, now has a national focus on upskilling young people for the “AI-powered jobs of the future”.

‘Experience AI’ is a programme developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind and delivered across the UK and internationally. It helps to improve the skills and confidence of both educators and students on how AI tech works – and fosters important surrounding literacies.

In this episode, Vicki is joined by the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s Ben Garside and Parent Zone’s chief of staff Megan Rose to look at the impact that Experience AI is having currently, and where the programme may be going next.

Talking points:

Beyond understanding prompts and functionalities, how can educational resources tackle topics like the wider societal impact of AI?
Is Experience AI meeting educator’s current needs – and are learnings (around, for example, the importance of not ‘anthropomorphising’ chatbots) landing well?
As children around the globe gain access to AI, how do their experiences of it – and attitudes towards it – change depending on where they live?

3. RSE in the era of nudification apps and AI romance

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The subject ‘RSE’ (Relationships and Sex Education) was introduced to educate pupils about sexual health as well as their relationships and intimacies with others. Is it meeting the challenge or is there a nervousness in delivery, and are we finding ways to create safe spaces that allow for open discussions?

In an era not just of smartphones and social media, but easily-accessible nudification apps, rampant online misogyny, and AI bots designed to operate as romantic partners, is RSE in its current form really up to the job of informing and supporting young people, or is it in need of re-imagining?

In this episode, Vicki is joined by the team behind the ‘Reimagining RSE’ project – The University of Surrey’s Dr Emily Setty and The University of Bedfordshire’s Jonny Hunt – to explore RSE, as well as where it might go (or may need to go) next.

Talking points:

What makes ‘safe uncertainty’ preferable to ‘safe certainty’, and why is the former a challenging idea for parents and professionals to grapple with?
Has the current RSE approach to sexuality prioritised discussions of risk and harm over those around empowerment?
With the Curriculum and Assessment Review (and the Government’s response) recently released, might we get the re-imagining research tells us we need?

2. A new gambling levy, and the dark side of the industry

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Contrary to what many of us would like to believe, gambling is not an exclusively over 18 activity – in fact it’s far from it. Popular sports and surrounding media burst at the seams with gambling ads, online gaming draws many monetisation techniques from the gambling industry, and enormously popular influencers often ‘win big’ on when livestreaming crypto casinos.

But awareness of underage gambling – and child financial harms more generally – is at least increasing. And with a recent statutory levy on gambling operators set to generate £100m+ a year in the UK, there may finally be a budget to research, understand and tackle gambling-related harms.

In this episode, Vicki is joined by director of the Coalition to End Gambling Ads, Will Prochaska to explore the gambling in 2025 – and to discuss a roadmap to combating the darker, dodgier side of the industry.

Talking points:

From the National Lottery to scratch cards and The Grand National, gambling doesn’t always seem to be necessarily problematic. So are those of us who are against newer, online forms of gambling simply killjoys – or is there more at play?
With gambling ads constantly shifting to less regulated or spotlighted spaces, is a total ban the only way to avoid an unending game of whack-a-mole?
As gambling companies are now required to pay towards the new levy, how likely is it that they’ll also work on proactively minimising harm?

1. "A range of questionable trends and industry practices” – gaming in 2025

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

As the Tech Shock podcast returns for its 11th season, Vicki is joined by Sara Grimes, McGill University professor and expert in child rights and ethical game design, to explore the views of young gamers – and the current industry at large.

2025 research from Ofcom shows that 97% of 8-17 year-olds game online. But as the industry continues to grow in popularity – and of course value – we’re left facing the same set of problems (and some newer ones to boot).

Age ratings remain confusing to the parents left to interpret them; in-game advertising is not the elephant in the room, but simply in the room; monetisation and gambling are still one step ahead of regulation; and child creators lack basic rights when it comes to intellectual property.

But to properly understand gaming in 2025 we first need to understand the lived experiences of child gamers themselves – with this also giving us a firm basis to begin asking some important questions, and demanding answers.

Talking points:

What does direct research with children reveal about gaming and age-appropriate game design?
Why is it that, within gaming, children aren’t viewed as serious creators with intellectual property rights?
Is the industry now so problematic that we require a gaming regulator – and what might good regulation in such a complex space actually look like?

10. Everyday Digital – a media literacy programme that works

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Media literacy. It’s at the core of a three-year strategy from Ofcom, featured in DSIT’s ‘Digital Inclusion Action Plan’ and looks set to make more than just a fleeting appearance in the reviewed curriculum this autumn. It’s also one means of combating mis- and disinformation as well as online financial harms and misogyny. In short, it’s being recognised by many – and rightly so – as essential.

Designed to build critical media literacy skills across UK communities, Everyday Digital is a national media literacy programme from Parent Zone and originally funded by DSIT. The programme helps parents to understand media literacy and build simple habits which can be incorporated into their everyday lives – and those of their children.

In this episode, Vicki is joined by Everyday Digital expert and member of the Parent Zone team, Megan Rose to discuss what’s next for the programme, including how it’s being scaled to meet a growing need, and how professionals can get involved.

Talking points:

Are parents really ever ‘hard to reach’ or do we just need more media literacy initiatives in the supermarket?
What impact did evaluation show Everyday Digital to have, and why do we need to move away from endless pilots?
With risks and harms evolving (alongside our responses to them) what’s next for Everyday Digital – and Parent Zone more generally?

9. EdTech: “Big Tech in a school uniform”?

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0100

After a shift to online learning during COVID-19, EdTech – everything from digital whiteboards and eBooks to Google Classroom and virtual reality equipment – is an industry that’s gone from strength to strength in terms of size, scope and profitability.

But as the UK is beginning to see a narrative form around the virtues of a ‘screen free’ childhood and, further abroad, countries like Sweden move back to more ‘traditional’ methods of teaching, many parents are left questioning the current use of EdTech and its effect on their children.

To help understand how we should approach the growing presence of EdTech, as well as what ‘good’ EdTech might look like, Vicki is joined by Natalia Kucirkova, Professor of Early Childhood and Development at the University of Stavanger, Norway, and Director of the International Centre for EdTech Impact.

Talking points:

Could possible harms warrant us taking the ‘precautionary principle’ when it comes to EdTech in schools?
How exactly does ‘transparency’, ‘accountability’, and ‘fairness’ play into principles of ‘ethical’ EdTech?
Is independent research and evaluation really enough to keep Big Tech accountable?

8. Violence against women and girls: what’s needed for change?

Wed, 21 May 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Easily accessed tech like generative AI can facilitate the nudification of another's images, platforms’ hate speech policies around gender are suddenly being watered-down, and misogynistic content remains amplified (and deeply profitable) for those that peddle it.

The need to respond to online violence against women and girls is obvious. But where does the solution lie? Can cyberflashing and deepfake offences dissuade people who think it's ‘fine’ to objectify women? Should victims be expected to endlessly use online safety tools to deal with harassment? And can increasing the media literacy levels of some young men really unravel a wider culture where, for many, abuse is the norm?

In this episode, Vicki is joined by psychology professors and co-leads at the Centre for Protecting Women Online, Rose Capdevila and Lisa Lazard. Together, they’ll be undertaking a difficult discussion of how we might actually begin tackling violence against women and girls.

Talking points:

Given their experiences and often ear-to-the-ground knowledge of online culture, how do we bring more young voices into the conversation?
As issues seem to increase in severity and scale, are parents left feeling like abstinence from tech is the answer to keeping children safe?
Is there too much emphasis on dealing with online violence only after the fact? If so, how do we adopt a preventative approach that works more upstream?

7. Is tech destroying our attention spans?

Wed, 07 May 2025 00:00:00 +0100

In the ‘information age’ it’s easy to find any number of resources and strong opinions. This makes it more crucial than ever that we're able to filter out the noise and access evidence and information that's of a high standard and digestible.

As heated debates around tech continue – including its impact on attention spans and social media ‘addiction’ – what does the research actually say, and how can we best access it?

In this episode, Vicki is joined by researcher, popular science author and Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Utrecht University, Stefan Van der Stigchel to help answer these questions. They’ll also be discussing why robust, accessible science can help minimise easy answers, flimsy claims and viewing things through a binary lens.

Talking points:

What do we really mean when we talk of ‘attention’ and ‘concentration’ and just how do they differ?
Why is the ‘Like’ button – among other features – so problematic, and how could insights from cognitive psychology guide positive design choices?
How should consumers go about separating the good popular science from the not-so-good popular science?

6. Family vlogging, young people’s perspectives and the response ‘across the pond’

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Awareness of emerging harms gradually develops and debates around smartphone bans and social media restrictions for children are ongoing. At the same time, the series 'Adolescence' has been turning these sorts of conversations national.

With all this in mind, are we doing enough to understand the lived experiences and perspectives of young people themselves? VoiceBox is an organisation who help do just that – giving young people around the world a platform to have their say on what impacts them most, and briefing other organisations on insights and trends.

In this episode, director of VoiceBox Natalie Foos joins Vicki to offer the youth perspective on the phenomenon of ‘sharenting’ and family vlogging: something that looks increasingly part of children and young people’s lives.

Talking points:

Just how widespread is online sharenting, and how much does the average family vlogger earn?
As US states pass legislation protecting the legal and financial interests of children, should we now ask if family vlogging is acceptable in the first place?
Given the unavoidable power dynamic between parent and child, can children really consent to have their image and experiences shared?

5. What's next for the Online Safety Act?

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0100

With Ofcom's duties and guidance around illegal harms and content, services’ transparency, the safety of women and girls, as well as the protection of children all being published in 2025, it’s undoubtedly an important year for the implementation of the Online Safety Act.

But with geopolitics becoming more unstable, tech companies pivoting in controversial ways – including Meta rewriting its policies on ‘hateful conduct’ and removing fact-checkers – and tech like generative AI becoming part of daily life, we have to ask: is the Act too vulnerable to external changes, and can it actually regulate the online world?

The Online Safety Act Network was set up to connect and inform civil society organisations on the status of the Act and its implementation. In this episode, the Network’s director, Maeve Walsh joins Vicki to help assess how the Act is faring currently, and how it might possibly fare in the future.

Talking points:

To what extent are Ofcom overlooking safety-by-design measures in favour of addressing harms that have already occurred?
Why are ‘small but risky’ services so controversial in the context of the Online Safety Act?
How might the Government strengthen the Act against both global developments and developments in tech?

4. Schools and emerging tech: a new era of sexual harassment and abuse?

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

As both the sophistication and accessibility of AI is on the up, the ease in which someone can create and share realistic deepfakes involving ‘non-consensual intimate images’ increases also. Worryingly, schools and education settings aren't exempt from this trend.

To add to this, UCL’s Institute of Education found that – of young people who have experienced this sort of image-based sexual harassment – only 2% reported it to their school.

Kristin Woelfel is policy counsel at the Centre for Democracy and Technology. She’s also co-author of a 2024 report which, through a large-scale poll of students, teachers and parents investigated non-consensual image sharing and deepfakes. In this episode, she joins Vicki to discuss the report’s findings and to unpack this issue further.

Talking points:

As emerging tech facilitates new possible harms, are schools actually equipped to deal with evolving forms of harassment and abuse?
How should we respond when children and young people themselves are perpetrators of sexual harassment?
As a first line of defence when it comes to these risks and harms, do parents have the information they need, or are they not yet part of the conversation?

3. Understanding ‘good enough’ parenting and toddlers' tech use

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Research shows that consistent, authoritative at-home parenting impacts children’s learning and educational outcomes. At times though, a prevailing culture within education can mean parents receive insufficient support, and are even unfairly labelled and criticised.

Similarly, the false narrative that very young children don’t use digital technology can be another obstacle to understanding not just the nature of their tech use, but also its possible benefits when it comes to learning and development.

In episode three of season 10, Vicki is joined by Janet Goodall – researcher and Professor of Education at Swansea University’s School of Social Science – to discuss all things parental engagement, as well as her recent work into early years’ tech use.

Talking points:

In the context of children’s learning, is there really such a thing as ‘best practice’ when it comes to parental engagement?
How can schools do more to support parental engagement, and are they overly constrained by current models of measuring parents’ involvement?
What are the issues of mythologising a ‘tech-free’ past when it comes to young children?

2. Early years digital media literacy: new report highlights significant gaps

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Children grow up surrounded by technology – engaging with it from birth. But how do we help parents with information, evidence-based advice and support so that those early interactions can lay the foundations for positive engagement as children grow?

Supported by the Nuffield Foundation, the ‘Early years digital media literacy review’ is a new report from Parent Zone. It scopes out existing – or without giving too much away, the absence of – early years interventions: the sorts of initiatives that could foster both digital media literacy and the benefits of tech.

To help unpack the findings of this research and to explore the topic further, Vicki is joined by Eleanor Ireland, Programme Head at the Nuffield Foundation; Lucy Betts professor in Social Development Psychology at Nottingham Trent University; and Melanie Pilcher, Quality and Standards Manager at the Early Years Alliance.

Talking points

Just what is ‘digital media literacy’ in the context of the early years and why is it overlooked?
To support parents now, can we develop and test interventions all whilst building a necessary evidence base?
Collaboration’ is usually championed as an important lever for change – but what might this look like practically, and in this context?

1. Time for a change? Talking Child Financial Harms with Adam Groves

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Tech Shock podcast hits double digits as it returns for its 10th season. As always, Vicki will be joined this season by a whole host of expert guests to talk all things tech, as well as taking a deep dive into new research by Parent Zone.

Expect fascinating discussions around AI-generated sexual harassment in schools; ‘good enough’ parenting; violence against women and girls; and some current pros and pitfalls of the Online Safety Act.

In this episode Nominet’s social impact lead, Adam Groves, joins Vicki to kick off season 10. They’ll be exploring Parent Zone's new report on parental attitudes to the wide-reaching (but enormously overlooked) issue of ‘child financial harms’.

Talking points:

Once we properly appreciate harm through a financial lens, are current systems and responses failing?
Why (and to what extent) does parents’ understanding of these harms differ from what children actually experience?
If all manner of digital environments and design choices can facilitate child financial harms, how can we begin doing better?

7. Season round-up with VoiceBox’s Natalie Foos

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

VoiceBox is an organisation that specialises in youth content and consultation – showcasing the talent of young creators globally. They also ensure that the youth perspective is heard through their independent research and work with tech firms, government bodies and other decision-makers.

After attending the WeProtect global summit in Abu Dhabi this December, VoiceBox director Natalie Foos joins Vicki for the final episode of season nine. Together they unpack the recent WeProtect event, discuss some of VoiceBox’s exciting past (and future) work, and offer up some notable moments from this season of Tech Shock.

Talking points:

What themes and concerns emerged around online child sexual exploitation and abuse at the WeProtect summit?
Does online youth participation have to bring with it the current difficulties of social media, or is an alternative model available?
What developments and issues are actually on young people’s radars – both within the world of tech, and beyond it?

6. Digital resilience, wellbeing and the online world

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Digital resilience involves understanding possible risks online, knowing where to get help and having the support to recover when things go wrong, and learning from experiences.

But some emerging harms can begin to shift online safety discussions away from digital resilience and more towards bans, regulation and abstinence – particularly when harms are considered to severely affect wellbeing and mental health.

In this episode, Vicki is joined by professor of Human Behaviour and Technology at the University of Oxford, Andy Przybylski. They discuss the relevance of digital resilience today as well as what research actually says about the impact of internet use on individuals.

Talking points:

Is describing some levels of tech use as an ‘addiction’ problematic, and are there better ways to begin thinking about it?
What is the ‘Goldilocks theory’ of screen time and wellbeing?
In the midst of a shift towards restrictions and regulation, does existing evidence actually support bans?

5. AI’s role in mental health support?

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

AI chatbots are becoming increasingly sophisticated in how they interact with users. The insights afforded by AI tools can also be used to streamline workflows and improve efficiency across a range of organisations and their services.

With the NHS reporting that one in five children and young people in England had a ‘probable mental disorder’ in 2023, have we reached a point where AI innovations could – or should – be used to help cope with a seemingly ever-growing demand for support?

The Mix is one example of a youth advice and support service who have previously integrated AI into their work. In this episode, Vicki is joined by The Mix CEO Chris Martin to unpack the benefits (and possible pitfalls) of AI innovations in the charity sector.

Talking points:

Is AI suited to tackle the demand for mental health support or is ‘efficiency’ another word for ‘cheap’?
How might support bots that are personalised – and potentially indistinguishable from real people – be problematic?
What more is needed to unlock AI's potential in support services as well as beyond them?

4. From child rights to regulation: are we in a good place?

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

As the online world continues to develop, possible risks and harms do too. Business models can encourage the promotion of harmful content via algorithms, and children’s data is too often viewed as a commodity. Often, legislation is left scrambling to keep up with tech – and even when it’s successfully passed, evidence ‘supporting’ it can be conflicting (or simply lacking). In-between all this, the rights of children can be sidelined or infringed upon.

But are we yet in a good place for tackling some of these challenges? And if not, where next?

Helping Vicki answer this question is Sonia Livingstone, professor at the London School of Economics and Director of the Digital Futures for Children Centre.

Talking points:

How can regulation stay relevant in a world of generative AI and ‘innovation at speed’?
Between parental controls and age verification, are we forgetting to ask key questions about child rights?
Should we be following Australia in raising the digital age of consent, or does research say otherwise?

3. Digital parenting and monitoring technology

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The use of technology to assist with parenting is something that’s becoming a social norm. It's easy to understand why: parents want to know what their children are doing online, where they are when they're out of sight and what digital content they're being exposed to. Knowing your child is safe is the most fundamental of all parenting priorities.

But digital parenting, particularly when it involves monitoring technology, raises questions around children’s rights to privacy. This use of technology may also (somewhat counterintuitively) impact family dynamics and wellbeing in negative ways. Far from supporting conversations it might be making them less constructive.

This week Vicki is joined by Ekaterina Hertog and Jun Zhao from the University of Oxford and Netta Weinstein from the University of Reading – co-authors on a recent research paper exploring ‘data-driven parenting’ – to discuss this in more detail, to consider some of the issues surrounding it, and explore the concept of a ‘good digital society’.

Talking points:

Is digital parenting technology altering – or even replacing – things like communication and open discussion?
Does monitoring technology prevent children from learning to self-regulate behaviours and make good decisions?
Even with safety as its aim, does digital parenting infringe on a child’s right to privacy or are parents getting the balance right?

2. Mark Weinstein, privacy, anonymity and surveillance capitalism

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Surveillance capitalism – the gathering, analysis and use of personal information to influence people and sell things – arguably requires losses in (or infringements on) privacy to work best.

At the same time, anonymity online can bring its own risks: it may facilitate trolling as well as the spread of mis- and disinformation. User anonymity might also undermine age restrictions on online platforms and content.

In this episode, Vicki is joined by privacy advocate and author Mark Weinstein to discuss this possible conflict between privacy and anonymity, as well as user IDs and user data in the age of AI, and behaviour modelling when it comes to tech use and critical thinking.

Talking points:

How have privacy infringements changed since the early days of the internet?
Are user IDs really the answer to issues surrounding anonymity and privacy?
Can children be taught responsible tech use within a culture of restriction and abstinence?

1. The Annual Cyber Survey with Adrienne Katz

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Tech Shock returns for its 9th season and we invite a range of expert guests to explore the tech landscape post-Online Safety Act – as well as emerging trends and possible harms.

Our first guest this season is director of Youthworks Adrienne Katz. She joins Vicki to unpack the findings from Youthwork’s Annual Cyber Survey, which, having run since 2008, aims to capture just what it’s like for young people growing up and living in the online world.

Talking points:

to what extent can we really attribute a rise in mental health issues to tech use?
what role does gender play in how exploratory, risk-taking or media literate young people are online?
what factors influence young people’s digital resilience and recovery from harm?

Smartphone bans: the professional perspective

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Just two weeks ago a report from The Education Select Committee recommended that, post-election, the new government consider additional measures around screen time – and smartphone use – for children.

Having previously heard from both parents and young people on the topic of a smartphone ban for under-16s, this Tech Shock special now turns its focus onto some expert viewpoints.

In this episode, Vicki is joined by a member of the Parent Zone Studio to explore contributions from both education and mobile industry professionals.

Talking points:

Who could be held accountable – or even criminalised – for not adhering to a smartphone ban?
Is there really such a thing as a ‘dumb’ phone?
What impact could bans have on households where smartphones are the only route online?

Smartphone bans: what are young people saying?

Mon, 20 May 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Part two of this Tech Shock special discusses the possibility – and possible impact – of a smartphone ban for under-16s.

Having previously heard from parents, this week Vicki is joined by Anna Lindsay from youth-content platform VoiceBox to get a measure of what young people themselves think about the issue.

Talking points:

Can you build resilience in an ecosystem of bans and prohibitions?
Are we consulting young people enough on legislation that impacts them? Could – or should – this process be more collaborative?
What do young people feel they would lose if using smartphones were no longer an option?

9. Bonus episode - The minimal digital living standard

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0100

A minimal digital living standard is a benchmark. It refers to both a level of digital skills and access to tech that can appropriately meet an individual’s basic needs – not just ‘nice-to-haves’. It involves things like communication and connection with others, and the ability to engage with opportunities and digital services adequately and safely.

This week, Vicki is joined by Dr Emma Stone, director of evidence and engagement at the Good Things Foundation; professor of Digital Culture at the University of Liverpool, Simeon Yates; and Dr Chloe Blackwell from the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University to look at what a minimal digital living standard might look like in practice.

Talking points:

What goes into constructing a metric like the ‘minimal digital living standard’?
Is grasping relative differences between groups the key to understanding digital inclusion and exclusion?
How can – or how should – policymakers and organisations begin to use this benchmark in their work?

https://mdls.org.uk/publications/

Smartphone bans for under-16s: the parent perspective

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Just months after the DfE announced guidance on mobile phone use in schools, the possibility of a smartphone ban for under-16s is being actively discussed.

Support for bans like these can, at least initially, be very strong – but also nuanced.

In a slight change of format for Tech Shock, Vicki is joined by a member of the Parent Zone Studio to share and discuss the parent perspective; based on contributions we’ve had directly from parents themselves.

Talking points:

is support for smartphone bans more ‘knee-jerk’ than much needed?
are smartphones detrimental to socialising or do they facilitate another form of it?
how might such a ban impact user safety, education and the practicality of everyday life?

7. Season roundup, with VoiceBox

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Natalie Foos, director of the youth content platform VoiceBox joins Vicki to provide some young people’s perspectives on the hot (or tricky) topics from Tech Shock's season 8.

Talking points:

In a year where half the world could be at the polls, how equipped are young people to avoid disinformation?
As social platforms and online games are increasingly built to engage and retain, how autonomous can young users feel online?
With tech developments moving so fast, do young people feel like regulation is an impossibility?

6. The secrets of search

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 18:00:00 +0000

This week Vicki talks to Emma Higham, product management lead on Google's Search Child's Safety Portfolio about some of the exciting new tools they've been working on.

Talking points

Every family is different so how do tech companies create safety tools that work for everyone?
What is LEO and why is it important?
How does search think about people looking for information at vulnerable moments?

5. Young people and the emerging gender divide

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

From incels to Andrew Tate, young people are increasingly exposed to debates around gender when online.

This week, Vicki is joined by Rosie Campbell, professor of politics and director of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership at King's College London to discuss the topic of gender in the digital age.

Talking points:

What do we really mean when we talk of the ‘gender divide’?
How is social media making the topic of gender more polarised, and more profitable (for some)?
What’s the relationship between views on gender and who we vote for at the polls?

4. The debate surrounding screen time, with Pete Etchells

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This week Vicki is joined by Pete Etchells, professor of Psychology and Science Communication at Bath Spa University to discuss the topic of screen time and some of the debate that surrounds it.

Talking points:

What is ‘screen time’, and how hard is it to accurately measure?
Why do we tend to look at tech through a harmful lens, and does this stand in the way of digitally flourishing?
Do some policies just help us avoid thinking about children’s tech use?

3. The ‘wicked problem’ of child financial harms

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Our 2023 research found that young people aged 13-18 spend over £50m online each week. But this financial autonomy could mean increased exposure to harms like scams, gambling, influencer marketing, and criminal exploitation.

This week Vicki is joined by Maya Daver-Massion and Zixuan Fu, part of the security and online safety team at PUBLIC to shed more light on ‘child financial harms’.

Talking points:

What exactly makes child financial harms such a ‘wicked problem’ to solve?
Other sorts of harm are always on the radar. So why are finance-related harms so often overlooked?
Is systemic change needed to tackle child financial harms, and, if so, where do we start?

2. Katie Davis

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki talks to Dr. Katie Davis , Associate Professor at the University of Washington about what happens when technology intersects with child development and why good enough parenting really is good enough.

How are online platforms designed and what sort of design leads to certain behaviours?
When does technology support child development and when does it get in the way?
What does AI mean for human agency?

1. Has media literacy’s time finally come?

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In 2024, the year of many elections, governments across the world are bracing themselves for an onslaught of disinformation. Vicki and Geraldine talk to Professor Julian McDougall of Bournemouth University about whether media literacy is finally poised to break free of its Cinderella status.

Talking points:

Why do politicians both sneer at media literacy and grab onto it as the answer to online harms?
How do you measure the impact of media literacy when success is so often about what doesn’t happen?
Much of social media is more emotional than rational. How does any kind of formal education counter that?

7. Sharenting

Mon, 27 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to sharenting expert Claire Bessant about the pros and cons of posting about your children online.

Talking points:

Are parental influencers who post about their children doing anything different from families down the centuries whose children have worked on the family farm?
Is there any point in talking about consent when children are being required to consent to their parents?
Even if you’re careful not to post anything about your children in public spaces online, could schools be spreading information about them?

6. A problem hiding in plain sight?

Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine discuss Parent Zone’s latest research into financial harms to children online. Is this a category of harms that we’ve simply overlooked? And if so, why?

We tend to think children aren’t doing much financially online, but how true is this
When children get scammed online, why are they often reluctant to tell anyone?
Young people told us that many of them were acting illegally online. Is the internet normalising lawlessness?

5. The respectable face of the porn industry?

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to clinical psychologist Elly Hanson about OnlyFans, which has done such a good marketing job that it's been popping up at child protection conferences. But should it be there? What do we really know about the streaming site that combines porn and prostitution?

Talking points:

Is OnlyFans changing young people’s sexual scripts?
What does the psychological research tell us about the impact of the objectification that’s central to OnlyFans?
Young women advertising themselves as ’teens’ are especially popular on the site. Do we have to accept that this is simply male sexuality, or is something else going on?
Why are the connections made on OnlyFans never authentic, despite the site pushing the ‘girlfriend experience’?

4. Money muling

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Tracey Carpenter of Cifas, the organisation that runs the UK fraud database, about the alarming rise in the numbers of children involved in fraud.

Talking points:

Why are children susceptible to being recruited as money mules?
How does money muling work when children are involved?
How should we respond when children are being exploited and at the same time are committing crimes?
What are the consequences if a young person is put on the fraud database?

3. Romancing the bot

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Natalie Foos, director of Voicebox, about the site’s new report on young people forming relationships with AI chatbots.

Talking points:

Should you feel jealous if your partner falls in love with an AI?
Why were the chatbots Voicebox investigated sending unprompted sexually explicit messages?
Can AI bots help with loneliness? Or are they commodifying our most personal and human feelings?

2. The woman behind the Online Safety Act

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Lorna Woods, Professor of Internet Law and a chief begetter of the Online Safety Act about how it started with a brie and cranberry sandwich and where it’s gone from there.

Talking points:

How far has Lorna’s central idea, developed with Will Perrin of Carnegie, survived the turbulent politics of the last five years?
Will the Act deal with addictive design and the cumulative impact of pieces of content that, taken individually, might not look that harmful?
Is there a lawyer’s answer to the collision of the fundamental rights of children and adults thrown up by the growth of end-to-end encryption, which allows for untraceable sharing of child sexual abuse material? (Spoiler: there is!)
Are parents going to be overwhelmed by safety tools - their own and their children’s?

1. New technologies, new worries?

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100

In the first episode of a new series, Vicki and Geraldine take a look at the issues that will be looming large in tech for families over the coming months. We cover the metaverse - or, as Vicki prefers to call it, online immersive experiences; we consider how much money children are spending, making, and losing online; and we look at the implications of AI for children’s privacy.

Talking points:

Is ‘remember to turn on your boundary settings’ about to become every parent’s mantra?
Are financial harms to children online a problem hiding in plain sight?
How much trickier is AI going to make being a good enough parent?

6. Sarah Drummond

Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the film maker and designer about how a design pattern library could bake in digital resilience to online products.

Talking points:

What is 'digital resilience' and is it a better way of thinking about safety than ‘online safety’?
Why do designers need patterns?
Can digital resilience designers learn from the way that 'inclusive design’ has gone mainstream?
Could design patterns for digital resilience offer ways of responding to the requirements of the Children’s Code and the Online Safety Bill?

5. Damian Collins

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the MP who has been a driving force through all the stages of the Online Safety Bill.

Talking points:

Given that the Online Safety Bill has had cross-party support, why has it taken such a very long time to become law?
The government accepted 70 recommendations by the Joint Scrutiny Committee, which Damian Collins chaired. What is he pleased about having altered?
Does he foresee further changes in response to amendments from the House of Lords?
Can the Bill withstand developments in technology like generative A

4. What exactly is media literacy?

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine discuss why media literacy is having a moment. When Parent Zone asked teachers to define media literacy, many couldn’t do so. What do we mean by media literacy - and what does it look like in practice?

Talking points:

Media literacy has been yoked to the Online Safety Bill from the outset - but now it’s been taken out of the Bill, to be dealt with elsewhere. Is the government downgrading media literacy?
What’s the difference between online safety and media literacy?
Is media literacy too abstract a concept?
Do governments really want their citizens to be media literate - or is that a bit too troublesome?

3. Jonathan Baggaley

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the Chief Executive of the PSHE Association about the current backlash against relationships and sex education. Has RSE fallen victim to the culture wars? Will the government’s review change sex education?

Talking points:

Are parents being told enough about what their children are being taught?
Are children, as claimed in parliament, being taught that there are 72 genders?
Should outside providers of RSE have other interests - either blogging about sex or, as in one case, selling sex toys?

2. Nick Poole

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the Chair of Wikimedia UK and Chief Executive of the Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals, Cilip, about media literacy, librarians, and libraries in an age of search engines and AI.

Talking points:

Why is media literacy having a moment, especially in government?
How are people supposed to develop media literacy when no one knows what it is?Why is Artificial Intelligence not actually very intelligent?

1. Does the Online Safety Bill rely on something unworkable?

Mon, 29 May 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine discuss Parent Zone’s paper, Tools: A False Hope?, looking at user empowerment tools, which are often seen as a 'silver bullet' in discussions about keeping both children and adults safe online. But will they actually work?

How long would it take to set up all the tools on all your favourite platforms and services? (Spoiler alert: quite a long while.)
How effective are tools anyway?
Who knows what happens to all the data that has to be collected for the tools to work?

8. Season Roundup: Are people in the know giving up on the Online Safety Bill?

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine chew over the issues raised in the latest season of podcasts, covering everything from football to affairs with Draco Malfoy.

Talking points:

Is establishing the principle of regulation worth flawed legislation?
How flawed is the Online Safety Bill, exactly?
What hope now for less racist hate speech and online violence against women and girls?
Can children truly be safe online if the rest of the internet remains toxic?
What do we get wrong about the way children live online?

7. Shift Tok: should you be worried?

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Natalie Foos, Director of Voice Box, about her fascinating report on Reality Shifting, a huge phenomenon (2bn+ views for the #RealityShifting hashtag) involving young people transferring their consciousness to their ‘desired reality’. More than daydreaming or fantasising (its adherents insist), it frequently involves inhabiting a parallel universe - Hogwarts is very popular - and can be so appealing that young people want to leave their ‘current reality’ altogether.

Talking points:

How is it different from daydreaming?
How do they do it?
Is it good for mental health or bad for mental health?

6. Is Chat GPT going to scupper online safety legislation before it’s even passed?

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Andy Burrows, freelance tech policy consultant and expert on child safety through his work with NSPCC. They discuss whether generative AI like Chat GPT could disrupt not only how teachers mark homework, but also all the efforts we have put into keeping children safe online

Talking points:

Are we making the same mistakes all over again with generative AI that we made before, retrofitting child safety only when it’s too late?
Is it possible to make the internet safe for children without making it much safer for adults?
How have the continued crises in the Conservative Party turned children’s safety into a political football?

5. What’s gone wrong with the Online Safety Bill?

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Ellen Judson of Demos and Kyle Taylor of Fair Vote, who say they can no longer support the Online Safety Bill. Both have been keen supporters of regulation. They talk us through what they see as various wrong turns for the Bill.

Talking points:

Why a separate internet for children could be a disaster.
Why the Online Safety Bill could turn the UK into a haven for disinformation.
Why banning content that’s illegal, rather than regulating for activity that’s legal but harmful, may look simpler, but actually makes the Bill much less likely to succeed.

4. Mariya Stoilova

Mon, 27 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the LSE academic working on the relationship between children’s digital skills and their mental health.

Talking points:

What we’ve got wrong about the links between being online and poor mental health.
How young people are gaming the algorithms to protect themselves
Can technical skills without critical thinking be dangerous for children?
Are age verification and blocking tools, as promised by the Online Safety Bill, the silver bullet for child protection that’s promised?

3. Seyi Akiwowo

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine speak to the founder of Glitch, the online charity campaigning to end hate speech online against women and girls with a particular focus on Black and minoritised communities.

Talking points:

When women become targets of online hate, why are they so often asked what they did to deserve it? Or told, ‘if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen'?
Why are we tolerant of behaviour online that we would never accept offline, whether it’s actually illegal or not?
How do we balance the need for self-care with not falling prey to the ‘get out of the kitchen’ narrative?
Why do pepetrators of online misogyny do what they do?
What hopes for a Code of Practice on hate speech against women and girls as an adjunct to the Online Safety Bill?

2. Sanjay Bhandari

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the CEO of Kick It Out about hate speech in football, online and off.

Talking points:

How can racism in football both be getting better and worse?
Is the problem in elite clubs or at grassroots?
Given what happened over LGBT rights at the World Cup, is Fifa fit for purpose?
Will the Online Safety Bill prioritise freedom from harm over freedom of reach?

1. Lynn Perry

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

As the Online Safety Bill returns to parliament, Vicki and Geraldine talk to the CEO of Barnardo’s, which supports many of Britain’s most vulnerable children, about how much difference it could make.

Talking points:

What would the world have looked like if previous policies to intervene early in children’s lives - like Sure Start - had continued at the same level?
Can regulation make the internet safer for vulnerable children without closing the doors on children’s exploration and expression online?
Why should age assurance for pornography be fast-tracked?

12. Return of the Online Safety Bill

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

As a revised Bill comes back to parliament under a new-look government, Vicki and Geraldine discuss what’s changed, and whether it’s for better or worse.
Talking points:

Where are we?
The ’triple shield’ - better than ‘legal but harmful'?
Can end-to-end encrypted messages ever be scanned for child sexual abuse material and terrorism without compromising privacy?
The Bill depends heavily on age assurance tools. How long is it going to take to get public buy-in?
Can you really protect children online if the internet remains a haven for adult hate speech and toxic content

11. Kat Dixon

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Kat Dixon, who spent the summer of 2022 exploring the ways data poverty damages people’s ability to live fully, as well as a host of really exciting local initiatives to counteract it.

Talking points:

Why you don’t have to be poor to experience data poverty.
Solutions to data poverty exist, but some are much less desirable than others. What makes the difference?
How far could a new national strategy for solving data poverty help with the UK’s crisis of low productivity?

10. Simeon Yates

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the Professor of Digital Culture at the University of Liverpool about why Britain has too narrow a view of digital literacy - and a quite shocking amount of digital illiteracy.

Talking points:

Why media literacy means understanding what data’s being collected about you and why.
Not everyone’s workplace requires digital skills. How can adults stay up to date?
Why are digital skills seen as something that’s good for us, rather than something that’s fun?

9. Natalia Kucirkova

Mon, 28 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the Professor of reading and children’s development at the Open University, an expert on children’s digital books. Are digital books the future of children’s reading?

- Can digital books appeal to a wider range of children than print books?

- Digital books have the potential to unlock the imagination and children’s creativity. Are they living up to their promise?

- There is an overlap between children’s digital books and games. Could books go the way of gaming and treat children as consumers, with constant nudges and inducements to spend money?

8. Ofcom’s Anna-Sophie Harling and Caroline Cason

Mon, 21 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Ofcom about regulating the internet. What have we learnt so far?
Talking points:

Why do parents help their children to dodge the system?
Can you keep legal but harmful content and protect children?
What can we learn from Ofcom’s regulation of video sharing platforms, which is already up and running?

Link to the Ofcom blog: How old is your child online?

7. Aiman El Aman

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to a psychiatrist from Kingston University who studies the relationship between children’s vulnerability and their likelihood of encountering online harm.

Talking points:

Which types of vulnerability predict which harms?
Why is better mental health the key to breaking the link between vulnerability and online harm?
Why are rules not very useful in helping children to avoid online risk?

6. Kira Allman

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 10:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to digital inequalities expert Kira Allman, recently appointed Senior Digital Policy Officer at Manchester City Council, about why we so often get ‘the digital divide’ wrong, why thinking of digital infrastructure as being like water is helpful, and the prospects for AI that works for human beings.

Talking points:

What’s the point of local digital policies when the internet is global?
Why the digital divide is a rubbish concept.
How exclusion is baked into technology.

5. Gay and Roxy Longworth

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to a mother and daughter, authors of a new book, When You Lose It, about the devastating consequences they suffered when Roxy was bullied into sending nudes to older boys at school. The pair are brutally honest about what happened, which included Roxy's being sectioned with psychosis. Despite their ordeal, the story is an uplifting one because it shows how resilient young people and families can be.

Talking points:

Is the whole business of sending nudes fundamentally misogynistic?
How do parents deal with situations where children have done something they know their parents will deeply disapprove of?
Is the sending of nudes really about sex, or something else?

4. Conference!

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine look back at Digital Families 2022, held live at the RSA and streamed online, talking through speaker insights and their fave bits.

Talking points:

Media literacy and regulation: where does the balance lie between providers and users for safety and thriving online?
Why pornography is extreme surveillance capitalism.
How children’s playgrounds are becoming rapaciously commercial.

3. Sam Gilbert

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the expert on Crypto, Web 3 and the Metaverse about what the future is going to look like - and learn it might involve child labour.

Talking points:

Should Parent Zone be getting into Crypto?
What are the online harms of the future web?
Is the future of the web the financialisation of all our relationships?

2. Callum Hood

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Callum Hood, Head of Research at the Center for Countering Digital Hate, about their recently published report on incels.

Talking points:

How is incel culture linked to body image and unemployment support for young men?
How is the demeaning of older women is associated with child sexual abuse?
How to explain the paradox that incel communities can be inventive and creative yet utterly nihilistic?

1. Damon de Ionno

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the Managing Director of Revealing Reality, the organisation researching technology, media and online harms for the DCMS, Ofcom and others. They cover the sending and sharing of nude images, the possible ditching of ‘legal but harmful’ from the Online Safety Bill, and the shortcomings of age assurance.

Talking points:

How has sending nude images become both routine and a form of abuse?
Sex positivity: an aspect of privilege?
Why boys and girls have different assumptions about sharing nude images.
Should ‘legal but harmful’ be replaced by ideas about context and volume?
Age assurance - why parents help their children get around it.

16. Season roundup

Mon, 23 May 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine look back on the latest Tech Shock season and talk about how its themes intersect with Parent Zone’s wider work.

Talking points:

Why has media literacy become the buzzword of the moment?
Are we about to see the end of children freely accessing hardcore pornogoraphy?
Does gaming need its own regulator?

15. Faith Rogow

Mon, 16 May 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the leading expert on media literacy about the need to make the very youngest children aware of how the digital world works.

Talking points:

Why start media literacy before children can even read?
How do we make young children question information without making them suspicious of the world around them?
Functional illiteracy has remained stubbornly high in the UK for decades - can media literacy do better?

14. Heather Wardle

Mon, 09 May 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to a leading researcher about whether children are being groomed to gamble.

Talking points:

Why has gambling become so important to gaming?
Are gambling laws inadequate for the age of the internet?
Does exposing children to online gambling mean more problem gamblers in future?

13. Elly Hanson

Mon, 02 May 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to a leading researcher into the effects of pornography about how some of the most sophisticated technology companies on the planet are manipulating human sexuality for profit.

Talking points:

Do parents underestimate the scale and nature of the pornography children are seeing?
Are boys and girls affected equally?
Why is liberal vs conservative or sex-positive vs censorship now an inadequate way of looking at the pornography debate?
How is pornography increasing bad behaviour in the workplace?

12. John Carr

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to John Carr, writer, campaigner and adviser to charities and governments, about whether the UK is finally about to see laws to stop children accessing online pornography.

Talking points:

Why has the government been so slow about stopping children accessing pornography online?
Is the Online Safety Bill going to protect children effectively?
Is proposed end-to-end encryption of major messaging services going to hide child sexual exploitation and abuse?

11. Marc Feldman and Natalie Foos

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0100

As Voice Box publishes a report on Munchausen Syndrome by Internet, Vicki and Geraldine speak to the lead author, Natalie Foos, and the world’s foremost expert on the disorder, Dr Marc Feldman.

Talking points:

Trolling or mental health disorder?
Why are so many mental health organisations nervous of talking about Munchausen by internet?
What are the warning signs that someone is faking a disorder online?

10. Michelle Drouin

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0100

We’re obsessed with our phones and we’re obsessed with relationships. Vicki and Geraldine talk to the academic who studies how one is changing the other.

Talking points:

When you’re watching TV and your partner picks up their phone, should you put the television on pause?
Back-burner partners: how technology is encouraging us to keep our romantic options open.
Facebook is increasingly cited in divorces. Has it become too easy to cheat?

9. Frank Kelly

Mon, 04 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0100

This week’s guest is the lead researcher of a recent report for the Royal Society, The Online Information Environment. Frank Kelly, Professor of the Mathematics of Systems at Cambridge University, talks to Vicki and Geraldine about scientific misinformation.

Talking points:

Who decides what’s scientific misinformation anyway?
Why taking down disinformation can make matters worse.
How going for a babyccino could set your child on the path to mathematical competence and scientific literacy.

8. Tim Gill

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Geraldine talks to Tim Gill, expert on children’s play, about the links between physical play and playing online.

Talking points:

What can children learn about navigating the internet from climbing trees?
Why are playgrounds a problem?
How do you tell the difference between a big, dangerous risk and a good, resilience-building risk?

7. Pernille Tranberg

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the Danish writer and think-tanker, Pernille Tranberg, about her work helping children understand why data privacy matters.

Talking points:

Why we're all public figures now.
Is encryption the answer?
Will we end up age-gating the internet?

6. Virginia Dignum

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Virginia Dignum, author of Responsible Artificial Intelligence, about how not to be afraid of robots.

Talking points:

What is AI anyway?
How to design AI for human values when humans don’t agree?
Will the robots take our jobs?
How like us are robots?

5. Joe Miller

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the Founder and CEO of the Washington Center for Technology Policy Inclusion (Washing Tech) about how to bring diverse voices into tech policy.

Talking points:

Mark Zuckerberg: an Alexander the Great for our times?
What’s the problem with legislation to protect consumers ignoring race and gender?
Will the Supreme Court block efforts to reduce online hate speech in the US?

4. Lulu Freemont

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki talks to the Head of Regulation at Tech UK about the possible unintended consequences of the Online Safety Bill, and what to do about online fraud.
Talking points:

What might be the unintended consequences of the Online Safety Bill?
Will regulation stifle tech innovation in the UK?
Can law enforcement ever get as digitally sophisticated as the fraudsters?

3. David Zendle

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the leading researcher into the links between gaming and gambling, Dr David Zendle, about why, increasingly, playing means paying.

Talking points:

Are loot boxes in some of the world’s most popular online games a gateway to gambling for children
With billions of dollars washing through online gaming every year, why aren’t alarm bells ringing about money laundering?
Why have games turned from playthings into sales platforms?

2. Rachel de Souza

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza.

Talking points:

- Why are young children easily able to access violent pornography?
- How could PSHE do a better job at countering rape culture?
- Why is the energy and enthusiasm of parents not better supported to help children?

1. Charles Kriel

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

To kick off our latest series, the disinformation expert Dr Charles Kriel talks to Vicki and Geraldine about how yoga mums have been drawn to Covid disinformation and QAnon.

Talking points:

- Why has the far right been so good at drawing in unlikely allies, from churches to natural health practitioners?
- What turns a suburban mum who does yoga into believing the world is run by a cabal of paedophiles?
- Why is the hashtag #SaveTheChildren so dangerous?

13. Geraldine and Vicki round up the season

Mon, 13 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine review podcast highlights from 2021

Talking points:

What have we learnt about the Online Safety Bill?
What will we be talking about next year - and does it have to be the metaverse?
Are we optimistic looking ahead to 2022?

12. Caroline Dinenage MP

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki talks to Caroline Dinenage MP for Gosport and former Minister at the DCMS about her hopes for the Online Safety Bill and the future of the internet.

Talking points:

Is the Online Safety Bill actually going to work or will it push children to less safe corners of the digital world?
Why have parents been left out of the bill?
What will success look like - what can we hope for in the future?

11. Nejra van Zalk

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Nejra van Zalk is a psychologist working in the Dyson School of Engineering at Imperial College, London. Vicki and Geraldine talk to her about the contribution psychologists can make to how we experience our online lives.

Talking points:

How much are we making our own decisions when we're online?
Why are we cavalier about giving away our data online, even when we care about privacy?
Could online platforms and services actually improve young people’s mental health?
Will we have to sacrifice some convenience online for our own good?

10. Poppy Wood

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the UK director of Reset about how to fix the online world.

Talking points:

When it comes to legislating for internet safety, why do parents so often get left out?
Is all the talk about digital literacy fundamentally a kind of victim-blaming?
How do we stop online harms without infringing freedom of speech?

9. William Perrin

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the man responsible for an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes shaping of the Online Safety Bill about whether we’re finally about to get an internet that feels a bit less like the setting for a Mad Max movie.

Talking points:

Are we about to enter the public health era of the internet?
What impact has the Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen had?
In a Bill that’s squarely aimed at protecting children, why don’t parents get a mention?

8. Tracey Follows

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the futurist Tracey Follows, author of The Future of You, about the internet’s potential to undermine our sense of who we are.

Talking points:

How can we think clearly about the future when tech is so full of surprises?
Does tech lead to authoritarian governments?
Should you do a genetic test?

7. Olaf Kapella

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Olaf Kapella, who has been researching families with younger children for the EU, about why parents matter matter so much to their children’s digital lives.

Talking points:

The research found there were three different ways of dealing with tech and younger children - which type of family are you?
Is screen time the right way to think about setting rules for online activity?
Is it a good idea for tech to be used as punishment and reward?
Can avoiding tech actually make children more vulnerable?

6. Emily Oster

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Emily Oster, the New York Times bestselling author of Cribsheet and, now, The Family Firm, about how data can help us make better parenting decisions.

Talking points:

Is it possible to take some of the emotions out of parenting choices?
What does data tell us about screen time?
Why, when thinking about your child’s day, you should start with sleep.

5. Jonathan Baggaley and Voice Box

Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:00:00 +0100

As Voice Box publishes its report, Digital wellbeing, Vicki and Geraldine talk to Jonathan Baggaley, Chief Executive of the PSHE Association, and Natalie Foos and Lottie Gimlette of Voice Box about the highs and lows for young people online.

Talking points

Given the data on young people and pornography, why isn’t more being done?
What's causing the epidemic of anxiety in young people?
What kinds of conversations should parents be having with young people?

4. Carissa Veliz

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to the author of Privacy is Power about toxic data.

Talking points:

Are you not getting jobs because of your secret data file?
What’s wrong with the argument that data collection doesn’t matter if you’ve got nothing to hide?
What links online data brokers with the creators of the subprime mortgage market who were behind the 2008 financial crash?

3. How brain science can help with parenting teens

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine ask Dr John Coleman, author of The Teacher And The Teenage Brain, whether recent advances in neuroscience can help parents understand and manage their teenagers’ online lives

Talking points:

Why carrot may be better than stick
The teenage brain - a perfect storm for online addiction?
OK, so we know a bit more about the teenage brain - can that be turned into strategies for making family life happier?

2. Is social media creating a tipping point for the world?

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0100

As the Wall St Journal reports that Facebook knew Instagram was making girls unhappy but did nothing, Vicki and Geraldine talk to Charles Arthur, tech journalist and author of Social Warming, a comprehensive history and analysis of why our relationship with social media is so often dysfunctional.

Talking points:

Is social media making most young people feel like losers?

’Trans women are women’, ‘abortion at 8 weeks is murder’, we need critical race theory’ - why are these scissor statements?

When is free speech really closing-down speech?

1. Is AI already taking over?

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0100

What is AI exactly? How is it different from the algorithms we know and live with? In the first episode of the new series, Vicki and Geraldine ask Carly Kind, director of the Ada Lovelace Institute, whether we should be panicked?

Talking points:

Are we guinea pigs for a great AI experiment?
Is AI affecting children’s lives?
How can we work out what AI is doing to us?

33: Why is there so much sexual harassment in schools?

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine discuss the recent Ofsted report into sexual harassment of girls and ask how much is down to what happens online?

Talking points:

- How significant is it that young children are being exposed to hardcore porn?
- Why - apparently - can nothing be done to stop this?
- What can parents do?

32: How is tech changing parenting?

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Professor Victoria Nash, new director of the Oxford Internet Institute.

Is tech undermining parental instinct?
What could the government be doing better when it comes to regulating tech companies?
The new Online Safety Bill relies on technical solutions - will they actually work?

31: Are we punishing children online?

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Amanda Third of Western Sydney University’s Young and Resilient Research Centre tells Vicki and Geraldine how online safety worries can lead to adults controlling children and young people against their interests.

Talking points

Is online resilience simply a personal quality?

Is it more than ‘bouncing back’?

Technology is often implicated in young people’s declining mental health. But can it actually be made to help?

30: Are men monopolising data?

Mon, 31 May 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Lauren Klein, co-author of Data Feminism, about what’s wrong with data collection, its presentation and ethics.

Talking points:

What doesn’t get counted?

Nobody can fit their whole self into a form: can datasets ever reflect the way things really are?

Are emotion and data, far from being opposites, actually inextricably linked?

29: How to talk to your children about sex

Mon, 24 May 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Leah Jewett of Outspoken Sex Ed.

Talking points:

How to have the ‘porn talk'

What difference has pornography made to the way young people think about sex?

How can parents talk to boys about consent?

28: Hacking the Pentagon from teenage bedrooms

Mon, 17 May 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Julia Davidson, Professor of Criminology and an expert in cybercrime and online harms, about how easy it is for young people to get drawn into breaking the law online.

Talking points:

Are all young people vulnerable to being drawn into cybercrime?

What kinds of young people are attracted?

Not all cybercrime is hacking: what should we do about young people illegally accessing pornography?

27: How students are putting themselves through college by making adult content online

Mon, 03 May 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Lottie Gimlette of Voice Box about their report on Only Fans.

Talking points:

What’s the appeal of Only Fans?
Is this kind of sex work sex positive or peak patriarchy?
How secure is the platform’s age-gating?Is it as straightforward as it seems - or is there
grooming, and pimps?

26: Will compulsory relationships and sex education improve children’s lives?

Mon, 26 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0100

In the wake of reports of sexual harassment in schools, Vicki and Geraldine talk to Jonathan Baggaley of the PSHE Association about what’s gone wrong.

Talking points:

- Are parents withdrawing children from RSE?

- What do we know about sexual harassment in schools?

- Pornography: an extreme form of surveillance capitalism?

- As young people face an epidemic of poor mental health, why are some children better protected?

*The research we said we would reference in the show notes about protective characteristics against mental ill health is still in progress and not yet published. But here, to be going on with, is a flavour of the Millennium Cohort Study work on young people and mental health:

Associations between mental health competence and indicators of physical health and cognitive development in 11-year-olds: findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7789-7

25: Is tech ruining Generation Z?

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Robert Wigley, author of Born Digital, The Story of a Distracted Generation, about what he sees as the damaging effects of tech on young people.

Talking points:

- Is tech really eroding empathy among the young?

- If young people are so damaged by tech, how come most of them demand their work has purpose?

- How big a problem is it that online harms legislation doesn’t include financial harms?

- Is it actually helpful to view digital harms through a generational lens?

24: Digital poverty: it’s not all about money

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 00:37:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Ellen Helsper, Professor of Digital Inequalities at LSE, about why giving children laptops isn’t enough.

Talking points:

- Why does social disadvantage so often turn into into digital disadvantage?

- Will the gap between the digital haves and have-nots widen, stay the same, or get smaller as more people are exposed to tech?

- Why have we been so bad at teaching children the real digital skills they need to thrive online?

23: Can design make the internet safer?

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 00:15:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Sarah Drummond of design agency Snook about baking safety into the design of tech products and services.

Talking points:

How far can designers affect our online experiences?

The internet - as designed so far - doesn’t always seem to be in our best interests so why should we trust designers?

'Safety tech’ implies bolting tools onto existing services - is there a better way of thinking about designing for safety?

Is tech innovation possible without making mistakes?

Could ’safer’ platforms and services become more attractive than those that prioritise persuasive design to keep us clicking?

Further reading:

https://inclusivedesignrecruitment.co.uk/

Marc Goodman: Future Crimes, Inside the digital underground and the battle for our connected world (Transworld, 2015)

22: Surveillance capitalism - an idea that won’t stand up?

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 00:02:00 +0100

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Sam Gilbert, fintech entrepreneur, Cambridge researcher, and author of the radical new book, Good Data, about why he takes issue with the fashionable idea of surveillance capitalism.

Talking points:

How much does it matter that ‘our data’ is being collected?

Is data actually ’the new oil’?

How bad is online advertising really?

Is the focus on privacy actually harming our ability to use data for public good?

What would good use of data look like?

21: True or False?

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 00:44:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Nicola Aitken of Full Fact about misinformation - and how we can possibly tell what’s true online.

Talking points:

Who is attracted to misinformation?

What psychological needs do conspiracy theories meet?

Can small fact-checking organisations such as Full Fact push back against the sheer volume of untruths online?

Has disinformation become war by other means?

What do we need to know to be more media literate?

20: Bot Detectives

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 00:44:00 +0000

Can machines make the online world a better place? Vicki and Geraldine talk to Ian Stevenson, CEO of OSTIA (the Online Safety Tech Industry Association) about whether a British innovation success can solve the problems of the internet.

Talking points:

- Will online safety tech inevitably compromise privacy?

- Do we apply higher standards of privacy and free speech online to offline?

- How big a threat to children’s safety is end-to-end encryption?

- Will age verification result in a second-class internet for children?

19: Addicted!

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 00:47:00 +0000

Why are we facing a gambling - and now gaming - addiction crisis? Vicki and Geraldine talk to Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones, founder of the first NHS gambling disorders clinic and also the first NHS gaming disorders clinic.

Talking points:

Are there links between gambling and gaming?

How come we don’t know how big a problem we’ve got?

Gaming: a gateway to problem gambling?

What does gaming disorder look like?

A personal problem, affecting a minority of ‘vulnerable’ people? Or a public health issue?

18: What about the rest of the world?

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:21:00 +0000

The UK is trying to regulate the internet - but much will depend on what happens globally. Vicki and Geraldine talk to Max Beverton-Palmer of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change about how much we can seriously do by ourselves.

Talking points:

Why is 2021 the year of rethinking the internet?
Will a plethora of national initiatives lead to the so-called splinternet?
To what extent can national regulation work when tech companies have global reach?
Will children's rights to participate online be damaged by the rush to keep them safe?
How do you start to think about an ethical internet?

17: How can we rescue education post-pandemic?

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 00:01:00 +0000

Lockdown learning has deepened and sharpened inequality. Vicki and Geraldine talk to Rebecca Montacute of the Sutton Trust about whether we can fix that.

Talking points:

Why do so many children still not have devices?

Why are they still not connected?

Will there be more blended learning in future?

Can the National Tutoring programme help students catch up?

What can we do about 16-19-year-olds, who are in many ways the worst affected?

How would we reopen schools (given that we are not epidemiologists)?

16: How can we balance children’s right to be online with their right to be safe?

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 00:20:00 +0000

As the UNHCR announces that children’s rights apply online, Vicki and Geraldine talk to Tony Stower of 5Rights about what that means for for tech companies, policymakers and parents.

Talking points:

- How is it helpful to view online harms through the lens of children’s rights?

- How do you manage competing rights using the blunt instruments of legislation?

- Why has children’s data been overlooked until recently in the harms debate?

- Why is end-to-end encryption absolutely terrible for child safety?

15: Video games: the best thing that ever happened to family life?

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 00:51:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Andy Robertson, author of Taming Gaming.

Talking points:

- Should parents stop worrying about the time children spend gaming?
- Can parents learn to love video games?
- Should games provide endless opportunities for spending?
- Does publishing the odds of loot boxes in video games make them any less like gambling?

14: Reasons to be Cheerful

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 00:01:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Dave Coplin, self proclaimed pragmatic optimist, about why we shouldn’t be scared of tech.

Talking points:

What to do about big data?
Can we solve algorithmic bias?
Are old ways of thinking stopping us from making the most of the digital future?
How can human beings get their act together to use tech for good?

13: Whatever happened to Digital Inclusion?

Mon, 25 Jan 2021 00:39:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Chi Onwurah, Shadow Minister for Science, Research and Digital about digital poverty, the impact of social media on democracy, and whether we should feel positive about Britain’s tech future.

Talking points:

- Should we be treating laptops like textbooks and data as a utility?

- What happened to targets for digital inclusion?

- Who has the right to ban Donald Trump?

- Can the duty of care get beyond platforms marking their own homework?

- How do we become creators of technology as well as users of it?

12: Remote Learning - How could we be doing it better?

Mon, 18 Jan 2021 00:19:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Tom Rose of Oak National Academy about what we need to do next to ensure children get the best online learning.

Talking points

Should we have been doing blended learning sooner?

What can we do about digital poverty and lack of devices?

What is the latest news on giving children free access to educational sites, if they’re using phones to connect?

Should Ofsted be inspecting schools’ digital provision?

What is the future of online learning, post-pandemic?

11: The Year of the Screen

Mon, 28 Dec 2020 00:27:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine round up a digital year like no other and look at the government’s end-of-year proposals for regulating the internet.

Talking points:

What have been the big issues for families online in 2020?

The government has announced its latest proposals for regulating tech companies - are they the right ones?

What can we expect from 2021?

Thanks ago so much for all your help this year. It’s been really fun. Have a lovely, if somewhat reduced, Christmas, and a happy new year - and look forward to picking up the podcast again in 2021,

10: Are The Anti-vaxxers Winning?

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 00:11:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Professor Helen Bedford of Great Ormond Street about online anti-vaccination campaigns and what they mean for the Covid vaccination rollout.

Talking points:

Has there always been resistance to vaccination?

Why does social media make things so much worse?

Has vaccination been co-opted into the culture wars?

Is it enough to tell people the facts?

Can scientists beat the anti-vaxxers on their own ground?

9: What Can Be Done About Online Hate?

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 00:56:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Joe Mulhall of 'Hope Not Hate' about the threat of the far-right online.

Talking points:

- are different types of platform are facilitating hate speech in different ways?

- are there limits to free speech?

- is it reasonable to expect platforms to design out hate, given the needs of the online attention economy?

- how should the government regulate, and who else needs to be involved?

8: What kind of world will children face, and how can we prepare them?

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 00:45:00 +0000

This week, Vicki and Geraldine talk to Professor Sonia Livingstone about her book, Parenting for a Digital Future.

Talking points:

Why do parents worry so much about screen time?
Should children be learning to code?
Parents are stuck in a giant digital parenting experiment - but is it the same experiment for everyone?

7: Should Parents Feel So Guilty?

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 00:58:00 +0000

This week, Vicki and Geraldine talk about screen time and other guilt-inducing aspects of family life online.

Talking points:

Why is play not seen as play when it’s online?

Is it just that the technology’s new?

Has parenting itself changed in ways that make parents feel more guilty?

Why do parents feel they’re mainly - even solely - responsible for what their children get up to online?

Is 'safety tech' going to solve the problems of feeling out of control?

Can legislation help to take away some parental guilt?

6: Are There Too Many Men on the Internet?

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 00:26:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Casey Calista from Glitch, whose recent research found that online abuse of women and non-binary people increased during lockdown.

Why is online abuse not seen as real abuse? Is the answer more women in STEM? What are the implications for democracy? And whose responsibility is it to put things right?

5: Can the Government Stop Internet Harms?

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 00:52:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine talk to Will Perrin of Carnegie UK Trust about the upcoming (sometime soon!) Digital Harms Bill. What are the ideas behind the government’s proposals? Will they work?

Talking points:

Where does the idea of a ‘duty of care’ on which the legislation will be based come from?

What does it cover - and, perhaps more importantly, what doesn’t it cover?

Are we agreed about what is harmful?

How can global tech companies be persuaded to comply?

4: Are Children Being Ripped Off By Online Games?

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 00:56:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine look at the links between loot boxes and gambling.

Subscribe now, rate the podcast, and give it a 5-star review – and keep listening every Monday morning for a new episode of ‘Tech Shock – from Parent Zone’.

Talking points:

- 93% of children in the UK play online games

- Loot boxes are a feature of all sorts of games, both on mobile and AAA games (the big expensive ones).

- How like gambling are they, really?

- Is there an argument for legislation?

- What about coercive monetisation in gaming more generally?

3: How can the public have more say in the future of the internet?

Mon, 02 Nov 2020 00:24:00 +0000

Legislation is coming in the UK and Europe that could change the internet. But is the public consulted? Not much.

Vicki Shotbolt and Geraldine Bedell talk to Ellen Judson of Demos, who has been researching public attitudes to online harms.

Subscribe now, rate the podcast, and give it a 5-star review – and keep listening every Monday morning for a new episode of ‘Tech Shock – from Parent Zone’.

Talking points:

Why does the discussion of ‘what to do about the internet’ tend to go on over people’s heads among politicians, think tankers, tech companies and academics?

The technological options may not be immediately clear - but shouldn’t it be possible to reach a public consensus on what we care about?

We increasingly talk the language of rights when we talk about online harms. Does this help?

People are very anxious about online harms - but a minority believe that they have personally experienced harm. Are we overreacting?

Are younger adults more tolerant of online risks and harms?

2: Can age-gating the internet ever work? with John Carr

Mon, 26 Oct 2020 00:41:00 +0000

Vicki and Geraldine are joined by their very first guest, John Carr, who is, among many other things, Secretary of the Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety, an advisor to the UN, to the EU and to the UK government. They'll be looking at focusing on the often vexed question of trying to protect children online through age verification tools.

Subscribe now, rate the podcast, and give it a 5-star review – and keep listening every Monday morning for a new episode of ‘Tech Shock – from Parent Zone’.

1: Are Children Creating Porn Online?

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 00:31:00 +0100

Welcome to ‘Tech Shock’ – the new podcast from Parent Zone!

Vicki Shotbolt and Geraldine Bedell are your hosts, looking at how digital technology is affecting family life.

They’ll help explain its mysteries to parents, teachers, professionals and policymakers.

In this first episodes, they're looking at a platform that’s been growing and growing (Only Fans) and asking ‘Are children creating porn online?’

Subscribe now, rate the podcast, and give it a 5-star review – and keep listening every Monday morning for a new episode of ‘Tech Shock – from Parent Zone’.

Tech Shock - from Parent Zone Trailer

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0100

Welcome to ‘Tech Shock’ – the new podcast from Parent Zone!

Vicki Shotbolt and Geraldine Bedell are your hosts, looking at how digital technology is affecting family life.

They’ll help explain its mysteries to parents, teachers, professionals and policymakers, starting off by looking at whether streaming platforms are encouraging young people to make porn, whether online lives are creating a generation of gamblers and whether there are too many men on the internet.

The first episode launches next Monday morning!

So subscribe now, rate the podcast, and give it a 5-star review – and keep listening every Monday morning for a new episode of ‘Tech Shock – from Parent Zone’.