Tech Shock - from Parent Zone
Tech Shock: Everything you always wanted to know about tech and family life.Podcasting from Parent Zone,the media literacy experts, host Vicki Shotbolt explores the upsides and downsides of family life in the digital age. With a range of expert guests she looks at online harms to children ranging from pornography to gambling and at what should be done about them. Incurably optimistic, Vicki also celebrate the many benefits of tech for children and young people, as she considers how best to live in a world in which family life is now inescapably digital.Listen every Monday, subscribe, and give us a five star review.
Episodes
107 episodes
Smartphone bans: the professional perspective
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 bo...
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Season 8
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Episode 11
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49:43
Smartphone bans: what are young people saying?
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 Voi...
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Season 8
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Episode 10
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28:01
9. Bonus episode - The minimal digital living standard
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 conne...
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Season 8
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Episode 9
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45:31
Smartphone bans for under-16s: the parent perspective
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 stron...
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Season 8
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Episode 8
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29:59
7. Season roundup, with VoiceBox
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 wor...
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Season 8
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Episode 7
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33:44
6. The secrets of search
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 pointsEvery family is different so how do...
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Season 8
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Episode 6
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34:23
5. Young people and the emerging gender divide
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 ...
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Season 8
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Episode 5
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31:38
4. The debate surrounding screen time, with Pete Etchells
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...
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Season 8
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Episode 4
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50:26
3. The ‘wicked problem’ of child financial harms
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. T...
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Season 8
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Episode 3
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36:55
2. Katie Davis
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 onli...
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Season 8
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Episode 2
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40:11
1. Has media literacy’s time finally come?
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 finall...
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Season 8
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Episode 1
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46:39
7. Sharenting
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 f...
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Season 7
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Episode 7
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48:24
6. A problem hiding in plain sight?
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 financia...
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Season 7
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Episode 6
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39:38
5. The respectable face of the porn industry?
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...
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41:30
4. Money muling
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 bei...
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Season 7
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Episode 4
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41:30
3. Romancing the bot
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 ...
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Season 7
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Episode 3
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48:05
2. The woman behind the Online Safety Act
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 h...
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Season 7
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Episode 2
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47:10
1. New technologies, new worries?
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; ...
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Season 7
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Episode 1
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33:35
6. Sarah Drummond
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 ab...
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Season 6
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Episode 6
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58:32
5. Damian Collins
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...
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Season 6
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Episode 5
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37:41
4. What exactly is media literacy?
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:...
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Season 6
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Episode 4
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33:26
3. Jonathan Baggaley
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?Tal...
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Season 6
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Episode 3
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52:35
2. Nick Poole
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 po...
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Season 6
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Episode 2
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45:19
1. Does the Online Safety Bill rely on something unworkable?
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 actual...
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Season 6
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Episode 1
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37:15
8. Season Roundup: Are people in the know giving up on the Online Safety Bill?
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 legisla...
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Season 5
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Episode 8
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50:37