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?
May 22, 2022
34 min
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?
May 15, 2022
56 min
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?
May 8, 2022
43 min
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?
May 1, 2022
45 min
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?
Apr 24, 2022
40 min
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?
Apr 17, 2022
40 min
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?
Apr 10, 2022
38 min
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.
Apr 3, 2022
40 min
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?
Mar 27, 2022
46 min
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?
Mar 14, 2022
34 min
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