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?
  
  

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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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?
  
  

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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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?

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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