Tech Shock - from Parent Zone

In the third episode of Tech Shock’s 13th season, Vicki is joined by Dr Max Shotbolt, a Post Doctoral Researcher at the University of Miami whose research into cancer treatments using magnetic nanoparticles led him, by way of some well-placed eavesdropping, into the world of quantum computing.

AI dominates the technology conversation right now, but quantum computing is quietly developing in the background and its implications could be just as significant. Most people have heard of it, but few really understand what it is, how it differs from AI, or what it might mean for their lives. This episode asks those questions plainly: from what quantum computing actually is and where it stands today, to what it means for encryption, drug discovery, and who ends up owning the most powerful tools in the world.

Talking points:

• What is quantum computing, how does it differ from classical computing and AI and where does it actually stand today?
• What are the risks on the horizon from cracking encryption to the concentration of power in the hands of very few companies?
• What reasons are there to be optimistic, such as battery technology and drug discovery?

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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In the second episode of Tech Shock's 13th season, Vicki is joined by returning guest Jonathan Baggaley. CEO of the PSHE Association, Jonathan joins wearing his Fully Human hat: the association's research and development arm. Over the last decade Fully Human has explored how best to support young people in a dynamic world increasingly shaped by technology.

This episode is both practical and philosophical. At the heart of the discussion is a new short film, The Wind of the Song: Treachery of AI, which aims to prompt thought about the effect of interacting with AI that presents itself as human. Against a backdrop of real anxiety among young people about jobs, purpose and the future, Jonathan also offers a concrete picture of what PSHE is doing in classrooms right now.

Talking points:

• What prompted the PSHE Association to make a film about AI and what it means to be human?
• What is the difference between a useful tool and a false relationship and why does Jonathan think that distinction is so important?
• How is the PSHE Association equipping young people with the knowledge and skills to navigate AI and how do we support them through the anxiety about what it means for their future?

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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In the first episode of Tech Shock's 13th season, Vicki is joined by Matt Green, The Rapping Science Teacher. A former teacher, Matt has built a following of millions by making science accessible and exciting to young people through music and social media.

Matt's work is a real-world example of technology doing exactly what it should: reaching young people who might otherwise disengage from education, for free and at scale. Against the backdrop of the social media ban debate, it is also a timely reminder of what is at stake.

Talking points:

• How did Matt go from classroom teacher to online educator with millions of followers? What does his journey tell us about the opportunity technology offers young people?
• What does the social media ban mean for educational creators like Matt? What is lost when young people can no longer stumble across inspiring content by chance and how does Matt intend to respond to the current shifting landscape?
• How do algorithms actually work in practice and what does Matt think parents need to understand about digital literacy and guiding their children online?

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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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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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?

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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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/ 

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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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?

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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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?

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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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?

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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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?

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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