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?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.wwwTwitterFacebookInstagram
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6. Family vlogging, young people’s perspectives and the response ‘across the pond’
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?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.wwwTwitterFacebookInstagram
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5. What's next for the Online Safety Act?
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?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.wwwTwitterFacebookInstagram
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4. Schools and emerging tech: a new era of sexual harassment and abuse?
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?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.wwwTwitterFacebookInstagram
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3. Understanding ‘good enough’ parenting and toddlers' tech use
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?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.wwwTwitterFacebookInstagram
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.
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