Media literacy. It’s at the core of a three-year strategy from Ofcom, featured in DSIT’s ‘Digital Inclusion Action Plan’ and looks set to make more than just a fleeting appearance in the reviewed curriculum this autumn. It’s also one means of combating mis- and disinformation as well as online financial harms and misogyny. In short, it’s being recognised by many – and rightly so – as essential.

Designed to build critical media literacy skills across UK communities, Everyday Digital is a national media literacy programme from Parent Zone and originally funded by DSIT. The programme helps parents to understand media literacy and build simple habits which can be incorporated into their everyday lives – and those of their children.

In this episode, Vicki is joined by Everyday Digital expert and member of the Parent Zone team, Megan Rose to discuss what’s next for the programme, including how it’s being scaled to meet a growing need, and how professionals can get involved.

Talking points:

• Are parents really ever ‘hard to reach’ or do we just need more media literacy initiatives in the supermarket?
• What impact did evaluation show Everyday Digital to have, and why do we need to move away from endless pilots?
• With risks and harms evolving (alongside our responses to them) what’s next for Everyday Digital – and Parent Zone more generally?

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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After a shift to online learning during COVID-19, EdTech – everything from digital whiteboards and eBooks to Google Classroom and virtual reality equipment – is an industry that’s gone from strength to strength in terms of size, scope and profitability.

But as the UK is beginning to see a narrative form around the virtues of a ‘screen free’ childhood and, further abroad, countries like Sweden move back to more ‘traditional’ methods of teaching, many parents are left questioning the current use of EdTech and its effect on their children.

To help understand how we should approach the growing presence of EdTech, as well as what ‘good’ EdTech might look like, Vicki is joined by Natalia Kucirkova, Professor of Early Childhood and Development at the University of Stavanger, Norway, and Director of the International Centre for EdTech Impact.

Talking points:

• Could possible harms warrant us taking the ‘precautionary principle’ when it comes to EdTech in schools?
  
  
• How exactly does ‘transparency’, ‘accountability’, and ‘fairness’ play into principles of ‘ethical’ EdTech?
  
  
• Is independent research and evaluation really enough to keep Big Tech accountable?

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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Easily accessed tech like generative AI can facilitate the nudification of another's images, platforms’ hate speech policies around gender are suddenly being watered-down, and misogynistic content remains amplified (and deeply profitable) for those that peddle it.

The need to respond to online violence against women and girls is obvious. But where does the solution lie? Can cyberflashing and deepfake offences dissuade people who think it's ‘fine’ to objectify women? Should victims be expected to endlessly use online safety tools to deal with harassment? And can increasing the media literacy levels of some young men really unravel a wider culture where, for many, abuse is the norm?

In this episode, Vicki is joined by psychology professors and co-leads at the Centre for Protecting Women Online, Rose Capdevila and Lisa Lazard. Together, they’ll be undertaking a difficult discussion of how we might actually begin tackling violence against women and girls.

Talking points:

• Given their experiences and often ear-to-the-ground knowledge of online culture, how do we bring more young voices into the conversation?
• As issues seem to increase in severity and scale, are parents left feeling like abstinence from tech is the answer to keeping children safe?
• Is there too much emphasis on dealing with online violence only after the fact? If so, how do we adopt a preventative approach that works more upstream?

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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