Headstart Online Resilience Podcast

The government announced that young people will be banned from social media from Spring 2027, so in this episode Andy and I talk about what these means for anyone supporting young people. We discuss the realities of the ban, as well as offering our advice on how to have conversations with young people about social media going forwards.I mention the Sexting Safeguarding Training, which you can book on to here: https://ciossafeguarding.org.uk/events/event/sexting-safeguarding-training. I also mention Johan Hari's book 'Chasing the Scream' which you can buy from all good retailers, or secondhand from World of Books: https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/search?q=chasing%20the%20screamDon't forget to head over to the Headstart website for all the digital resilience tools (https://www.headstartkernow.org.uk/digital-resilience/) or you can email me ([email protected]) or Andy ([email protected]) with any questions.

In this episode Andy and I discuss the issues with having long term and / or romantic relationships with AI. We talk about why people might be tempted to have a relationship with AI, and why these long term interactions can cause AI safeguards to fail.We finish with a brief discussion of AI hallucinations, and as always, offer a bit of advice to anyone supporting young people in having conversations about these topics in a non-judgemental and supportive way.

In this episode Andy and I discuss the update on bans relating to young people and the digital world. Initially we discuss the issue with saying that it will be 'illegal' for young people to have phones in schools. We then move on to discuss the developments of the under 16s social media bans. We take our usual approach, thinking critically about bans and aiming to give some general advice to anyone who is supporting young people, to help you navigate the sometimes confusing messages in the media.

In this episode, Andy and I discuss the issue of screen times for under 5s - should they be using screens at all? What would you do if you saw a parent giving a device to a one year old? We talk about it all and give advice for anyone supporting families with young children

In this episode we discuss a recent case in the US where a young woman was awarded several million dollars in damages from Google and Meta due the harms those platforms caused to her mental health. Her case argued the platforms used addictive design features. We discuss whether this has created legal precedent - meaning others could sue the companies for the same. We also talk about addiction, and the flip side as we ask, what are the actual benefits to using social media?

In this episode, Andy and I discuss consent in the digital world. We start with a discussion about what consent means, including the importance of informed consent, and situation where consent is not possible. We move on to thinking about consent to share images, and non-consensual image distribution and how messages at school can affect adult victims. We also briefly mention the Fraser guidelines, which we discussed in more detail in a previous episode, where we were discussing sex education with Jonny Hunt. You can listen to that episode here.

In this episode Andy and I discuss the recent policy in Australia to ban under sixteens from accessing social media, and the subsequent discussions about having a similar policy in the UK. We talk about why this is being suggested now, and what the potential positives are. We then discuss the fact that this is unlikely to have the intended effect, instead pushing young people's social media underground. We finish by suggesting ways that professionals who support young people can help them navigate the digital world, without resorting to bans.

In this episode I talk to Ken Corish about the use of AI in education, we move the conversation on from whether young people will use AI to 'cheat' in school and consider some of the innovative ways educators can use AI. Ken mentions South West Grid for Learning's AI policy for schools. You can access it here.

In this episode Andy and I discuss the problems with surveys about young people and the digital world. We give some advice for navigating seemingly scary statistics, and consider how some people use numbers to support claims that don't necessarily reflect the findings.We discuss a couple of surveys you may be interested in. The Children's Commissioners Office report can be found here.The EU Kids Online and Global Kids Online surveys can be found here.Finally, I mentioned a survey in Florida, which can be accessed by clicking here.

In this episode Andy and I discuss the pitfalls of age verification technology. We look at why age verification is flawed, consider whether it will effectively prevent young people accessing pornography and reflect on how relying on prohibitive approaches have failed in the past.