Today is Safer Internet Day – so six years ago I was on BBC Radio 2 with Steve Wright, and five years ago on The One Show on the BBC, and I’ve done lots of other press on children and the internet in between. In 2014 Raising Children in a Digital Age: Enjoying the Best, Avoiding the Worst was published, and this year I will be working on a second edition, as although much of the advice is very ‘evergreen’, the digital context has changed and some of the concerns have reduced, some increased, and the opportunities have changed too. As ever, I had a range of notes prepared, thinking about what I want to say (conversation is key, don’t just ‘not engage’, be intentional about your engagement, look for the opportunities (media headlines tend not to), remember that there are human beings on the other side of the screen, create family/youth club policies, it’s not really an optional (or separate) part of life, and check out Andy’s advice on gaming):
UCB Radio
First thing this morning, I spoke to Ethel from the UCB News Team, responding to the press release – as seen in newspapers such as The Independent this morning about the emphasis of this year’s Safer Internet Day. Much of the interview should be on UCB at the 12pm newsdesk (probably around 12.40pm), as well as potentially other segments.
Audio added later:
Premier Radio
At 9.30am, I joined John Pantry on ‘Your Call’ on Premier Radio to take some caller questions about the opportunities and challenges of the internet – you can find the audio about 9 minutes in on the Premier Radio site(better quality), or my recording:
BBC Radio Leeds
I then went onto chat to Stephanie Hirst on BBC Radio Leeds – looking past the scare stories to how our lives have changed with the internet:
There may be more, but that’s all I know about for now!