Excessive Screentime After Lockdown? Parental Control Tracking - Building Trust and Encouraging Free Play In this weeks "Digital Families" Podcast I speak with Sonia Livingstone a professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, who is also the co-Author with Alicia Blum-Ross of the recently released book based on her research  "Parenting for a Digital Future: How Hopes and Fears About Technology Shape Children’s Lives". about parental controls, screentime vs free play and tracking. Recently there has been quite a bit of discussion about parental controls and apps that c ..read more

Josh Langley was told he would amount to nothing in life, having failed high school (twice) and being unemployed for several years, but that didn’t stop Josh from becoming a multi award-winning radio copywriter and award-winning children’s author.  Now his ground-breaking children’s books, programs and school talks on self-acceptance, resilience, understanding emotions and kindness, are helping thousands of kids make friends with themselves. In this latest episode of the Digital Families Podcast I talk with Author and public speaker Josh Langley about how digital technology can both hinde ..read more

Kelly Humphries is a survivor of child sexual abuse, a law enforcement officer, ambassador, author, and advocate. In this podcast Kelly and I talk about her remarkable journey from abuse through sporting achievements to the police force to being an award winning decorated advocate for children who are at risk of abuse and Author. Not being able to report her abuser until she was 19 years of age, Kelly is trying to inspire children to speak up and to protect themselves from the clutches and cunning of abusers. I talk with Kelly about how abusers groom children online, what language do they use ..read more

This weeks guest on "Digital Families" Podcast is Claire Eaton, a speaker, youth coach and author of four books for teens, “ROC and RISE” “You are awesome”, “Hello High School” and its companion Planner. In this weeks podcast we talk about Claires focus on helping children, particularly with the transition from primary to high school  with Resilience, Optimism, and Confidence. These are traits that we often hear about being necessary in our children, particularly when it comes to dealing with the online world. Whether its resilience to online bullying and misunderstandings, optimism, in r ..read more

Amy Jussel is the founder of Shaping Youth  and author of The Secret of the Vanishing Bones: Tracking the Data Trail. Her new book, aimed at students K-5, is designed to instill critical thinking about media through storytelling, developing early skills that help kids navigate their digital exposure in fun, fresh ways. Media literacy education is more critical than ever with increased screen time due to the recent global pandemic and wide-ranging messages displayed across social media and other media platforms. In todays podcast Amy and Leonie talk about how children need to learn about t ..read more

Claire is a passionate advocate for preventative measures in children’s mental health and digital wellbeing. In this episode Claire Orange and I discuss Tweens on social media and how her amazing app can help children get prepared for the real world of social media when they are ready. Good mental health is at the core of Claire Oranges motivation for developing Digii Social, she has seen and heard too many horrifying stories of children coming to harm on social media Claire Orange a clinical Psychologist has worked with children and their families in a variety of therapeutic roles and setting ..read more

In this episode Paul Litherland and I talk about the very difficult issue of children being scammed via online game platforms where there is the risk for losing large amounts of money for families via the virtual currency available on games like Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft. For over a decade, as a former technology crime police officer and now under the banner of Surf Online Safe, Paul Litherland has dedicated himself to educating children, parents and teachers on the subject of Internet Awareness. As a parent himself, Paul adds that extra insight to his presentations as he is more that aw ..read more

Jo Lamble is a Clinical Psychologist and along with her co Author Dr Ginni Mansberg they have written the ultimate handbook for parents on raising Tweens and Teens titled "The NEW Teen Age. In this Digital Families Podcast Jo Lamble and I chat about some of the issues that are covered in the book including Teenagers, sleep and devices, Sleepovers and mobile phone use - And using tracking apps/devices on your kids - Yes or No? What to do if you find out your child isn't where they are supposed to be? The book covers teen health issues, behaviour, and the influence of social media and gaming.&nb ..read more

My guest today is Bec Nguyen from Perths “Telethon Kids Institute” Project Manager of the “Beacon App” A cyber safety educational app designed to keep parents and carers up to date with trusted, tailored information, to help keep their kids safe online. An Australian developed one stop shop for Cyber Safety. Find out how it works in todays Podcast! The FREE Beacon App https://beacon.telethonkids.org.au/ Telethon Kids Institute https://www.telethonkids.org.au ..read more

My guest today is Melinda Tankard Reist, Melinda is an author, speaker, media commentator, and advocate for young people. She is best known for her work addressing sexualisation, objectification, harms of pornography, sexual exploitation, trafficking and violence against women. Melinda is author/editor of six books including Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls and Big Porn Inc: Exposing the harms of the global pornography industry . Melinda has appeared on ABC’s Q&A and The Gruen Sessions and many other TV and radio programs. Melinda is co-founder of the grassroots campaig ..read more