Modern technology is great
But it can have a seriously harmful effect on our children.
(See Teched Off for more information)
We’re a parent-led movement who are facing up to the issues. We want to better protect children from the harms of technology. And we want to change the new normal.
See our recent media coverage so far on GB News, Mobile Europe and BBC Points West.)
What's the problem?
Here are just some of the stats
Then there’s the content
Sexually violent pornography is regularly advertised to first time users… Sexual harassment has become normalised in schools
Ofsted report
How is this affecting kids?
Almost every aspect of children’s development and wellbeing can be affected, from schoolwork and concentration to developing dopamine-related addictive behaviour, to having damaging attitudes to the opposite sex and relationships, to negative self-image leading to self-harm and suicide.
In the worst cases, sexual predators and scammers target kids online, leading them to commit or be the victims of serious crimes.
Today's tech organisations harvest and monetise our children’s attention – and our children pay the price. Many of these tech organisations now have yearly revenues in the billions.
Where to start?
We can all make a difference by understanding what children see online, and how long they spend on their devices. Parental controls are the first step.
Short-term goals: parental controls
According to our recent YouGov survey (of over 1,000 parents):
- 78% of parents weren't fully confident that they'd set adequate content and privacy controls on their children's devices.
- A further 11% hadn't set any controls at all.
According to this 2022 Ofcom report:
- Just 26% of parents have changed the settings on their child’s device to stop apps being downloaded without their consent
- Only 27% of parents use content filters provided by their broadband supplier
- Only 31% of parents use parental controls built into the device software by the manufacturer (such as Windows, Apple, PlayStation, etc
We aim to change this so that
- Within one year, half of all parents are fully confident they've set adequate controls
- Within two years, increase this number to 70%
- Within three years, change the culture to the point that not adding these protections is considered negatively by other parents / peers
Long-term goals
- Encourage parents to resist giving young children access to smartphones until secondary school
- Encourage parents of older children to restrict usage and access to harmful content
- Re-open the discussion about whether children really need phones in school
- Campaign to raise the age of new social media accounts to 16
- Campaign to stop kids being on unverified live streams
How can you help?
We want to raise £1,000 to create and promote more short-form videos that show parents, step by step, how to set controls on their child’s iPhone or Android. Then campaign to promote them. Like these we've created so far.
Further videos will include:
- Add privacy settings to Instagram
- Add privacy settings to Snapchat
- Dopamine explained
- What are your options if your kids are being bullied online?
And short form video for kids:
- How to not get scammed online
- Why do I find it so hard to put down my phone?
- Is that really who you’re talking to?
- Is what you’re seeing normal?
We've estimated that each video costs a minimum of £250 to create and market. Your £10, £20 or £50 will go towards the creation and marketing of 4 more of these videos, at a total cost of £1,000. We will then secure further funding via grants and partnerships to enable us to reach more parents.
Anything we manage to raise beyond this amount will fund more video guides, plus marketing and PR to spread the message.
Aren't others already doing this?
Yes, there are other organisations out there working hard with similar goals. We aim to be different by:
- Reaching parents who are unaware of how to protect their kids
- Continuing to put the latest research and press in one place so parents can easily see why they should be concerned, (already here on the Teched Off website)
- By making the solutions very simple to follow.
Come join our growing FB group, here.
What about The Online Safety Bill?
Will it prevent porn on phones being shared in school corridors?
We hope so, but it won't change anything fast.
Will it prevent endless scrolling and addiction to screens?
No.
Will it prevent scammers and groomers contacting your children?
At this point we just don’t know.
Who we are
We are parents of teenagers, and between us have decades of experience in content creation and digital marketing strategy. We've created content for some of the world's leading brands, including British Airways, Google, and CNN. We launched online video content back in 2000, and were part of the UK's first mobile video trial for 3 Mobile.
We know what works and how to explain complex issues in simple ways so that children and parents learn about the impacts of addictive games and online access. As concerned parents, we want to use our skills to keep children safe online, primarily through education and changing the culture around kids and tech.
Thank you
Thank you very much for reading our pitch. We hope you’ll donate and help us to help parents better protect their kids. If you can't manage a donation right now, and we know things are tough for a lot of us at the moment then we'd greatly appreciate it if you could spread our message with your friends on Social Media.
You can find us on Facebook here and we're also on Twitter here...