CHILDHOOD AND TECH

Smartphones, social media and AI are reshaping childhood, leaving parents caught between alarm, resignation and the fear that their children will be left behind.

Sophie Winkleman argues that smartphones, social media and screen-based learning are eroding children’s attention, imagination and independence, and that adults need to reclaim childhood from technology. Designer and education innovator Bethany Koby believes technology is not inherently the enemy: the crucial questions are who designs it, whose interests it serves and whether it encourages children to create, explore and connect rather than merely consume.

Should parents impose much tougher limits, or demand better technology? Is digital literacy now an essential part of growing up, or have schools and families accepted screens far too readily? Chaired by Emma Craigie, this conversation pits two distinct responses to one of the defining anxieties of modern parenthood against one another.