It hit me during a quiet evening at home, watching Netflix’s Adolescence. Not as a technologist. Not as someone who’s spent 30 years in digital infrastructure. But as a grandfather.
It struck me that parenting in the age of the algorithm is just as uncertain as when our kids first started going out to play. Only now, the playground is invisible – and relentless.
The raw, sometimes uncomfortable reality of growing up online stopped me in my tracks. I’ve seen the internet grow over my career. But I hadn’t fully understood the weight today’s young people carry as they navigate a digital world never designed with them – or any of us – in mind.
The UK’s Online Safety Act, signed into law in 2023, aims to address that. It introduces a duty of care for tech companies, with Ofcom responsible for enforcement. Its goal is to make the UK “the safest place in the world to be online,” especially for children.
It’s a big step. But let’s be honest – legislation alone isn’t enough. It never is.
Nearly a quarter of children aged just 5 to 7 now own a smartphone – with most already active on platforms like TikTok and WhatsApp, despite being underage. But that’s just the start. Ofcom found that 97% of children aged 3 to 17 were online in 2022, mostly using phones or tablets. For them, the internet isn’t just a tool – it’s a space. A place to explore, connect, and grow, much like the playgrounds of our own childhoods.
But it’s also a space where harm lives. Where violence, abuse, and misinformation are often part of the background noise – something many children accept as just another part of being online.
The Act rightly places more responsibility on platforms to create safer digital environments. But enforcement is only as effective as the systems – and the shared understanding – behind it.
At Ogi, we connect communities across Wales, and we see the digital divide in real terms. For example, a parent in Cardiff might have ultrafast broadband, digital literacy, and well-resourced schools, while a parent in rural Pembrokeshire may be facing the same digital risks with far less support.
Digital safety isn’t just about rules. It’s about reach, education, and confidence. It means putting connectivity and understanding side by side.
And this isn’t just a tech issue.
Schools, councils, business leaders – we all have a role to play. If you lead a team, build products, or shape services that touch people’s lives, you’re influencing the digital world our children are growing up in – whether you realise it or not.
In tech, we often talk about responsible connectivity. That means asking: Are our systems designed for real life? Do they support wellbeing, not just engagement? Can we recognise when technology unintentionally amplifies harm?
And for employers – are we supporting the parents on our teams as they try to help their children navigate this shifting landscape?
I believe business can – and should – be a force for good. Here in Wales, with our tight-knit communities and growing tech sector, we have a real opportunity to lead.
Imagine local businesses partnering with schools to offer digital skills workshops. Or co-creating practical, accessible guidelines for safer online behaviour. And crucially, imagine listening to young people themselves. Because they already live in this world.
One scene in Adolescence made that painfully clear: a boy explains the meaning behind certain emojis to baffled adults. Every child watching understood immediately. The adults had no idea.
That moment stayed with me.
We often talk about protecting children from the online world. But how often do we ask what they can teach us about it? If we’re going to help set meaningful boundaries, we first need to understand the online spaces they move through – not just try to control them from the outside. This is where families come in. Tech companies have a responsibility, yes – but so do we at home.
Parents, carers, and grandparents have always helped children navigate risk. We taught them to be careful crossing the road, not to talk to strangers, to come home when the streetlights came on. The digital world needs the same kind of guidance: consistent rules, open conversations, and a shared understanding of what respect and safety look like – online as well as offline.
We often talk about “future-proofing” infrastructure – laying the right foundations now for whatever comes next. That thinking applies here too. We owe it to the next generation to focus not just on speed and access, but on trust, values, and resilience. And that starts, as it always has, at home.
Yes, the Online Safety Act is a step in the right direction. But it’s only a step.
The rest is up to us – to act as communities, to lead as employers, and to listen. Really listen – as parents, carers, and grandparents.
Because growing up has never been easy. But growing up online shouldn’t hurt the way it does for far too many children today.
