Dr. Martha Deiros Collado - Online Safety Expert (Teenagers)

**Josh Widdicombe** (0:03)
Rob, today is our second episode, where we talk, we go in-depth with an expert on online internet safety.

**Rob Beckett** (0:11)
I was going to say, this time, teens.

**Josh Widdicombe** (0:13)
Teens.

**Rob Beckett** (0:14)
We've done pre-teens, now teens. This is where it gets juicy, more independents, their own phones, their own apps. It's the Wild West out there.

**Josh Widdicombe** (0:22)
Totally. And, Rob, if you want some help, Tesco Mobile have loads of online resources, experts help.

**Rob Beckett** (0:29)
Yep. And they can help you figure out words like Riz or Cooked.

**Josh Widdicombe** (0:33)
Yes.

**Rob Beckett** (0:34)
But not Cooked as in your dinner. It's another word for another thing. Well, same word for a different thing.

**Josh Widdicombe** (0:39)
Yeah.

**Rob Beckett** (0:39)
So once you're done with this episode, visit the Tesco Mobile Online Safety Hub for tips on how you can have a chat about your kids' online lives. Welcome back, Dr. Marta.

**Martha Deiros Collado** (0:51)
Hello.

**Rob Beckett** (0:51)
The second installment of our, it's a sort of new, the new sort of expert episodes. Yes, because we don't know anything.

**Josh Widdicombe** (1:00)
So how do you think so far? We've done.

**Martha Deiros Collado** (1:03)
You've done great. I love the questions. I love that you took from like a dad perspective, and I love that it just feels really normal and like the kind of conversation that you'd have.

**Josh Widdicombe** (1:12)
Now, get ready. Things are about to go up a gear.

**Rob Beckett** (1:15)
Because if that was the start of the canapes of parenting with kids and screens and online, we're talking about teenagers.
And the big question I've got really at this stage, because it affects me, I'm quite selfish.
Phones. Yes. They want them from about eight or nine, ten. When do you give them a phone? What's on the phone? How much access do they have? And what's the plan, really, or what is sort of the expert-science opinion on it?

**Martha Deiros Collado** (1:44)
Oh, the phone conversation is so complex, but also nuanced, I think. So not all mobile phones are the same.

**Rob Beckett** (1:50)
Let's see if that's an open question, but...

**Martha Deiros Collado** (1:52)
It is.

**Josh Widdicombe** (1:52)
The opening question was the opening six questions, and I had a few more to add, but I felt it would be too much.

**Rob Beckett** (1:58)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

**Martha Deiros Collado** (1:59)
We'll take it slow.

**Josh Widdicombe** (2:00)
Yeah.

**Martha Deiros Collado** (2:00)
So you can just interrupt me.

**Josh Widdicombe** (2:01)
X-L-O-W.

**Martha Deiros Collado** (2:01)
So, also, if you listen to the last episode...

**Josh Widdicombe** (2:06)
If you did listen to the last episode, that sounds weird.

**Rob Beckett** (2:09)
Also, you'd be mad to come in this halfway through, wouldn't you?

**Josh Widdicombe** (2:12)
Well, I suppose, if you've got teenagers...

**Rob Beckett** (2:14)
If you've got teenagers, you might not. Oh, so they just look at it for themselves, aren't they?

**Martha Deiros Collado** (2:17)
Yeah, unbelievable. Smart phones were not created for children, so we need to think about that. So that's one of my things as a mum that I always think. Smart phones were not made for children. They were expensive. I think of them as really expensive mini computers that you have in your pocket. Yes, yeah. But I think you can give your child a mobile phone, and I don't like the word dumb phones, because they're not dumb at all. They're really complicated and brilliant for staying in touch, calls, texts, all of that, without all the smart capabilities of the apps and the social media.
So, you know, your question for me is, it depends, it depends what you want to do. I think the smartphone, I will delay for as long as possible. And obviously, we've now got the potential of a UK ban.

**Josh Widdicombe** (3:02)
Let's call it, I know you, call it a dumb phone for people to just understand what that term means. Are we talking about a totally different model of phone, or what some people do is like they get an iPhone and they disable a load of the apps?

**Martha Deiros Collado** (3:17)
I mean, you can do that. You can get an iPhone and disable all of the apps. I think Apple has created a new phone that is coming out at some point. I think it's in the autumn. By the way, I am not sponsored by Apple. But I do like the fact that this new kind of iOS, I can't remember what it is now, 27, I think. The capabilities of this are slightly different to the old phones. So now as a parent, you can disable absolutely everything on an iPhone. Oh, okay. And even things like going on a website, you have to agree on your phone. So if you go on Safari, which is Google, Apple Google, and they type something in, it comes up on your phone and says, they want to look at this website. Are you okay with it or are you not? Which is brilliant because it gives you, I mean, for some young people might say, that's awful, they're controlling everything. But if your child is moving to secondary and what you want is for them to have, you know, a smartphone, but you want them to be safe, then I think that might be a good option. Of course, Apple is very expensive.