A New Type of Influencer?
It doesn’t feel that long ago when we had lots of children and young people whose career choice was ‘influence’. To a lesser degree that’s still the case, but the world is changing.
Have you heard of Khaby Lame? If not he’s a 25 year old famous, very funny TikToker who has 160 million followers and over 2.6 billion likes on his content. He’s the biggest TikToker ever and he has just sold his voice, likeness, image, and mannerisms in a deal valued at nearly $957 million dollars. He can now be fully AI generated, in every language, at global scale, without ever picking up a phone.
This gives a whole new meaning to ‘digital footprint’ and could easily be turned into a very interesting talk with students, e.g. digital footprint with younger students, ethical use and the changing nature of careers with older students. You can read more about this in Forbes HERE.
Social Media Ban for Under 16’s
I’ve covered this before but this time it’s a little different.
Last week I visited a Boys Prep school, one I have had the privilege of visiting every year for the last 13 years to speak to the Y6/7/8 students. The topic I chose for their discussion was, “Should social media be banned for under 16’s in the UK?”.
As you can imagine there was lots of disbelief and horror that YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok etc. might be banned, as well as thoughts ranging from “Why can’t we just let kids be kids” (from a year 6) to “Why has no-one consulted us” (from a Year 8).
Without going into lots of detail this is what we covered:
- Why is a ban being considered?
- What is happening in Australia, will it work, are there ways around the ban?
- What are the positives and negatives to a ban?
Why mention this? This is a really good subject because it’s topical, potentially affects them personally, and you can cover so much from an online safety perspective, for example the question, “Why is a ban being considered?” allows you to cover a lot of online safety topics from misinformation to predators, harmful content and everything in between, as well as giving students the opportunity to debate and voice opinions on things that affect them; just the title alone gets them engaged and talking.
At the very beginning I asked a simple question, “Do you think social media should be banned for under-16’s?” The response was a mixed bag as you can imagine. We covered the topics mentioned above which also gave me the opportunity to cover aspects such as harmful content, predators, sleep, persuasive design and brain development. I then asked the same question at the very end and to my surprise the response was almost exclusively yes, under 16’s should be banned. I didn’t prompt this, in fact I gave them my own opinion (no, I don’t think it should be banned) which really surprised them.
It takes very little effort to put a talk like this together as the students are doing most of the talking, you’re just prompting the session, keeping them on track and introducing a few online safety concepts. Give it a try with your students, they might surprise you.
SID 2026 – New Free Resource – Algo and Rhythm
Sophie Dunning, a primary school teacher in the north east of England reached out to me a few days ago to see if I would review her new book – The Adventures of Algo and Rhythm (Book 1, The Deepfake Dilemma) and what can I say, it’s fantastic: it’s topical, it’s fun and most importantly of all, it’s educational. The details of the book are below and if you have any feedback for Sophie send it to me and I will forward it on.
In Sophie’s words:
The internet is glitching, and it’s up to us to fix it.
Just in time for Safer Internet Day 2026, a new resource is here to help children level up their digital skills. The Adventures of Algo and Rhythm: The Deepfake Dilemma isn’t your standard safety lecture, it’s a high-stakes mystery that turns readers into Digital Detectives.
Meet Algo (the logical coder who loves facts) and Rhythm (the creative influencer who lives for the ‘likes’). When a malicious AI-generated video goes viral at their school, the sisters must combine their skills to crack the code and clear Rhythm’s name.
Packed with authentic Gen Alpha slang and real-world technical concepts, from identifying visual artifacts to tracking digital footprints, this book teaches children to question pixels and trust their instincts.
More than just a story: Written by a serving teacher, the text is aligned with Year 6 Greater Depth writing standards, making it a fantastic model text for literacy lessons. And while it’s perfect for Safer Internet Day, the themes of AI and critical thinking are vital 365 days a year. Making this a go-to resource you can use all year round.
It’s time to stop scrolling and start solving.
Download for FREE on Apple Books The Adventures of Algo and Rhythm by Sophie Dunning on Apple Books
About the Author:
Sophie Dunning is a Primary Teacher and Computing Lead based in the North East of England with over 16 years teaching experience. She wrote “Algo and Rhythm” to bridge the gap between complex tech concepts and engaging storytelling, helping children navigate the AI age with confidence and curiosity.
For Parents – Lemon8 App
Lemon8 is an app which seems to be growing in popularity. Calling itself a ‘lifestyle community’ app the terms and conditions, as per most social media, is 13+. The company which owns Lemon8 is ByteDance, who also own TikTok and it’s essentially a mix between Instagram and TikTok. Reviews generally seem to be quite positive but one of the big downfalls is that parental features are a little lacking.
It’s worth checking if your child is using Lemon8 and if so have a look at this in-depth Lemon8 review.
For Parents – New Parental Control Videos
A couple of days ago Internet Matters uploaded 3 new short videos onto YouTube, each focussing on parental controls for YouTube, Roblox and TikTok, the links are:
