Tuesday 16 March 2027 · 6.00pm · Alleyn’s Regent’s Park, Gloucester Avenue, London NW1
When should a child get a phone? What about a social media account? A games console in their bedroom? Every family answers these questions differently – and most parents quietly wonder whether they have got it right.
Thinking On Screenagers takes the guesswork out of the conversation. Our panel of researchers, policy experts and online-safety campaigners will look at what the evidence really says about children and screens, what good boundaries look like at different ages, and how to help a child go on this journey with confidence rather than fear.
An evening designed for parents of younger children in particular – the ones still deciding – but with plenty for anyone already living with a screenager.
Why come?
- Evidence, not opinion: what the research actually shows about children and digital life.
- Age-by-age guidance you can use at home this week.
- Ask the people who advise government and industry the questions you can’t find answers to online.
The questions we’ll be asking
Is there a right time for children to embrace digital and social media? How should children go on this journey?
Meet the panel
Our panel brings together the people shaping how the UK thinks about children’s digital lives – a research psychologist, a policy director, a youth-trends researcher and one of the country’s best-known voices on tech.
Katie Freeman-Tayler
Dr Amanda Gummer
Sam Clough
Will Guyatt
Katie Freeman-Tayler
Policy & Research Director, Internet Matters
Katie Freeman-Tayler is Policy & Research Director at Internet Matters, the not-for-profit founded by the UK's largest internet providers to help families navigate life online.
She leads the organisation's research programme, ensuring the experiences of parents, carers, children and young people shape the evidence used by those designing children's digital lives.
With over a decade of experience across government and civil society, she works with industry, regulators and academic partners to influence digital policy.
Dr Amanda Gummer
Founder, Fundamentally Children / The Good Play Guide
A research psychologist with more than twenty years' work with children and families, Amanda founded Fundamentally Children and the Good Play Guide to help parents navigate play, toys and tech in ways that genuinely support child development – including independent, evidence-based reviews of children's apps and advice on e-safety.
She's best known for the idea of the "Play Diet": a simple, research-grounded way for families to think about balance across different kinds of play, screen time included, rather than treating screens as a battle to be won or lost.
Sam Clough
Global Head of Youth Trends and Insight, SuperAwesome
Sam leads youth research at SuperAwesome, the kidtech company behind data and technology for safely engaging Gen Alpha and Gen Z audiences.
Her research spans children from pre-school through to adulthood, covering online safety and privacy, fandoms and creator culture, and how young people really behave online.
Will Guyatt
Technology Correspondent, LBC; tech expert, BBC Radio 2
As LBC's Technology Correspondent and BBC Radio 2's tech expert, Will explains AI, gaming and social media to around ten million people a week – translating the fast-moving digital world into plain English for the rest of us.
He's also become one of the country's most persistent voices on online safety, arguing that if adults can't agree what a healthy relationship with tech looks like, we can hardly expect our children to work it out for themselves.
Book your place
Tickets for Thinking On are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 5.30pm for a 6.00pm start, with drinks available before and after the discussion. Book now to secure your seat.
