Every new technology brings both opportunity and challenge, and by the time adults have learned one tool, a new one has already reshaped how young people live, learn and relate.
This was the lived reality in the room at our first grandparents’ online harms session, not a lecture on every possible risk, but a space to face the nuances, complexities and unknowns together. We didn’t come with a checklist of answers. Instead, we opened a conversation about how to have hard conversations, because how we talk about digital life is at least as important as what we talk about.
The digital world evolves so quickly that formal guidance often lags behind the experiences of families and young people. Tools like generative AI are already embedded in kids daily lives, shaping how they learn, explore ideas, and even ask for help, yet our shared frameworks for understanding these technologies are still catching up.
This gap isn’t a failure; it’s an opening. It means families and community groups like ours play a vital role in shaping meaningful understanding not perfect answers. When technology blurs the line between play, expression and personal development, pointing to laws alone like that we have seen this week around non-consensual images isn’t enough on its own. People need spaces where they can discuss, reflect and make sense of their own experiences together. That’s exactly the ethos of our sessions funded by Autotrader through Forever Manchester.
Our sessions with grandparents are part of that essential work: recognising that digital literacy isn’t just about skills and tools, but about relationships, empathy and communication. In many families, grandparents are trusted person, the constant and stabilising figures, yet they may feel unsure how to translate their care into digital spaces. That’s where we have stepped in.
Rather than telling people what to do, we help people them explore how to talk about:
💻What worries them online
💻How to recognise shifts in their grandchildren’s digital lives
💻Ways to respond that protect well-being without shutting down connection
Traditional online safety guidance often assumes a narrow family model: two parents, one household, predictable technology access. But many families don’t reflect that pattern. Children move between caregivers, share devices, or rely on online spaces for connection that isn’t always available offline.
Our work acknowledges that digital inclusion is just as much about belonging and equity as it is about access. Online safety conversations must reflect the lived realities of real families: diverse, multi-generational, and negotiating technology in different ways. That’s why we focus on inclusive, conversational support instead of one-directional teaching.
At its heart, the move into 2026 is less about having every answer and more about staying curious together.
Keeping up to date with technology doesn’t mean perfection, it means taking children’s lived experiences seriously, resisting over-simplified solutions, and learning alongside them.
Our grandparents’ sessions do just that. They recognise:
💻Digital harms are real and evolving
💻Loved ones want to care, but don’t always know how
💻Hard conversations are worth having, even when there’s no perfect roadmap
That’s the kind of digital inclusion we champion at Starting Point, not just access to technology, but access to understanding, confidence and supportive community.