BBC OS Conversations: Protecting children from online harm

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

***Contains upsetting content about suicide*** Hundreds of parents who believe social media played a part in the death of their children gathered in New York recently. Standing outside the offices of Meta, owners of Facebook and Instagram, they had a simple demand. Protect our children. Showing incredible bravery, three mothers who have lost their sons tell us about their boys and what happened to them. If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide. www.befrienders.org In the UK a list of organisations that can help is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm Mark Lowen. Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. In BBC OS
0:12.3	conversations, we bring people together from around the globe to share their experiences. This time,
0:18.3	it's parents on protecting children from online harm.
0:23.5	Discussions about the best ways to keep children safe online are had so often that it's sometimes easy to forget the total devastation
0:32.3	suffered by some families at the heart of the debate. That's not the case today. The stories you will hear
0:39.4	from three mothers who lost their children are completely devastating. But their bravery in
0:45.5	speaking to us comes from a determination to see change. Along with hundreds of other families
0:51.6	who believe social media played a part in the death of their children,
0:55.2	they recently lobbied META, owners of Facebook and Instagram, to demand action.
1:07.6	The mothers I spoke to are Maureen Mollack in the United States and Holly Dance and Ellen Room in the UK.
1:15.4	I should warn you that we discuss suicide and you may find it upsetting.
1:20.2	Maureen began by sharing her story.
1:22.8	Nine years ago, I lost my 16-year-old son, David, to suicide. After months of relentless and
1:30.7	threatening cyberbullying on Instagram was where it started that left him feeling helpless
1:36.7	and hopeless. About a year or so, before that, he had a basketball injury, and while he was rehabbing, he turned to social media and
1:47.5	online gaming to fill the void. And over a period of about eight or nine months, we started to
1:53.3	see a real change in his behavior. And he was showing all the signs of a behavioral addiction
1:58.6	from lying about completing his schoolwork. He was sneaking
2:02.6	around using his devices when he wasn't supposed to. He would get angry and aggressive when we would
2:08.6	try to get him to stop. And then there towards the end, he started stealing from us in order to
2:14.1	purchase virtual assets in some of these online gaming platforms.
2:19.8	And even after David was medically cleared to go back and play basketball, he preferred to
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 17 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.