As part of our DM Oxfordshire Championship 2019, the final debate of the competition and an extra public debate are being presented as a special event at the Oxford Union. This two-part event is part of the Oxford Festival of the Arts. You can buy tickets here.
The Schools Debate
16:45-18:15
“Populism is a threat to democracy”
Following a day of debating amongst Oxfordshire sixth-form students, the final debate of the competition gets this event underway.
The presentation and award-giving will take place immediately after the debate.
The Main Debate
19:00 – 20:30
“From sexting to screen-addicts: should we be afraid of online harms?”
Few deny the benefits of social media and the internet age, yet there are also constant calls for greater regulation of online media and concerns about the negative effects especially for children. In February of this year, the UK’s Chief Medical Officers issued recommendations to parents encouraging them to ban the use of mobile phones at the dinner table. We live in a time of heightened sensitivity to possible online harms – from foreign interference in elections through online ‘troll farms’ to the alleged link between social media and suicide.
Parents and teachers seem especially eager for clarity about what boundaries to enforce online. To what extent should we be concerned about the harms that exist online, or should we be careful about fanning the flames of moral panics? How should we protect children from new technologies without robbing them of the possibilities such technologies afford? Should we be worried about the erosion of privacy online, as people share more and more and are increasingly tracked by large corporations and governments? Do we need to have a conversation about why we increasingly see everything in terms of the harms that exist, and struggle to imagine new generations and ourselves as robust enough to deal with the challenges we face?
The debate will be chaired by Claire Fox, founder and director of the Academy of Ideas, a writer and broadcaster and regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s The Moral Maze. The guest speakers are:
Jess Butcher MBE
technology entrepreneur, co-founder of Tick and Blippar; three times TedX speaker.
Alex Krasodomski-Jones
director, Centre for the Analysis of Social Media, Demos
Dr Victoria Nash
deputy director, Oxford Internet Institute
Martyn Perks
digital business consultant and writer