A podcast for parents trying to raise kids in a world run by algorithms. Join media veteran Keith Walsh, childcare entrepreneur Ciara Keane, and tech expert Tom Young for Algorithm & Blues. Each week, they bridge the gap between parenting and the digital age, offering professional insights and real-world advice for families trying to stay human in a high-tech world.
In this episode, we’re talking about something very serious. How technology and social media are now being used in the grooming and recruitment of young people into criminal activity. In the UK, this is often linked to something called ‘County Lines.’ And while many parents may have heard the phrase…They may not fully understand what it means, or how online spaces can play a role in facilitating it.
27 Aug 2026
Boys Online: The Search for Identity, Belonging & Influence
Why are so many young boys drawn to online spaces built around masculinity, status, and self-improvement? In this episode, Keith, Tom, and Ciara unpack the complex world of the "manosphere," looking beyond the headlines to understand the true underlying drivers. Rather than searching for toxicity, many young men are simply searching for meaning, purpose, and guidance and recommendation algorithms are more than ready to feed that need.
What We Cover in This Episode:
Demystifying the "Manosphere": Breaking down the spectrum of online content spanning fitness, confidence, dating, and anti-establishment thinking.
The Core Vulnerabilities: Why loneliness, insecurity, and a search for identity make young boys susceptible to these online spaces.
Algorithmic Escalation: How platforms slowly push users from basic motivation content toward radicalised grievance content to keep their attention.
Actionable Advice for Parents: How to engage with curiosity instead of shame, foster critical thinking, and build healthy offline connections.
3 Jun 2026
Roblox: Harmless Fun… or a Whole Online World?
Algorithm & Blues Episode 4: Roblox: Harmless Fun… or a Whole Online World?
Millions of children spend hours on Roblox every week, but how many parents actually know what's going on inside it?
In this episode, Keith and Ciara do their homework: they go hands-on with Roblox, dive into one of its most popular games, explore the chat function, and browse the wider game library. What they find is eye-opening. Roblox isn't just a game, it's a vast, user-generated online world with powerful reward mechanics, real social interactions with strangers, and content that ranges from creative and fun to genuinely inappropriate for younger children.
With insight from Tom, the team breaks down why games like Pet Simulator X are so hard to put down, what parents often miss about the chat function, and why the answer isn't to ban the app, it's to understand it.
If your child plays Roblox, this episode is essential listening.
Topics covered: gaming addiction, online safety, reward psychology, parental controls, and how to talk to your kids about their online world.
25 May 2026
Growing Up Observed: Girls, Pressure & Safety Online
In this episode of Algorithm & Blues, host Keith sits down with Ciara and Tom to look past standard talk about screen-time limits and dive into the real emotional reality for girls online. From the pressure of non-stop visibility to the way algorithms quietly shape self-worth, this episode offers a calm, non-hysterical, and deeply practical guide for parents navigating the modern digital landscape.
18 May 2026
VPNs, Workarounds… and Why Blocking Doesn’t Work
If you’ve ever set up parental controls and thought, “Job done,” this episode is a must-listen.
This week on Algorithm & Blues, Keith, Tom, and Ciara look at the hidden side of kids' online lives: VPNs and workarounds. Far from being "hacker-level" tech, bypassing digital restrictions has become a normal, everyday problem-solving exercise for teenagers.
The VPN Basics: What they actually are, how kids download them in minutes, and why they render standard parental filters useless.
The Psychology of the Block: Why restriction creates a "forbidden fruit" effect and how over-policing drives kids to hide their behavior.
The Real Danger: It’s not just what they are seeing; it's that you no longer know that they are seeing it.
Moving Beyond Blocking: Practical, real-world strategies you can start tonight to build digital trust instead of digital walls.
30 Apr 2026
Should Under-16s Be Banned from Social Media?
The UK government has made it official: the era of "anything goes" for teens online is ending. But as age limits, feature restrictions, and digital curfews loom on the horizon, we have to ask, is this a genuine safety net for parents, or a policy that doesn't understand how kids actually live?
In our premiere episode, host and media veteran Keith Walsh is joined by childcare entrepreneur Ciara Keane and social media tech expert Tom Young to pull back the curtain on the looming crackdown. Together, brush past the headlines to explore whether you can actually "ban" a generation from the digital world without driving them into darker, less regulated corners.
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