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The Algorithmic Child

Growing Up Around Feeds, Screens, AI Friends, and Invisible Influence

By: Andrea Marlow, AI (Illustrator)

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Paperback | 12 July 2026

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Childhood now unfolds inside systems that watch, learn, recommend, reward and persuade. Feeds decide what appears next, notifications interrupt sleep and concentration, filters reshape faces and bodies, and influencers blur the line between friendship and advertising. Artificial companions can sound caring and personal, while fake images, cloned voices and hidden data collection are changing how children learn, socialise and decide what to believe.

Parents and teachers are often told either to embrace every new technology or to fear it, but neither response prepares children for the world they are actually entering.

The Algorithmic Child is a clear, balanced and practical guide to raising and educating young people around social media, games, streaming platforms, smartphones and generative artificial intelligence. It explains how recommendation systems learn from behaviour, how digital products compete for attention and how online influence can affect identity, body image, friendship, learning, privacy and emotional wellbeing.

Covering topics from screen habits and the first smartphone to deepfakes, AI friends, scams, bullying and harmful recommendation pathways, this book helps adults recognise genuine risks without treating technology itself as the enemy. It offers realistic guidance for setting boundaries, responding calmly when something goes wrong and gradually transferring responsibility as children grow.

The aim is not to eliminate screens, but to raise young people who can question what they see, protect what is private, recognise manipulation, ask for help and use powerful technology without letting it make every important decision for them.

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