Left to their Own Devices: Parenting in the Digital Era with Holly Brooker

This 60-minute webinar session equips parents with practical tools and up-to-date insights on emerging trends to help parents understand their role in guiding their kids through the complex digital world.

Key topics include:

• The online landscape: Why and how young people are using tech including insights on screen time, gaming, and social media use

• Understanding online risks: pornography, exploitation, and grooming

• Practical strategies: filtering, house rules, and whānau values

• This talk is grounded in research, stories, and will leave participants hopeful - designed not to scare parents, but to empower them as tech leaders in the home.

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN MADE FREE THANKS TO OUR INCREDIBLE SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS. WE WARMLY ENCOURAGE A SMALL DONATION FROM THOSE WHO ARE ABLE TO, SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO KEEP THESE EVENTS HAPPENING.

About our Speaker:

Holly Brooker is a seasoned communications specialist and parenting presenter with a background in education, public relations, and media. She began her career as a high school teacher, working in disadvantaged communities, before transitioning into the corporate sector where she ran her own successful PR and marketing business, The Media Project, for 15 years.

Driven by a deep passion for parenting education and child protection, Holly has since worked as a content developer, media presenter, and facilitator with a nationwide parenting organisation, helping parents navigate the challenges of raising children in a digital age. She draws on her down-to-earth, relatable communication style to deliver practical support and encouragement—always enriched with honest stories from her own parenting journey as a mum of two.

In 2022, she co-founded Makes Sense with Jo Robertson, an initiative focused on protecting children and empowering families around online safety. Holly holds a BA in Sociology and Politics and a Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary), and she is currently completing a Master’s in Public Policy at the University of Auckland, with a focus on shaping policies that better protect children online.

Having grown up in a large blended family and personally impacted by childhood experiences involving sexual abuse within her extended whānau, Holly is fiercely committed to being a voice for the vulnerable and ensuring that families from all backgrounds are supported and heard.