Daniel Donahoo

What is the key message of your book?

Media literacy gives our children greater control over media than banning it ever will.

What inspires you to write?

Great stories. Humanity has always told stories, from paintings on cave walls to plays and novels to short films and new media. Those stories are how we share who we are, where we belong, what we believe. I have always loved sharing stories. Stories are always in my work.

What advice would you offer readers of your book?

Keep teaching your children to ask questions. To be critical thinkers. This way they will take control of their own learning.

What are you passionate about?

New ideas and moving forward, rather than sitting back and becoming stale and dogmatic.

What interests you most about media, advertising and child development?

The fact that we are moving into a world where everyone has the capacity to be a media producer, the shift to the democratisation of knowledge and the impact that will have on our children’s lives. Will they need to go to University, or can they watch great lecturers share their knowledge through online videos? Will they need to be subject experts, or experts at synthesising information and knowledge? Will advertising evolve to a point where it actually works for us, to meet our needs – rather than manipulate us to control our wants?

If you could have a conversation with anyone (alive or not) who would it be and what would you talk about?

My boys. And I have that conversation all the time. It is about what goes on in our lives and how we are dealing with it and what exciting things we will do tomorrow.

What motivates you?

I used to be motivated by a niggling sense of failure. Now I am motivated by the stories and ideas of others, and the desire to help make great ideas become reality and fine stories heard by many people.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Don’t think of it as a writing career. Think of it as a writing vocation.

What are you looking forward to?

Every single bit of every day. Starting now.