'The Social Dilemma' - with Jeff Orlowski
Selfie Reflective
In this episode, director of 'The Social Dilemma', Jeff Orlowski, speaks about his own personal relationship to social media and tech. He unpacks what tech is helping us to accomplish, what it is looking for and how it exists in competition with the rest of our lives. Jeff speaks to the critique that ‘The Social Dilemma’ is oversimplified. He also talks us through something that sounds as terrifying as it is - a resurrection algorithm. The Social Dilemma is now available to watch on Netflix.
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Status: Activism - with Guled Mire
Selfie Reflective
In this episode, policy advisor, writer, speaker and community advocate, Guled Mire gives us insight as to what it’s like to be an activist in the online space. Where does he think the online space is most powerful? Why is having access to other people and businesses meaningful - but also dangerous? How can people be effective allies to support marginalised people in the online space? What’s it like to show up as an individual and present views that challenge and outright go against the status-quo?
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Unintended Consequences - with Nadja Streiter
Selfie Reflective
Nadja Streiter is a psychotherapist and parent-coach based outside of New York. We discuss how Nadja originally became interested in humane technology, why the line between healthy use and disordered use of technology is so hard to define, why human needs and business needs aren’t matching up online and why the demands of tech, specifically in-home devices like Alexa, might produce unintended consequences for human behaviour in future.
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The Effects of Media Multitasking - with Susanne Baumgartner
Selfie Reflective
Today, we are speaking with Susanne Baumgartner, who is an Assistant Professor and researcher at the University of Amsterdam. Her main research focuses on the role of digital media in adolescent development. More specifically, Susanne investigates media multitasking, which we will learn about very shortly, and how this can affect the cognitive and emotional development of young people, and their sleep.
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Mental Health, Technology and Us - with Dr. Jody Adewale
Selfie Reflective
Today, we speak with Dr. Jody Adewale, a licensed psychologist based in LA. In terms of topics, Dr. Jody and I cover a tonne of ground, including how young people are coping with tech, why comparison is such a huge issue on social media, how identity is being impacted, why our capacity to empathise is being stretched too thin, addiction, why we have to be really careful about what we are reinforcing in relation to mental health online - and much, much more.
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Why Access Equals Belonging - with Humphrey Hanley
Selfie Reflective
Humphrey’s thoughts on and relationship to technology might be a little different than some of the perspectives and ideas that we’re used to hearing about. Humphrey is a passionate digital content creator, a Motivational Twitch Partner, Coffee Drinker, Husband, Videographer, Photographer, and Drone Pilot - with fragile skin and no hands. In this episode, Humphrey speaks to accessibility, accessibility advocacy, and why for him the internet and social media were not just life-changing - but life-saving.
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Pornography and Youth - with Jo Robertson
Selfie Reflective
Today, we’re unpacking a topic that I’ve wanted to cover on this podcast since it first launched. That topic is the sometimes prickly subject of how access to pornography is impacting the expectations and behaviour of our young people. We speak to Jo Robertson, Research and Training lead at The Light Project, about what the research says, how is pornography impacting and shaping attitudes and behaviour in regards to sex and sexuality and how can caregivers support the young people in their lives.
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Fighting the Amplification of Hate - with Dr David Hall
Selfie Reflective
We speak with Dr David Hall, a political theorist and AUT lecturer who helped write The Christchurch Principles: ten principles which act as a role and responsibility framework for tech companies, states and society as a whole to respect human rights and enable those rights to flourish online. David presented them at the Paris Peace Forum in 2019, and today talks us through some of the challenges to democracy online, where the idea of free speech can be misguided and what these principles aim to inspire.
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Going Viral - with Alice Brine
Selfie Reflective
Alice Brine is a Kiwi-born London-based comedian and creative. In 2016, Alice who wrote and published a post that highlighted how ludicrous it is that we are still debating sexual consent. This post went viral. Her analogy about sexual consent and victim blaming resonated all around the globe, and today, we speak to her about what going viral was like, how it changed her life - and whether there the ideas of victim-blaming and sexual consent have positively progressed at all, or just taken a different form.
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Decoding the Algorithm - with Nick Diakopoulos
Selfie Reflective
We speak with Nick Diakopoulos, Assistant Professor at North Western University. He runs a research lab called the Computational Journalism Lab, where he studies aspects of automation and algorithms in news production, algorithmic accountability and transparency, and social media in news contexts. What are some of the surprising ways that algorithms affect our lives? What was recently confirmed by data about the Instagram algorithm? How do we ensure that algorithms are being created with humanity in mind?
info_outlineJames Dennis is a senior lecturer in political communication and journalism at the University of Portsmouth ~
I have to admit - I’ve never really liked those Facebook profile picture overlays. You know the ones that have catchy slogans and campaign hashtags that are designed to raise awareness for certain issues like mental health - but have massive bank brands behind them? Yeah, you know. As well as wondering about the motivations of the brands behind these campaigns, I’ve often queried the individual motivations behind the people who add these overlays to their profile pictures. Are they really engaged - or do they just want to appear to be? Are they better citizens than me for using their platform to signal and proudly align themselves with a cause - while I just keep my regular profile picture?
As with most things in our social media realm and our human behaviour, the answer is more complex than what’s on the surface. This practice of supporting a political or social cause by means such as social media or online petitions is sometimes referred to as 'Slacktivism' - which, by definition, is characterised as involving very little effort or commitment. Updating an overlay on your profile picture is pretty simple, after all - but is this popular definition - and my past scepticism - a fair assessment?
In this episode, we’re speaking with James Dennis, Senior Lecturer in Political Communication and Journalism at the University of Portsmouth. James’s research focuses on digital politics and in particular, political engagement on social media. James has written a book called Beyond Slacktivism: Political Participation on Social Media. By reflecting on his research, James argues that the definition of slacktivism is too narrow and that the use of social media in regards to political issues can actually be more beneficial and progressive than we think.
In this episode, we chat to James about his research, popular definitions of slacktivism and his reasons as to why should think more broadly about this idea as it exists on the spectrum of being aware, informed and active.
For me, this conversation was really refreshing and hope-inspiring, and reflected the power that our social platforms have to spread awareness, educate and amplify resources and materials that are informative, useful and, ultimately, progressive.
Shownotes:
Learn more about James, including information about his book: Beyond Slacktivism: Political Participation on Social Media, by visiting his website. You can also follow James on Twitter.
Tweet any thoughts about this episode to @SelfieReflect