Reality Check

It can be so easy to blame a huge portion of contemporary issues on social media, whether it's mental health, false news, or cult political groups. We discussed the paradox of social media's attempt to connect us in the face of increased loneliness and mental health issues.

Trigger warning: this episode includes discussion around social media's relationship with eating disorders and self-harm.

This week we spoke about the deceptive powers of greenwashing and how the 'trendiness' of sustainability has motivated companies to attempt to appear greener than they actually are. We honed in on greenwashing in fashion and political campaigning, as well as the question of authenticity surrounding corporate social responsibility.

Dealing with conflicting opinions is part of what it means to be human. But it seems that social media has hindered our ability to understand the fact that sometime people get things wrong. Call-out culture has made it socially acceptable to cancel people for not being perfect, whether it's a vegan wearing a leather belt, Jordyn Woods fooling around with the wrong Kardashian's man, or Jameela Jamil for not being a good enough feminist. We discussed why this trend is problematic with our lovely guest Claudia Aoraha.

We seem to live in a political climate where an election always seems to be around the corner, and this week, with the announcement of a December General Election, we thought it necessary to discuss voting behaviour. With social media narrowing our world view through algorithmic timelines and politicians failing to provide us with the right information, voting is more convoluted than ever. We discussed this with an aim to establish how voters can avoid bias and bypass the abundance of bogus information that is so often forced upon us.

More people than ever spend their summers volunteering in developing countries. We used this episode to talk about the potential harms of voluntourism and the way that it has perpetuated the voyeuristic notion of 'poverty porn'.

This week we spoke with Mo about mental health. Firstly, we spoke about what exactly our mental health is, and why to some level it is perceived as a trivial matter. We ended the discussion by establishing how 'good' mental health doesn't necessarily mean being happy all the time, but instead is a mental state whereby one is able to control both positive and negative emotions.

This week we spoke with Tom about privilege, unpacking what it means and why it seems to have become a dirty word. We gained insights into how acknowledging one's privilege is imperative in overcoming the social stigma attached to it.

Amidst the growth of the Extinction Rebellion protests we've been seeing, we decided to discuss the climate crisis and its link to the food that we eat. We talked about why going vegan is beneficial for the planet, and how we can go about doing so without dropping our entire student loans.