Jeff Orlowski is a director, producer and cinematographer ~

For the finale of season one, I am so excited to introduce you to the man who recently brought a documentary to Netflix that speaks to issues around the attention economy on social media. If you’re a fan of this podcast, it’s likely you’ve heard of it and if you haven’t - get on it, like, now! The film is called ‘The Social Dilemma’, and today we are speaking with the Director - Jeff Orlowski.

Jeff Orlowski is the director, producer, and cinematographer of award-winning films, Chasing Coral and Chasing Ice, which tackle issues that pertain to our climate crisis. He is also the founder of Exposure Labs, a production company dedicated to impact through film. Jeff’s latest release is called ‘The Social Dilemma’, and it had its world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Through interviews with tech experts and critics, The Social Dilemma takes a wide lens on the human impact of social networks. It is now on Netflix, where it is described as a documentary-drama hybrid where tech experts sound the alarm on their own creations.

In this episode, Jeff talks 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. 

Shownotes:

Check out Jeff's production company, Exposure Labs, and DEFINITELY watch 'The Social Dilemma' on Netflix. 

Email any reflections on this show (or 'The Social Dilemma') to [email protected]. Share your fave Selfie Reflective episode on Twitter and tag @SelfieReflect, or share on Instagram stories and tag @lucyohello. 

Sign up to the mailing list by completing the form at www.selfiereflective.com and remember to rate, review and subscribe to Selfie Reflective on your favourite podcast platform!

A note from Lucy: 

Hello listener. This episode - episode 35 - will be the last release in what we’re calling Season 1 of Selfie Reflective. We’re hitting pause on the show for now - but hopefully not forever!

I love this podcast and I am so passionate about the subject matter. In my notebook I am still collecting the names of people I want to interview and topics I want to cover, and this list easily exceeds ten pages! I hope that one day I will be able to reignite this show for Season Two, and that I’ll also be able to bring even more depth to the way I host this show.

I believe with my whole heart that the subjects that are being presented on this show are desperately important - and that feeling seems to be one that is shared by not just Jeff Orlowski (our final season one guest (who is kind of a big deal)) - but every guest who has generously given their time and knowledge to this show.

Thank you so much for listening. 

Guled Mire is a policy advisor, and writer, speaker and community advocate ~

On the podcast, we’ve talked about topics like slacktivism from an academic perspective. We’ve discussed the Christchurch Principles and ideas like freedom of speech and democracy online. 

But in this episode, we’re chatting to someone who lives and breathes activism, both in our material world and in our online spaces.

Guled Mire is a Fulbright Scholar and a Fellow at the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs. He is senior policy advisor by profession and a writer, speaker and community advocate in his spare time. Guled uses his platform and profile to facilitate courageous conversations about racism and discrimination in New Zealand and to discuss the things we need to do to build a truly inclusive, welcoming society.

Guled is a big fan of having open conversations about mental health and is a founding member of the Third Culture Minds Charitable Trust, which supports young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds to get the support they need. 

In this episode, Guled 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 - and why can it also be 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? 

Trigger warning: this conversation does discuss the Christchurch mosque attacks. Guled uses an example in this episode that references the Crusaders - and for anyone who is not from New Zealand, you’ll likely be able to deduce this from the story Guled tells - but just for added context, the Crusaders were, and somewhat controversially still are, the local rugby team of Christchurch.

Shownotes:

Find and follow Guled on Instagram and Twitter. Learn more and support Third Culture Minds on their website, and follow the organisation on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

Email any reflections on this show to [email protected]. Share the episode on Twitter and tag @SelfieReflect, or on Instagram stories and tag @lucyohello. 

Nadja Streiter is a psychotherapist and parent-coach who is based in New York ~

Do you remember what it was like in the days before we had Smartphones? Really remember? What did you reach for when you were waiting in line at the bank? What means did you use to communicate with your friends? What platforms or spaces did you occupy to showcase your creativity, ideas or personality?

Smartphones and digital technology has allowed society to make unprecedented gains - that’s undeniable - but today’s guest wants us to think more closely about digital wellness in relation to the things that human beings might be losing as a result of this accelerating world - things like conversation, space away from work and being alone with our own thoughts.

What is the point where positive returns start diminishing as we rely on these technologies more and more?

Nadja Streiter is a psychotherapist and parent-coach based outside of New York. Nadja has expertise in treating adults and adolescents who struggle with Video Game Addiction - though as you’ll learn in this episode, she cares deeply about all facets of technology and the ways it’s impacting our modern world from both a personal and professional perspective.

Nadja frequently speaks on the topic of problematic behaviours that are technology-based, and also serves as the Programs Director at Game Quitters: a global support community for those who are working to overcome gaming addiction.

This is another episode in which we cover a tonne of ground. 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.

Shownotes:

Find Nadja in all the places - Instagram, Twitter Facebook and LinkedIn on her personal or business profile. 

Email any reflections on this show to [email protected]. Share the episode on Twitter and tag @SelfieReflect, or on Instagram stories and tag @lucyohello. 

Don't forget, you can now also support Selfie Reflective on Pateron! Thanks so much.

Susanne Baumgartner is an Assistant Professor and Researcher at the University of Amsterdam ~

Admit it. Even if you’ve got the TV on or a movie playing on the laptop in bed, you’re pretty likely to also have your phone with you. If you’re anything like me, there have even been times where you’ve been working on a laptop, talking on your cell phone and catching snippets of Jeremy Kyle on the TV in front of you. Heck, if I look to my left as I read this, I can see my cell phone sitting on the desk next to me, easily within arms reach - and - are you also scrolling Instagram while listening to the intro of this podcast? I see you!

Today, we are speaking with Susanne Baumgartner, who is an Assistant Professor and researcher at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research, as well as the Centre for Research on Children, Adolescents and the Media, 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 shortly,  and how this can affect the cognitive and emotional development of young people, and their sleep. 

In this episode, Susanne shares aspects of her research with us. She explains what media-multitasking is, how it is impacting sleep, how young people are coping in our current digital age and why media multitasking can elicit so much stress. Also, just so we don’t get too existential, Susanne also shares with us some findings that are surprisingly positive and encouraging in relation to the research she has done.

Shownotes:

Check out work from the Centre for Research on Children, Adolescents and the Media here, and see Susanne's impressive CV here.

Email any reflections on this show to [email protected]. Share the episode on Twitter and tag @SelfieReflect, or on Instagram stories and tag @lucyohello. 

Don't forget, you can now also support Selfie Reflective on Pateron! Thanks so much in advance.

Dr. Jody Adewale is a Psychologist based in LA ~

There is now a catalogue of over 30 episodes of Selfie Reflective - so trust that I’m not exaggerating when I say that this has to be one of the most jam-packed episodes thus far. 

Today, we speak with Dr. Jody Adewale, a licensed psychologist based in LA. Dr. Jody has a Doctorate of Clinical Psychology, a Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy and a Bachelor of Psychology. I’ll let him explain more about his work in a second, but Dr. Jody is also a former football player at the University of Southern California, which gives him a unique lens on his work, and the author of two books. The first of which is called Absent Fathers, and discusses the phenomenon of paternal absence in a male’s life, and, in particular, the male’s own perception of the role that their father’s absence played in their lives. The second  is titled ‘Who Can Curly Trust”, and it addresses the therapeutic processes in a way that children and low functioning teens and adults can understand. 

As you’re about to hear, Dr. Jody is a passionate, engaged and caring individual. In this episode, he speaks to us about the trends he has noticed and insights he has gleaned about the impacts our technological landscape is having on people based on the lived experiences and anxieties that are reported by those who come through his practice.

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, empathy fatigue and why we have to be really careful about what we are reinforcing in relation to mental health online - and much, much more. 

Shownotes: 

Find Dr. Jody Adewale on the Psychology Today database. 

Email any reflections on this show to [email protected]. Share the episode on Twitter and tag @SelfieReflect, or on Instagram stories and tag @lucyohello. 

Don't forget, you can now also support Selfie Reflective on Pateron! Thanks so much in advance.

Humphrey Hanley is a content-creator, motivational Twitch partner and accessibility advocate ~

I’d just like to take a moment to say - we’ve reached episode 30. 

I can’t quite believe that since February 4th 2020, myself and my boyfriend, Tom, have managed to release a new episode of Selfie Reflective every week. Each week has brought a brand new research and content-development project - a new guest, a new theme, a new release - and, based on feedback, this podcast is doing exactly what I hoped it would - encouraging critical thinking around our social media and digital spaces. 

I’d like to say thanks to Tom for selflessly editing and finessing every single one of the episodes. He’s also found many-a-great-guest along the way. I’d like to thank InternetNZ who were early supporters of the show. I’d like to thank the guests who have committed their time and shared their expertise and stories so generously to all of us listening. And of course, I’d like to thank you for choosing to listen to this independent, NZ-grown grassroots podcast. I wish we could have these conversations together over beers and fries - maybe one day in the future.

As always, if you’d like to show your appreciation for the show, subscribe and leave a rating and review in your favourite podcast app. In case you’d like to shout Tom and I a coffee so we can continue to stay up late and edit more episodes for as long as possible, I’ve also recently launched a little Patreon account, where you can sign up and send us a small donation each month. That link is in the bio. If you aren’t in a position to support financially, no worries, ratings and reviews really do feed our souls.

We’ve got some more to uncover yet - so let’s get on with it. 

We’ve spoken to many issues on this show that centre around social media. There’s no denying that trends like diet culture and disinformation are incredibly important things to dissect, critique and examine on our online spaces. But for episode 30, I wanted to bring someone who is able to speak to the positive aspects of tech and social media that we may not always think about. 

This person’s name is Humphrey Hanley, and I met him just over a week ago in an elevator. We were both heading up to the InternetNZ offices. The team there were putting on a lunch for the content creators that they support - one of those creators is me, and another is Humphrey.

We ended up getting on really well immediately, and after the event even grabbed a beer so we could continue to talk about social media and technology - which, yes, I also do in my spare time... In a second I’ll hand over to Humphrey so he can tell you about his background and story in his own words - but 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. Why? Because 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.

Enjoy the show.

Shownotes:

Follow the inspirational. Humphrey on Twitter or Twitch, or check out his skillset and get in touch with him to support your accessibility initiatives via his website. 

Email any reflections on this show to [email protected]. Share the episode on Twitter and tag @SelfieReflect, or on Instagram stories and tag @lucyohello. 

Don't forget, you can now also support Selfie Reflective on Pateron! Thanks so much in advance.

Jo Robertson has worked extensively in sex education and is now the Research and Training Lead at The Light Project ~

Today, we’re unpacking a topic that I’ve wanted to cover on this podcast since it first launched.

This is a topic that has been mentioned and touched on in prior episodes, but not examined super closely. What we are discussing is something that is hugely and sometimes unavoidably present in our online spaces. To some, it’s a curiosity. To some it’s a guilty pleasure. To others, it’s an obsession. And in our digital age, this thing is impacting us as adults - and it’s also having a profound impact on our young people.

We’re talking about pornography.

Because it’s such a concern for a lot of parents, teachers and caregivers, I’ve wanted to cover the important subject of young people and pornography in a really meaningful way - which is why I was stoked when Netsafe alerted me to a charitable trust called The Light Project. The Light Project was founded in 2017, and - to quote their website - 'aims to help youth, their whānau, schools and wider communities to positively navigate the new porn landscape in Aotearoa'.

In this episode, we speak to Jo Robertson, Research and Training lead at The Light Project. Jo has worked as an external sex education provider for 7 years and as a school counsellor for trauma and abuse cases with children and young people. She is now a qualified sex therapist having just completed her Master of Science in medicine, with a focus on the consumption rates and impacts of porn on adolescents. She has a private practice specialising in problematic sexual behaviours and relationship breakdown.

Jo and I speak about young people and porn - what does the research say? How is pornography impacting and shaping attitudes and behaviour in regards to sex and sexuality? How can caregivers support the young people in their lives? She has a tonne of wisdom to give, and breaks all this stuff down in a really digestible and approachable way, which feels welcoming rather than judgemental or terrifying - so I hope you find value in and enjoy the show.

Note: there are mature and frank sexual references made in this episode. 

Shownotes:

Check out the catalogues of amazing resources on offer at The Light Project's website. 

Email any reflections on this show to [email protected]. Share the episode on Twitter and tag @SelfieReflect, or on Instagram stories and tag @lucyohello. 

Did you know, you can now also support Selfie Reflective on Pateron! Thanks so much in advance.

Dr David Hall is a Political Theorist and lecturer at AUT University ~

On March 15th, 2019, our social media landscape and our real world became horrifyingly intertwined after a gunman entered two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and committed an act of terror.

Fifty-one people lost their lives in the attacks. Our hearts still ache for those who were most personally affected by this abhorrent crime. Since March 15th 2019, what’s now known as New Zealand’s darkest day, some citizens have grappled with the idea that perhaps our country is not as accepting, welcoming and kind as they might like to imagine - others have wondered with frustration and urgency about how we can dismantle the systems that listen to and respect some voices over others.

This terrorist attack was different to others that have occurred before, in that the gunman planned  and chose to live-stream this attack through Facebook. The video was viewed over 4,000 times before it was removed, and what became painfully clear is that our online spaces do not operate in a framework that keeps us safe from the amplification of content like this, which deliberately intend to incite hate, fear, intolerance and violence. In fact, with the way these platforms are built, the algorithms can even favour this type of content. For any sentient human being, many urgent questions were raised. Why was this video allowed to stream live for so long? What are the moderation policies? How can we prevent this from happening again?

Off the back of this horrific crime, the government introduced the Christchurch Call, which is - and I quote from the Christchurch Calls' website - ‘a commitment by Governments and tech companies to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.’

The Helen Clark Foundation, which is an independent public policy think tank, built on the Christchurch Call with what they coined 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.

In this episode, we’re speaking with Dr David Hall, a political theorist and AUT lecturer who helped write The Christchurch Principles, and even presented them at the Paris Peace Forum in 2019. David talks us through some of the challenges to democracy online, where the idea of free speech can be misguided and what The Christchurch Principles hope to inspire.

Dr David Hall is a political theorist with a focus on complex contemporary issues, including climate change, migration, and democracy in the digital era. He is a Lecturer at AUT University, co-director of the newly launched Climate Innovation Lab, and recently attended the Paris Peace Forum to promote the Christchurch Principles, a democratic framework for reducing harmful online content. His most recent publication is A Careful Revolution: Towards a Low-Emissions Future (BWB Texts).

Shownotes:

To read more about The Christchurch Principles, check out the full Christchurch Principles' document here, and this Spinoff article. David has written extensively about free speech. Read this, this and this to keep the critical thinking going. Dr David Hall also edited and features in Fair Borders, a book that looks closely at modern migration policy.

Email any thoughts or reflections on this episode to [email protected].

Alice Brine is a Kiwi-born London-based comedian and creative ~

"I’m gunna start going home with random very drunk guys and stealing all of their shit. Everything they own. It won’t be my fault though... they were drunk. They should have known better. I’ll get away with it 90% of the time but then when one brave man takes me to court over it, I’ll argue that I wasn’t sure if he meant it when he said ‘no don’t steal my Audi.’ I just wasn't sure if he meant it. I said ‘Can I please steal your Gucci watch?’ He said ‘no’ but I just wasn't sure if he meant it. He was drunk. He brought this on himself.

You should have seen how he was dressed at the club, expensive shirts and shoes. What kind of message is he sending with that!? I thought he wanted me to come and steal all of his shit. He was asking for it. When he said ‘no’ to me taking everything he owned I just didn’t know if he meant it. ‘No’ isn’t objective enough, it could mean anything."

The text featured above went viral via a post on Facebook in 2016. Today, we're speaking with Alice Brine, the comedian who wrote and published that post. As we’ll learn in this episode, Alice's analogy about sexual consent resonated all around the globe.

Since then, you’re on the money if you think that a lot has changed - but also not a lot when it comes to the issue of consent. In this episode, we speak to Alice about what the experience of going viral was like, what the surprising parts were, 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.

Shownotes:

Follow Alice Brine on Instagram or Twitter, and if you're in London send her a DM to be kept in the loop about her upcoming standup shows. 

Email [email protected] with any reflections on this episode.

Nicholas Diakopoulos is an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University ~

A few months back, I started writing one particular word a lot on my social media feeds. This word was 'influencer'. When I launched this podcast, l started out by reflecting a lot on that term in relation to how my retired blogging brand saw me become embroiled in the influencer life. A few weeks into this podcast, and something very curious started to happen. I began to notice advertisements for gaining followers, collaborating with brands and building expertise popping up on my feeds. I realised that my social media algorithms had me all wrong. I wasn’t writing the word influencer because I wanted to be one - I was writing it to query the game! I’m sure you, yourself, have experienced that feeling of triumph when the algorithm delivers you up something that’s starkly and hilariously inaccurate - it feels like your real life and your online life are still separate - but should we be looking with more scrutiny towards the algorithms that inform our experiences, and therefore our culture online?

In this episode, we’re speaking with Nick Diakopoulos, a professor at Northwestern University. He is appointed in the Department of Communications Studies, and also Computer Science, which is a rare combination of disciplines to be involved with. He runs a research lab at Northwestern called the Computational Journalism Lab, where he studies and explores aspects of the role of automation and algorithms in news production, algorithmic accountability and transparency, and social media in news contexts. He is author of the book, Automating the News: How Algorithms are Rewriting the Media, published by Harvard University Press in 2019. 

(Believe it or not) Today, Nick and I discuss algorithms. What are some of the surprising ways that different algorithms might be affecting our lives? How is our media being generated and aggregated online? What was recently confirmed by data about our Instagram algorithm? And, with some of the biases that are built into the algorithms we interact with on a daily basis, what is the solution for ensuring that algorithms are being created with humanity in mind?

Shownotes:

Check out Nick's personal website here, learn more about his book, Automating the News: How Algorithms are Rewriting the Media, and follow the progress of AlgorithmTips.org.

Tweet your thoughts and reflections on this episode to @SelfieReflect or email [email protected].