So many of us lost heart, our voices, our strength at different points in the past year, and possibly none more than young people. “Since the start of the pandemic, mental health-related emergency department visits increased by 31% for 12-17-year-olds,” Mental Health America cites data from the Centers for Disease Control as showing. And according to YPulse, 64% of Gen Z-ers themselves say their … [Read more...] about Young artists & activists wrapping 2020 in light
Social Media
Beyond ‘The Social Dilemma’ to social solutions
The Social Dilemma, now on Netflix, is a polemic, not a documentary. I mean, the Oxford English Dictionary says a documentary “provides a factual record or report,” and this film does not do that. There’s nothing wrong with a polemic, or a wakeup call. It’s perfectly reasonable to create a film with the intention to wake people up from using tech and media unthinkingly. It is wrong to represent … [Read more...] about Beyond ‘The Social Dilemma’ to social solutions
‘Automated fame’: 1 of the TikTok stories of the moment
You’ve undoubtedly seen news stories about Charli D’Amelio, 2020’s 16-year-old TikTok phenomenon, with 6 billion likes and 82 million followers since she joined the app last spring. It was the part about “automated fame” that really caught my attention in a New Yorker story this past weekend. Charli became “the most popular creator on TikTok” partly just because of who Charli is – a very grounded … [Read more...] about ‘Automated fame’: 1 of the TikTok stories of the moment
Yup. New ‘Blue Whale’ with a Momo-style twist
Here we are again. Remember “Blue Whale,” then “Momo”? Well, the B.W. challenge, or self-harm “game,” has been warmed over and repackaged with a new name and face with the creepiness of a Momo. This time it’s a weird, scary version of the cartoon character Goofy. [I don’t know—does familiarity make it less scary or more so?] In any case, its predecessors were both hoaxes, so it would be hard for … [Read more...] about Yup. New ‘Blue Whale’ with a Momo-style twist
New org for content moderation pros
This is a world first and great news at a time when everybody could use a bit of that: The Trust & Safety Professional Association opens its doors today. TSPA is a membership organization designed to support the content moderation community, the people all over the world who do the extremely challenging work of protecting social media users and freedom of expression at the same time. The … [Read more...] about New org for content moderation pros