Tag: media
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The iPhone, Digital Minimalism, and Social Media
Reading Time: 3 minutesWhen I was at university the second time, as a mature student I estimated that my social network was around 600 people deep. In light of this it seems absurd that I hooked on to Facebook and Twitter at the same time. Why would it make sense to hook on to both…
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Worsley, True Crime and Jack the Ripper
Reading Time: 2 minutesA few days ago I watched an interesting documentary in which Lucy Worsley investigated Jack the Ripper, but rather than look at the crimes, motivation, and identifying who the criminal was she took a “media and society” perspective focused on the genre of true crime journalism. Within the documentary and podcast genre…
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On Community, Social Media, and the Failed Third Space
Reading Time: 4 minutesFrance and Belgium have recently banned children and teenagers younger than 15 from joining social media. To me this illustrates that my desire for social media to be social networks that were feature rich is dead and buried. In effect it has been dead and buried since Lockdown got normal people to…
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The Complete Death of Social Conversations on Social Networks
Reading Time: 3 minutesIf I look at Binstagram and Threads, and other Facebook owned sites I notice that conversations are completely dead. I was also looking at Twitter (now X) and I was also struck by how few conversations are taking place. I barely see any conversations. I see people posting, but I see little…
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The Strava IPO and My Desire To Quit the App
Reading Time: 3 minutesStrava intends to float itself on the stock exchange. In my experience of Twitter, Facebook and other social media apps this is the beginning of the end for the app. In my experience when an app such as Zwift gets VC funding it loses control of its app. Users go from being…
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On the Importance of Media Literacy in the Smartphone Era
Reading Time: 4 minutesWithin the last two weeks children have headed back to schools. As a consequence of this schools, towns, villages, and ‘states’ are banning mobile phones for children and teenagers. In theory this is a fantastic, and simple solution. In practice this is failing society. Plenty of adults, from my generation, and younger,…
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Social Media with Moderation
Reading Time: 3 minutesWhen I look at Facebook, BlueSky and Threads I see a lot of content that should never be. I see sentences and phrasing that provoke hostility, and I see article headlines and more that provoke polarisation. In essence I think that social media is no longer a social network. I believe that…
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Of Teens, Antisocial Media and Leadership
Reading Time: 2 minutesIn England, Australia and Switzerland parents want to ban mobile phones from children beneath 14 years of age. In theory this is an excellent idea this is a fantastic and fabulous idea, because it means parents can avoid spending thousands of francs per year on mobile phones, and tech is seen as…
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The Absurdity of Threads
Reading Time: 2 minutesThreads, in theory is a social network but in practice it is a popularity contest driven by algorithms. Normal people are competing against influencers to be seen. You are more likely to find a troll than someone interested in what you have to write, or what you think. More often than not…