Categories
Media & Press Media - Audio

[MEDIA] ‘Jesus Tok’: Kanye West seeks to launch Christian TikTok after being ‘disturbed’ by videos on @PremierRadio

Yes, I may have had chemo yesterday, but was pleased to be given the opportunity to comment on this story around Kanye West and Tik-Tok this morning. An extract from what I said:

In response to Kanye’s announcement, Bex Lewis, Digital Marketing lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University told Premier Christian News: “There’s always someone trying to make a Christian version of something. And I don’t think it really works.

“I think it kind of sends us off into a separate space in the world rather than changing the world as a whole. And, you know, we’ve had people try and set up GodTube, and things like that instead of YouTube. I’m much more interested in being salt and light in the real spaces that people are actually using.

Read full story (and/or listen to audio)

Categories
Media & Press Media - Audio

[MEDIA] Talking about @Ofcom new Regulatory Powers with @PremierRadio

This morning it has been announced that Ofcom will have new regulatory powers with regards to online safety. See BBC, Guardian, Financial Times.

I’ll be on Premier Radio around 1.20pm speaking about this. <added afterwards>

My thoughts so far:

  • Cautiously optimistic (as the details are not yet clear) – as part of the mix of making digital a positive place to be.
  • Wary about the global nature of technology, so be interesting to see how much power one nation has to make this work, but there are already examples from Germany and Australia (largely involving fines/imprisonment). Social networks need to make money, so it hits the bottom line. It may not be that straightforward though, as a 0.5% tariff was suggested last year, but Trump complained that this was a US focused tax as most of the platforms are based in the USA.
  • We need care to ensure that we do not end up like China, blocking platforms, are concerns about ‘backdoor entry’ to access people’s data.
  • Makes sense that it’s Ofcom that does this as it already regulates other media formats (although e.g. BBC is UK-centric)
  • It responds to the government online harms document released last year (see conversation with UCB last April), ensures that platforms do not have an unregulated free hand or no responsibility (but how enforceable is this?)
  • Looking for more transparency/accountability for platforms, and the process of regulation. There is no magic bullet, so we still need to take our own responsibility for digital literacy, what we share, and articulating what we want from platforms, etc.
  • Want to know who is setting the rules, and that it’s based on good research data (e.g. LSE kids yesterday released report more risk, no evidence of more harm), and not just responding to media panic (as we’ve had with every new technology.
  • AI is already being used by tech companies to help increase their £, so good that it should (if not already) be put to use to increase the benefits of using platforms (government mentions violence, terrorism (something that HE institutions are concerned about policing), cyber-bullying, child abuse) – e.g. photo recognition software (though not positive for e.g. mastectomy photos).
  • They are seeking to ensure that content is removed quickly, and minimising the risks of it happening at all. If digital spaces are fast to take down, will become pointless to post up (though can quickly repost/repost).
  • There are still more details to come in the Spring so lots still to know. Are queries about VPN workarounds, etc.
  • There’s a question of a duty of care, there is more than £ at stake here.
  • Online has never been supposed to be a wild-west, free for all. Current legislation still stands, but as much legislation is national, this can be problematic.
  • Query whether ‘policing’ or ‘encouraging better practice’.

 

Categories
Media & Press Media - Audio

[MEDIA] It’s #SaferInternetDay, I spoke to @PremierRadio, @BBCLeeds and @UCBNewsTeam

Today is Safer Internet Day – so six years ago I was on BBC Radio 2 with Steve Wright, and five years ago on The One Show on the BBC, and I’ve done lots of other press on children and the internet in between. In 2014 Raising Children in a Digital Age: Enjoying the Best, Avoiding the Worst was published, and this year I will be working on a second edition, as although much of the advice is very ‘evergreen’, the digital context has changed and some of the concerns have reduced, some increased, and the opportunities have changed too. As ever, I had a range of notes prepared, thinking about what I want to say (conversation is key, don’t just ‘not engage’, be intentional about your engagement, look for the opportunities (media headlines tend not to), remember that there are human beings on the other side of the screen, create family/youth club policies, it’s not really an optional (or separate) part of life, and check out Andy’s advice on gaming):

UCB Radio

First thing this morning, I spoke to Ethel from the UCB News Team, responding to the press release – as seen in newspapers such as The Independent this morning about the emphasis of this year’s Safer Internet Day. Much of the interview should be on UCB at the 12pm newsdesk (probably around 12.40pm), as well as potentially other segments.

Audio added later:

Premier Radio

At 9.30am, I joined John Pantry on ‘Your Call’ on Premier Radio to take some caller questions about the opportunities and challenges of the internet – you can find the audio about 9 minutes in on the Premier Radio site(better quality), or my recording:

BBC Radio Leeds

I then went onto chat to Stephanie Hirst on BBC Radio Leeds – looking past the scare stories to how our lives have changed with the internet:

There may be more, but that’s all I know about for now!

 

Categories
Media & Press Media - Audio

[MEDIA] Chatting with @PremierRadio ‘One in four young people addicted to smartphones claims new research, Christian academic says it raises bigger questions’

Yesterday some new research was released under headlines such as:

As the Guardian noted, beyond the headlines:

”The experts behind the latest study said they wanted to look beyond the time young people were spending on smartphones and instead explore the type of relationship they had with such devices.”

My first notes on Facebook were:

Feels like same old story … assumes causal rather than correlation, assumes that time on phone is ‘bad’, rather than seeing how phones are actually used (they have everything on them, why would you want to be away from your phone), but also it is good to try new things which give you a chance to see if there is something problematic going on there – e.g. a bit of time out (can feel a bit like ‘diet advice’ which is rubbish too). Balancing individual and systematic change – society is crap and hard work why would you not want to see what your friends are up to, watch a random good feel video, or even do some work..

Here’s some of what I said:

“This just highlights that we want to look a bit deeper into whether there’s a problem with mobile phones causing potentially addiction or whether actually it’s something to do with society that is causing people to want spend longer on their phone,” she said.

Lewis suggests it is better to look at the quality of what people are doing on their phones, rather than necessarily the quantity of time being spent on them and says parents should monitor children’s screen time.

“People need to look individually at their phone usage, because it will be different for everyone, what a good amount of screen time is.

“I think parents should definitely be involved in their children’s use of phones. I think conversation is key and talking to them about it, looking at what they are doing on it and trying to encourage a balance.

“We should use the resources that we’ve been given by God responsibly, and our time and our smartphones are resources that we’ve been given, so we need to ask the question, how do we use them well?

“I’m passionate about getting Christians involved in the industries that are creating the machines, creating the algorithms, creating the technology and therefore shaping the current social shaping of technology.”

Here’s the full blog post. I was also featured on news bulletins throughout the day, but didn’t capture any of them.

For my own reference: post-interview conversation on Facebook.

Categories
Media & Press Media - Audio

[MEDIA] Talking to #PremierRadio about #PremDac19 and Social Media Communities

I spoke to the Inspirational Breakfast team on Wednesday morning, and then this was broadcast Thursday morning. You can listen to my thoughts online.