All posts tagged: Media

Why your teenager might get withdrawals from social media – and how to manage it

Why your teenager might get withdrawals from social media – and how to manage it

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore As the Government continues to tease a complete social media ban for under-16s, many are questioning how such a move could affect teenagers, given that stepping away from social media can initially trigger withdrawal-like symptoms. Even adults often find it difficult to resist the temptation to constantly check their phones. “While social media withdrawal is not formally recognised in the same way as withdrawal from substances, the experience can feel very real, particularly for teenagers and young adults,” Dr Vica (Victoria) Khromova, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at Cygnet Health Care, said. Experts consulted on the matter shed light on why adolescents in particular can experience social media withdrawal symptoms and how they might be managed. What are some key signs of social media withdrawal? Being forced off social media can have an impact on your mood. “Irritability is a big …

Most Teens Aren’t Going To Social Media For Politics

Most Teens Aren’t Going To Social Media For Politics

Published by Jenni Sidey

Teens turn to social media for multiple purposes: to catch up with friends, for entertainment and to connect with others over similar interests. However, as Statista’s Anna Fleck reports a possible misconception, however, is that many are going to platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok for politics. According to a recent survey of 1,458 teenagers in the United States, conducted between September 25 and October 9, under one in three respondents said that keeping up with politics or political issues was a main personal draw towards each of the respective social media platforms. You will find more infographics at Statista While most teens said that politics was not one of the main reasons for using the apps, U.S. teens were most likely to turn to TikTok and Instagram for political content (29 percent and 28 percent, respectively, said they would), followed by Snapchat (19 percent). More popular reasons to use TikTok were entertainment (96 percent) and to know what’s going on with family and friends (86 percent). When it comes to social media platforms as a source for news, then …

Why one historian uses social media to remember D-Day in real time : NPR

Why one historian uses social media to remember D-Day in real time : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

At the National World War II Memorial, historian Alex Kershaw has found an unlikely way to keep D-Day alive: live social media posts timed to the events of June 6, 1944. ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST: Eighty-two years ago today, an Allied army came ashore in Normandy to liberate Western Europe from Nazi Germany. NPR’s Henry Larson met a man determined to keep memories of the D-Day invasion alive as vivid as if it were happening today. HENRY LARSON, BYLINE: A trip to the World War II Memorial in the hours before the anniversary of Operation Overlord will find you plenty of tourists. PAUL GOODE: We took a family vacation. My wife’s trying to kill me with all the walking and stuff. LARSON: Paul Goode (ph) was visiting from Mississippi, but he wasn’t aware of the anniversary. GOODE: Honestly, until you just said it, I didn’t think about D-Day ’cause I had a grandfather that went on the beach at Normandy a few days after D-Day that he used to talk about. He’s passed since then. LARSON: …

Right-wing media melts down as Spencer Pratt sinks in vote count

Right-wing media melts down as Spencer Pratt sinks in vote count

Published by Sam Flores

Spencer Pratt was never going to be the mayor of Los Angeles. That is not necessarily a humiliation for the longtime reality TV star. But now his unconventional campaign, forged in the aftermath of losing his Pacific Palisades home in the January 2025 fires, is quickly giving way to a predictable right-wing meltdown over California’s elections. Almost immediately after the polls closed on June 2, prominent conservative media personalities began aggressively promoting completely deluded claims that Democrats were actively stealing the election. On Fox News, host Laura Ingraham suggested California might have “the most corrupt voting system in the Western world.” Will Cain floated the idea that votes could be “manufactured” during the counting process. Sean Hannity amplified Donald Trump’s baseless claim that Democrats were “probably cheating” in California. Podcaster Benny Johnson claimed that “you can already see that they’re stealing and they’re cheating.” Right-wing provocateur Chris Rufo baselessly claimed that “the Dem machine has rigged election law in its favor.” Right-leaning polling firm Rasmussen claimed Pratt received zero votes in a ballot drop — …

Singapore orders social media sites to block content, likely from China-based platform, targeting Indian community

Singapore orders social media sites to block content, likely from China-based platform, targeting Indian community

Published by Sam Flores

MALICIOUS EFFORTS TO SOW DISCORD MHA said that it has observed deliberate attempts to spread more of such content in Singapore’s local information space. These are malicious efforts to sow discord by inciting ill will against the Indian community in the country, said the ministry. “This includes Indian migrant workers in sectors such as construction who are here to make an honest living,” it said. “They contribute to Singapore’s growth and development, and are valued members of our society.” The problematic content likely breaches Section 298A of the Penal Code for knowingly promoting feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different groups on grounds of race, or committing an act prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different racial groups in Singapore, said the ministry. The offence carries a punishment of up to three years’ jail and a fine. The Singapore government takes a serious view of threats to the country’s social cohesion and racial harmony, including from external actors, and will act resolutely against them, it added. Mr Tong said the government will continue …

Run-A-Muck Pushes Into Short Stories With Sights Set on Adaptation

Run-A-Muck Pushes Into Short Stories With Sights Set on Adaptation

Published by Daniella Wilson

Media startup Run-A-Muck is going all in on short stories.   The company, co-founded by Condé Nast alum Pamela Drucker Mann, is set to launch short stories on its ad-supported culture and fashion Substack, Drafting, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.   The move comes along with the company’s bet that the material could be the next major source of intellectual property for film, television, podcasts and other multimedia projects. They plan to adapt successful works across multiple platforms.   “Rather than starting with a medium and searching for an audience, we start with the story we want to tell and then determine the format that best serves that story,” Drucker Mann told WSJ.   Several notable writers have already signed up to publish on the platform. Among them are Cody Behan — writer of short story “The Decorator,” which is set to be adapted for Netflix — and Abbott Elementary writer and director Brittani Nichols.  Adaptation is not the entire goal of the push into shorter fiction, however. Some stories posted on the platform will simply remain in that form. “Not everything we create is destined to become a television series or feature film,” Drucker Mann added.   Drafting, Run-A-Muck’s seven-month-old Substack publication, attracts more than 50,000 monthly readers. Hermès, Moncler and eBay are reportedly among the publication’s advertisers — former Wondery and Google sales …

The Doppelgänger: Social Media and the Mr. Hyde Effect

The Doppelgänger: Social Media and the Mr. Hyde Effect

Published by Jenni Sidey

Numerous studies have demonstrated that social media use can lead to negative mental health consequences. As reported by the Stanford Law School, “A systematic review found that the use of social networking sites is associated with an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress.” One negative aspect of social media that we are probably all familiar with is the “troll.” This refers to a person who posts negative comments, spewing out invectives, bigotry, and intolerance. The troll launches this hostility anonymously under the cover of the non-face-to-face setting of the internet. We can only imagine what they look like and how they behave in real life. The problem of the troll illuminates a recent phenomenon in our history—online personhood. Who we are in the real world might not be the version of ourselves that we present in the world of social media. Our online persona, for instance, might only post happy images of success or neat hobbies undertaken. The messy complexity of our real selves, the ones that close friends and loved ones are …

Founders Fund launches game show starring Sam Altman, Palmer Luckey, and other tech elites

Founders Fund launches game show starring Sam Altman, Palmer Luckey, and other tech elites

Published by skeptic

Have you ever had the desire to see Sam Altman and Palmer Luckey square off over a moderately suspenseful card game? If so, you are in luck. Silicon Valley’s leaders are rushing to embrace the power of media for the purposes of marketing and political capital. Now, in a sign of the times, Founders Fund, the venture capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, has launched its own game show. “MAFIA the GAME,” will apparently be an ongoing thing, where prominent tech luminaries get together and face off over a game of cards (the show is named after the party-game favorite). The spectacle is moderated by Pirate Wires editor Mike Solana (who is also the chief marketing officer at Founders Fund). The debut episode includes a who’s who of players — Sam Altman; Palmer Luckey; Bryan Johnson, the famed biohacker who will (according to him) live forever; and Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of encrypted chat app Signal. “I’m so f*cking bored with VC content,” Solana told Newcomer, which originally reported the show’s existence. “There has to …

At the Substack House, Media Is Still Fun

At the Substack House, Media Is Still Fun

Published by Jenni Sidey

“Have you seen the indoor pool?” Matt Starr asks. The founder of Dream Baby Press, Starr made a name for himself via Perverted Book Club, a New York City literary reading series held at amusing, lowbrow venues like a three-story Burger King, a train-station Sbarro, and the cruising spot Blue Door Video. But Starr is also a key member of the Substack elite, the man behind one of the most popular newsletters on the publishing platform, which positions itself as the future of media. And today, Starr is emceeing not at a fast food joint or a sex den, but at 214 Lafayette Street, a swanky SoHo townhouse that has been done up in bright-orange, Back to the Future-inspired decor, and temporarily dubbed “The Substack House.” The century-old five-floor building has undergone several reincarnations, explains Starr, who also works for Substack as a creative strategist and events lead. In the ’80s, art dealer Max Protech used the building as a gallery, and later it became a popular site for video productions like Beyoncé’s “Halo.” The …