The Social Relapse: Recent Episodes
thesocialrelapse
Welcome to The Social Relapse. You may be wondering how you got here but you’re not alone. As amazing as social media can be, all that glitters is not gold. If you’d like to dive in and explore how social media has changed the way we think, act, and even see ourselves, keep listening and send us your thoughts as we help each other through the social relapse. Twitter: @t_socialrelapse Instagram: @thesocialrelapse
We are joined by Layth and Salam as we discuss how mainstream media often warps when and how the story starts, thus framing your perspective and understanding. Social media has changed our reliance on international media and instead could be considered as giving power to the people - those on the ground can now livestream, live tweet, and document in real time what is happening, share on social media platforms to get trending hashtags and international awareness. But social media platforms are just the means and not the ends, with more and more Palestinians and non-Palestinians alike calling for decisive and immediate action from institutions, governments, and universities to enact real change.
This episode was recorded at the end of May, a few days before the announcement of a ceasefire following 11 days of unrelenting aerial assault on occupied Occupied Palestine, which claimed the lives of 243 Palestinians and devastated residential areas, leaving countless families homeless with no where to go.
In this episode, we’ll be discussing the amplification of Palestinian voices and whether social media has been a help or hindrance. Joining me are Layth and Salam, two Palestinian Londoners who share their experiences and insight into what has historically been labelled a "complicated conflict" and yet through social media, has shown stark realities that are increasingly becoming harder to ignore.
Part 2 of this episode will discuss reclaiming the narrative from mainstream media so stay tuned! If you’ve enjoyed listening to our episodes, why don’t you subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts from, that way you won’t miss a new episode!
This episode was recorded in early April, following the tragic mass shootings in Atlanta, which claimed the lives of 8 people, six of whom were Asian women.
Joining me on the podcast, is the wonderfully articulate and knowledgable Yuyi, discussing the importance of Digital representation for minorities, real life experiences of Anti-Asian violence, and how anti-asian sentiment is deep-rooted in history and media.
If you’ve enjoyed listening to our episodes, don’t forget to subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts from, that way you won’t miss a new episode! We’ve got some exciting episodes to be released this month, so sit back, spread the word, and we’ll see you next time on the social relapse.
News broke this week of a hacking scandal carried out through the creation of fake accounts, websites, and apps as a way to target Uyghur activists, journalists and dissidents from China’s Xinjiang region. The news is alarming, not just because of their international reach through targeting individuals living abroad (such as in Turkey, Kazakhstan, the U.S., Syria, Australia, Canada and other nations), but also in their sophisticated methods of “building trust in the community and tricking users to expose their devices” as stated by Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of security policy. Even if you don't consider yourself an activist, we discuss the safety of posting things that may come back to haunt you, and whether you can really believe who you're talking to is who they say they are.
Following a military coup in Myanmar, violence has escalated, with growing number of civilian pro- democracy protestor casualties each day. Many are dependent on social media – Facebook in particular– to get their news, conflating this to the internet. As part of the coup, access to the platform was stopped on February 1st, with the military claiming it’s to reduce civil disobedience and ensure stability. But for a population so dependent on this platform not just for connectivity but livelihoods and public health advice – can digital blockades like this against the population be justified in the 21st century?
Last week began with International Women's Day and ended with Mothers Day, but the events in between - and how they played out on social media - might have had you thinking that Women deal with a lot, and dissatisfied with these two days of lip service. Though no two women are the same, many can relate to feeling unsafe, unheard, and having their experiences unvalidated, and often it is within the court of social media, that we all get to play judge and jury. However, social media has also allowed women to share their experiences, and while sharing past trauma can be a daunting task in and of itself, its helped shed a light on the darker parts of being a woman, and how all in society can do more to make it better. Join us this week, as we review last week's events and discuss the power of social media in passing judgment and raising awareness.
While social distancing may have kept us physically away from each other, social media platforms have worked extremely hard to keep us connected and make the most of our newfound screen time. This has largely been successful for them, generating billions of dollars in ad revenue, but how has increased social media usage affected users during the pandemic? Join us as we talk to a Global Tech company insider, and discuss the ways we’ve changed our habits and how apps have adapted to capitalise on this behavioural change.
So you’ve heard the trailer and come back for more, excellent! This week we are introducing the social relapse, exploring just briefly how we went from good to bad to somewhere in between. Whether loved or deplored, social media is here to stay, yet its impact seems to be unquantifiable in the face of its exponential growth and unpredictable future. Stick around, follow us on our socials (Instagram @thesocialrelapse and Twitter @t_socialrelapse) and send us your thoughts! We want to hear from you and would love to have you on the podcast as we discuss the social relapse!
Welcome to The Social Relapse. You may be wondering how you got here but you’re not alone. As amazing as social media can be, all that glitters is not gold. If you’d like to dive in and explore how social media has changed the way we think, act, and even see ourselves, keep listening and send us your thoughts as we help each other through the social relapse.