Show Notes

You may have already listened to our episode on online content and social media with journalist and author Aoife Barry, and we had so much more in this chat that we just couldn’t fit in the main feed. Luckily for HeadStuff+ Community members, you can hear the full, uncut interview, going more in-depth on social media pile-ons, online toxicity, content moderation and being a journalist online.

Just to refresh your memory, Aoife Barry is a the former assistant news editor of TheJournal.ie and has written the book Social Capital, a non-fiction book that discusses life online in the shadow of Ireland’s tech boom.

We really recommend listening to the full interview uninterrupted because it’s just a really great discussion. But if you are short on time and want to skip to the bits we missed in the main episode, here’s where to go:

— There’s more of us discussing our own app addictions from about 3:30

— There’s more on growing up online, how social media has evolved and self-censorship from about 8 minutes in

— There’s a look back on a family that received online abuse after appearing in a Lidl ad (more on that story here: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/couple-in-ad-campaign-decide-to-leave-ireland-after-online-abuse-1.4041612) from about 24:45

— A discussion on the ‘selective ignorance’ that leads to moderation challenges starts around 30:55

— A deeper look inside content moderation comes in around 37:30

— And, finally, we have a chat about what it means to be a journalist online in this changing landscape, and some nostalgia for old Irish Twitter and dank memes, from about 56:08 (the meme Elaine references is this one: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/crying-wojak)

You can follow Aoife online @sweetoblivion26 on Twitter and Instagram, and check out these links for more:

— Find where you can pick up a copy of Social Capital here: http://linktr.ee/aoifebarry (This book also includes contributions from previous For Tech’s Sake guest Dr Caroline West and upcoming guest Brian Honan)

— Some further reading you might like after this episode includes Jon Ronson’s ‘So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed’, Jenny Odell’s ‘How To Do Nothing’ and Laura Bates’s ‘Men Who Hate Women’

— Subscribe to Aoife’s newsletter at https://sweetoblivion.substack.com

— Read more about the court case Aoife and other women took against their harasser here: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2023/04/22/it-felt-as-risky-being-a-teenage-girl-on-the-internet-as-it-did-being-a-teenage-girl-in-real-life/

— Find out more about BeReal, the social app we are big fans of, on Silicon Republic: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/business/what-is-bereal-photos-instagram

— And more about the problematic Tattle, here: https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/tattle-life-investigation

— And a little history of Scunthorpe Problem can be found on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scunthorpe_problem

You can find us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice or let us know what you think via fortechssakepod@gmail.com.

For Tech’s Sake is a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network, hosted by Elaine Burke and Jenny Darmody. Thank you to Megan Fox for production, Matt Mahon and Dall-E for our graphics, Claudia Grandez for her social media support, and all at the HeadStuff team.

As a HeadStuff+ Community member, you get access to bonus content from across the network, so do check out some of our sister shows and give them your support.

We hope you enjoy this discussion with Aoife as much as we did, and be sure to come back next week for an all-new episode.