Outside the Screen Podcast

Hi Outsiders, finally I’ve been able to create a new episode! At first I wondered if I still had the skills, but fear not. I got through it. It’s been an interesting day today, because when I woke up this morning and checked my phone, there was a text from a producer at ABC News Radio, asking if they could interview me about the proposed changes to the social media minimum age (SMMA) legislation....

Hello there, listeners, it’s been a while! Funny how some time away can make you lose your mojo, so it takes a while to get back into the podcast production groove. Add to that a lousy cold (punishment for excellent overseas travel*) and a raised paver + hands in pockets equalling bruised ribs … definitely not a good idea to be podcasting while feeling sorry for self. Well there are my excuses, an...

Yes, I do still know how to make a podcast - what a relief. I was starting to wonder for a minute there. It’s a great pleasure to bring you this episode, and stop beating myself up for losing the rhythm. Paper Round is on an Australian article about socio-emotional development and screen use. Are children who spend a lot of time on screens more likely than others to act out, or to become withdrawn...

I’ve been promising for a while to let you know what’s going on - and here is the news! As always I’d be delighted to hear from you, to be recommended to your friends and colleagues, etc etc. (I’m sure you know the drill.) And as always, I’m providing links so you can access some of the most useful info around, to support parents and families who are trying to find the best screen experiences. Wat...

Good to be back! I had a lovely few weeks swanning (or rather traipsing) around Portugal, Spain, Norway* and Denmark, and now it’s back down to business. I’m pleased to advise I finally got a chance to interview my former colleague Andrew Stewart about the state of affairs regarding kidfluencers in Australia. (It only took 19 episodes, but who’s counting?) While I said back in Episode 42 that I th...

This episode is a little different, as I’ve devoted the whole thing to a single interview (see below). I’ve been wondering if I could maybe bring in a few alternative formats for individual episodes, for example not having a Paper Round or a movie review every single time. Let me know what you think! Are you just as happy to hear a long interview as to be getting info about research and movies? Th...

Hi and welcome back! It’s been a bit longer between episodes than I would have liked, but I have some news, which is that I’m gainfully employed again. This is good news in many ways as the work will be interesting, and it will be good to use some more of my skills as an academic again (I’ll be helping design a new law curriculum for Western Sydney University). But while it’s only fractional, it d...

Hi listeners, great to be back in your inbox with another episode of Outside the Screen. As I mentioned last time, I’m thinking of making some changes to the pod, and one is to make the episodes less frequent. So if you’ve been missing OTS and pining for the next instalment - let me know! This episode I’m covering two academic papers. The first one, from Vietnam, was written by scholars from medic...

Welcome back for the start of a new year! I hope you had just the kind of festive season you wanted and 2025 is off to a good start. I’m thinking of making some changes to the pod this year, which I touch on in this episode. Would love to have your feedback to know whether you’d see them as an improvement (or the opposite). In this episode I cover a paper about the N400, which is a brainwave they...

As promised, here is some extra commentary from Jane Martin about public health measures around the world to prevent obesity. Watch out for another full episode next week and as always, leave a comment or send me an email if you have any comments or feedback - and especially any requests for what you’d like me to cover this year. It would be great to hear from you: outsidethescreenpod[at]gmail.com...

This week, for the first time ever, I’m not looking at a particular research paper, but rather giving over the whole episode to an interview with Jane Martin. Jane is the Executive Manager of the Food for Health Alliance, which has just re-launched its Brands Off Our Kids campaign. Jane is a fount of knowledge and insight into the way that the media environment shapes children’s diets, and the flo...

Photo credit: me, taken from our ‘temple view’ room the morning after the heaviest snowfall for 100 years. A bit of a longer episode today, as Paper Round deals with a very broad systematic review on sharenting and Zooming Out covers the question du jour in Australia: what is this new legislation on social media in Australia, and what does it do? All is revealed. (Well, the important bits, accordi...

The paper I discuss in this episode reports on a study about how to improve men’s and boys’ body image in the face of beefy models on social media. The materials they used - and which seemed to work - can be found here . Let us know your reaction: The movie review is of a live-action Australian film, recommended for ages 10 and up, and based on a Tim Winton novel. It came out last year, and addres...

Just a brief few words to let you know I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth! I fill you in on what’s coming up in the next episode, and I share some reflections on the things that have been taking up my time, like the television code of practice and social media regulation. And as always I encourage you to get in touch: Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Substack OR email me at outsidethescreenpod[...

This episode starts with an apology for my erratic output in recent weeks. It’s been partly about travel and visitors and such, but there has also been quite a lot of stuff for a children’s media rights advocate to do. For example I gave evidence to a parliamentary committee on privacy: see the Hansard transcript here . Plus we have been working hard on our response to the review of the Commercial...

Hello, and sorry once again for the delay in this episode’s appearance. It seems once you get just a little bit out of synch, it’s really hard to get your momentum back up. Hopefully this episode will be worth the wait as it deals with some important issues. Paper Round is about the link between media violence and cyberbullying: if you watch or play lots of violent content are you more likely to b...

This is a brief note from Liz to explain why the episodes haven’t been appearing as regularly as usual. As always she’d really love to hear from you with any feedback (or reassurance). See links below. Also, a reminder that the podcast is made possible by Children and Media Australia , which needs your help. You can: * become a paid subscriber on here (all proceeds go to CMA) * donate through GoFu...

This week’s episode comes to you a little late, for reasons explained in the podcast. I hope nobody was inconvenienced. Paper Round is a big bundle of info from a big paper where a big group of researchers brought together recent evidence about the impact of internet use on our brains. There emerge some interesting and useful ideas about how to maximise the good impacts and minimise the bad. Glenn...

Lest anybody accuse me of being too Australian-focussed, this week I dive into the biggest news from the US, namely the passage of the Kids Online Safety Act through the Senate. I give a rundown of what the Act will do, and analyse the politics surrounding it - or in other words the arguments against it as it faces its run through the House. I also offer some thoughts on what it might mean for the...

The Australian Government came out with its privacy reform proposals less than a week ago, and just because I could, I dropped everything to cover it.* The information in Zooming Out should be helpful if you were thinking of making a submission to the review of the Bill … or , you can leave it up to CMA to be the voice of child development, research evidence, and children’s rights in that process....

Apologies for the lateness of this episode - too many small excuses to go into here! Suffice to say that even though I don’t have much parental stress in my life any more, I have plenty of other kinds … This week’s Paper Round and Zooming Out are tied together by the idea of how we manage stress as parents - and what the broader community can do to help. These are ideas close to my heart as they i...

As explained in this audio-post, I’ve turned on paid subscriptions. I’m not putting any content behind a paywall, but listeners now have the chance to upgrade, and by doing so you’ll be helping the organisation that makes this podcast possible, Children and Media Australia . Alternatively you can donate direct to CMA here . (It’s tax-deductible! - but subscriptions aren’t.) Also: Episode 48 is del...

For this episode I had to do a last-minute Sunday afternoon dash to the studio, because in my original recording of Zooming Out I’d overlooked the FTC’s response to the complaint against NGL (Not Gonna Lie, an anonymous peer messaging app). It was great to be able to include in the re-take the good news that the regulator not only agreed with the original complaint but added in a few points of its...

Sometimes when I’m looking for a paper to cover in Paper Round, my eyes open wide - well with this one they practically popped out of my head. The authors thought this study could ‘aid in disentangling healthy screen use from potentially problematic use’, which is basically the whole purpose of this podcast - and I totally agree. The result is even more useful, actionable tips than usual! Let us k...

We’ve probably all nearly collided with somebody who was doom-scrolling while walking, but physical risks from phones and social media don’t stop there. Our guest this week, Sam Cornell, is researching the physical risks from selfie-taking in beautiful but dangerous places. (The subject-matter is quite sad, so it might be worth reading the transcript before you listen, and having some supports aro...