Outside the Screen Podcast

This week we have an extended interview with gambling researcher (and podcaster) Matt Browne, about gamblification of computer games. What is this thing? Why does it keep getting a squiggly red line under it when I type it …? Well you can probably guess, it’s when developers build gambling-like mechanics into their games - and it’s something I’m sure we’ll hear more about, so the squiggly lines mi...

When you’re a parent trying to mediate your children’s internet use, is it helpful to be computer literate yourself? Seems like an obvious point, but as always, having research to back it up doesn’t hurt - especially if you want to have an influence on the broader environment outside your own family. Maybe you have taken steps to become more savvy yourself, maybe you’ve encouraged and supported ot...

What kind of content do little children watch on YouTube, and how can parents and carers find the good stuff? Some recent research gives an idea what to look for. Also in this episode, we start getting to know Glenn, who’s going to be doing the movie reviews. This week we hear why Happy Feet is recommended for children aged 12 and up (PG for 8-11). More background info on Glenn coming soon in a no...

This episode is a bit of a sad one, because it’s Kim’s last as co-host. We’re hoping he will come back and share his wit and wisdom from time to time, but mostly he’ll be off devoting the necessary time to his practice, family … you know, all that other stuff. Meanwhile, listen out for a paper he describes as ‘really cool’, where some researchers are trying to find a way to measure the addictive e...

Isn’t 40 an excellent number? We would feel like celebrating if it weren’t for the fact the Zooming Out story this week is so very, very sad. The opioid crisis in the US is troubling enough, without there being young people who meet their dealers on social media - at least that’s what is being alleged in a lawsuit, brought by the families of young people who suffered fatal overdoses of fentanyl. L...

Welcome to the solstice edition of Outside the Screen! (Whether it’s the summer or the winter one, we’ll leave it up to you, but from us a big hint: brrrrr!) In this week’s edition of Paper Round we look at what can happen to your body when you spend a lot of time on videogames. The research in the paper is about the risk factors for things like neck pain and hand pain, but Kim has some stories fr...

This episode concludes our series on screens and schooling. Liz and Kim look at a paper about what school leaders went through in the most locked-down city in the world; and then Liz interviews an alum of a school that had (and still has) some major restrictions on tech use by students. What’s it like when you have to do everything longhand and you know that students in other schools are tapping a...

The second instalment in our series on screens and schooling, and we’re on a roll. Paper Round this week looks at different ways schools use social media to engage parents; and Kim interviews a South Australian school wellbeing leader about the impact at the coalface of home and school screen use. Plus, in between times, we get a review of a movie about schooling - well sort of. Do you have any ot...

This is the first in our three-part series about screens and schooling. We set the scene by looking at a Spanish systematic review about screens and educational outcomes, which helpfully reminds us that the concerns driving research have changed over the years, from addiction and health (pre-2016), to educational applications and the role of families (2016-2020) and then identity construction, hea...

The series on screens and schools is starting next week, and meanwhile here are some bits of the conversation from Episode 31 that we saved up for just an occasion such as this. You’ll recall that Professor Jeannie Paterson had some deep insights into the impact of AI on children and young people; here we go even deeper. Since it’s a shorter piece than usual, why not use the extra time to drop us...

Coming to you a little late this week - Liz just had a bit too nice a Mothers’ Day and it threw out her schedule. Hope all our listeners also had a lovely day, whatever your relationship to motherhood might be. Also this is a bit of a shorter episode but don’t take that to mean the content isn’t interesting - if anything it’s a bit more interesting than usual, and the parenting tips are certainly...

This week’s episode continues the cute monkey theme from last week, with a review of Curious George . Not all movies based on children’s books are exactly great content for children, but the CMA reviewers thought this one really stood up. Wrapping around that, we look at some research about gaming and creativity, and a UK government report about how children find their way to violent content onlin...

First things first: this week we’ve got some new music! Have a listen and let us know what you think. (It comes in part-way through.) As for the talking bit: just two segments in this one. Paper Round is about the role of non-screen activities in preschoolers’ social-cognitive development; and Zooming Out looks at the Australian government’s current proposals to reform the classification system. M...

In Paper Round this week, Kim and Liz discuss a different kind of research: this was done to find out what various countries around the world are doing to prevent gaming disorder. There is a huge range of responses, and Kim is hoping to use this information to convince the Australian government to take action. The South Korean response is especially interesting, and Liz reflects how helpful it is...

Kim and Liz discuss a qualitative study about common factors in the lives of patients with gaming disorder: what do you think these would be? Listen to see if your intuition was right! Also Liz interviews another law professor, but we promise it’s not too law-ish. The conversation with Professor Jeannie Paterson is packed with information about the potential harms of AI deep fakes and what we can...

We’re back! Thanks for bearing with us through this period of fortnightly production, and we’ll be back to weekly soon. In this episode, we discuss a paper about atypical sensory processing and screen use, including the difference/relationship between causation and correlation, all joined together by the precautionary principle. Tune in for these very geeky words, and more, because we get even gee...

Another one of Liz’s favourite type of show: we stick to one issue. But really it’s a couple of issues, because it’s about how targeted marketing works, but it’s also about the role of data collection. If you think that keeps on coming up you’d be right, because it’s really big! Listen in to hear the hosts discuss a piece of Belgian research about media literacy - can it help to protect young peop...

This week (or fortnight actually) we discuss some disturbing developments in India when a game proved just a bit too engrossing for some people. What lessons can we learn for the broader world of gaming and gamers? The review, as promised, is of a Robert Downey Jr movie, recommended for children aged 9 and up. And Zooming Out, Liz reports on her quest to find the influencer code of practice … What...

This episode has two segments: a discussion of some Indian research about mindfulness and screen addiction, and an interview with Dr Fae Heaselgrave about her PhD research on mothers’ digital care work. How is digital care divided in your home? What could industry or government change to make it more manageable for you? We’ll be back in 2 weeks with another paperround, another zoomout, and a revie...

This episode takes us deep inside the world of body image. First Liz and Kim discuss a paper where some Irish researchers looked at teenagers’ ways of coping with body image challenges on social media. Then there’s an extended interview with Marika Tiggemann, a world-renowned researcher of body image who tells us about the main findings from her long and successful career, and how social media cha...

This show takes us deep into something of central concern to Kim’s work as a psychiatrist: what do we know about the effects of disordered screen use on the brain? The review is of a fun movie that’s great for kids aged 8 and up; and we catch up on what’s happening with children’s international human rights as digital citizens. What have you noticed about the effect on your concentration or decisi...

We’ve had very little to say about sexual content so far on the show, and this is the episode where all that changes. In Paper Round we look at an article about sexting (among other things) and later we Zoom Out to have a think about TikTok’s community guidelines on sexual content. In between, we hear a review of Ponyo , a Studio Ghibli animation from 2008, that’s suitable for children aged 7 and...

In our last episode of the year, we actually sustain a theme! Paper Round looks at a recent review of research on gambling elements in video games, and Policy Corner has an analysis of recent Australian reforms that are based (in part) on that review. In between, we hear the CMA reviewers’ recommendations about a 2012 version of a Dr Seuss favourite. We’ll be back on 14 January, with a slightly mo...

In this short piece, Kim shares his reflections on the interview with Szymon Olejarnik in the main episode. Get full access to Outside the Screen Podcast at outsidethescreen.substack.com/subscribe

This week Liz and Kim discuss a Chinese systematic review about loneliness and screen addiction. (Fun fact: a systematic review is a kind of study that aggregates a bunch of other studies.) The review is of an Australian movie about car racing, with some positive messages for kids aged 10 and up, and Liz interviews Szymon Olejarnik, the researcher whose paper we looked at in Episode 14. (And look...