The Internet Can Save Lives

Dan Savage in an interview about the highly successful It Gets Better suicide prevention campaign, explaining why the campaign is so effective and innovative in the media ecology. Traditionally LGBT youth have been misinformed by stigma campaigns that focus solely on school bullying, but Dan points out that often bullying comes from parents and churches as well. Because of homophobic fears about gay adults recruiting youth, advocates had been unable to mentor directly by speaking in schools, etc. But with the advent of YouTube and the spark of a viral video by Dan and his husband about their life, It Gets Better reaches youth in their homes and libraries with over 20,000 videos by LGBT adults (and a book) about how they survived bigotry and bullying and grew up to lead happy lives. Part of a longer interview by Big Think. Full transcript online.

(Are you an LGBTQI youth in emotional crisis? Contact the Trevor Project at 1-866-4-U-TREVOR for hotline help.)

Dave deBronkart: Meet e-Patient Dave

Participatory medicine and patients’ access to their own health data are subjects in a powerful talk by a pioneering e-patient (empowered and engaged patient). Features an interactive transcript. Subtitles available in English, Spanish, French, Romanian, Italian and Dutch.

e-Patient Dave describes his experience with cancer and how learning about his condition online and networking with peers saved his life. Although his focus is cancer, mental health also has e-patients including here at PsychCentral, a member organization in the Society for Participatory Medicine. Personally, I’ve been an e-patient and peer advocate for over a decade, online and off. It’s encouraging to watch the movement grow, both informally and in organizations, but also a bit frustrating. I’ve noticed that while e-patients with other types of health conditions are met with growing acceptance, people living with mental health issues have met with more resistance. In my opinion this may be due to the attitude that we are incapable or unable to participate responsibly. It’s a tricky issue, since there are people whose mental health issues reduce insight into their problems (anosognosia, psychosis), but there are far more who do have the capacity and intelligence to be well-informed participants in their care, and involved in peer advocacy and research. I’m living proof, with experience as a writer, curator, forum moderator, board and advisory committee member, peer support group member, and founder of a peer information sharing suicide prevention service (@unsuicide). It’s my hope that my work and that of people like Dave deBronkart will coalesce to reduce stigma while at the same time improve care and outcomes for peers. Join us!

Why Online Dating Is So Unsatisfying

Super cool behavioural economist Ariely explains the design flaws behind online dating sites and why using them yields little success, averaging six hours online for each coffee date. One of Big Think’s 10 Most Popular Videos of 2010.

Twitter Wit: Nick Douglas and Guests

The author of Twitter Wit, a collection of humorous tweets, reads from his book and discusses the medium and how people use it. Highlight: Is Twitter shortening our attention spans?

producer FORA.tv
featuring Nick Douglas, Michael Ferguson, Mike Monteiro, Robin Sloan
format Flash, mp3, mp4
date 24/09/09
length 00:42:58
link http://fora.tv/2009/09/24/Twitter_Wit_Nick_Douglas_and_Guests

Web Therapy – Gossip Girl, part 1-3

Comedy about dubious web psychotherapist Fiona Wallice, who offers three minute sessions online using her theory that 50 minutes is too long and all the real work happens in three minutes. Features Lisa Kudrow of Friends fame, and other well-known actors playing her clients. Season two has just been uploaded to YouTube, beginning with “Gossip Girl” (in three parts) about a woman who comes to therapy for help because she thinks she’s too pretty, but ultimately reveals a shocking secret about Wallice’s husband. I recommend all the webisodes: they’re brief, slick, and very funny.

The Baroness, Consciousness, and the Twitterverse: A Conversation with Susan Greenfield

Greenfield recommends pub debates or rants on street corners instead of using social media. Quote: “How sad that a species that previously wrote novels and expressed themselves in thousand word letters, are now having to encapsulate important or interesting ideas in 150 [sic] characters, and that’s the first issue. And if you are used to doing that, are you going to start living your life in windows of 150 characters? And I do find that rather sad. Secondly, there’s many ways in which you can have debates and discussions. You can go to the pub, you can go out to the street, you know, you can go to universities, you can come to the Royal Institution in London. There’s many, many places and ways in which you can discuss ideas… to say that this is the only vehicle for debate and discussion for people who are ordinary human beings who aren’t in positions of power, who don’t have the platforms politicians have, I find that a bit disingenuous.” Then we’re told how one becomes a Baroness in the House of Lords. Greenfield admits she’s never used Twitter, but characterizes users as threatened and angry with a “shaky sense of identity” similar to small children demanding attention, and “perhaps they’re going nowhere.” Ironically, she is keen on the Royal Institution of Great Britain producing webcasts for the “globalization, not just democratization of science.” While their talks look interesting, the Royal Institution demands your street address and other personal data to register to watch, so I won’t. Ah, culture clashes.

title Obesity and Social Networks
description Social contagion and weight. BTW, if you’d like to friend me on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, FriendFeed, del.icio.us, Flickr, VodPod, 12seconds.tv, YouTube, Vimeo, LiveJournal, Tumblr, Last.fm, Blip.fm, or Messenger, let me know and I’ll give you my user info. We could chat about what size our pants are.
producer UCSD-TV’s Health Matters
featuring David Granet, James Fowler, Michael Gottschalk
format Flash
date 21/02/08
length 00:28:05
link http://www.ucsd.tv/search-details.asp?showID=12436

Tags: brain video TV obesity psychology social 2.0

title Therapy Goes Digital: Is the Internet good for your head?
description “All In The Mind is Radio National’s weekly foray into the mental universe, the mind, brain and behaviour – everything from addiction to artificial intelligence.” Award-winning, fab programme by Natasha Mitchell. This episode is on web-based therapies, and disorders related to Internet use. Includes a thought-provoking interview with Vaughan Bell of Mind Hacks on the contentious concept of Internet addiction. Natasha talking with Vaughan is an online media encounter, about online media, via the online medium of podcasting, of significance.
producer ABC Radio National
featuring Natasha Mitchell, Vaughan Bell, Nick Titov, Isaac Marks, Stephanie Bauer
format mp3, streaming Real Audio or WMA
date 29/09/07
length 00:31:01
link http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2007/2042572.htm
direct audio link [mp3] http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/current/audioonly/aim_20070929.mp3
podcast RSS link http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/mind.xml

Tags: podcast radio brain Internet media psychology online_treatment addiction social