Safety is Sexy Podcast

This week is a special episode, it’s a keynote from my talk at the School Climate Conference in Southern California. This is an education conference for anyone directly involved with community health in a school or district. In this keyonte, I was asked to speak to the current trends around AI and education, concerns about screen time and mental health, cheating and phone bans. I got to share some stories I haven’t told in awhile as well as some new stories which I enjoyed immensely, I hope you will enjoy it too.

This week I speak with Patricia Cartes Andres, a pioneer in the trust and safety space. She was there for the early work at FB, the global team at Twitter, Door Dash, and so many more. We discuss the future of trust and safety, regulation, and look at new vectors of harm that happen when you use technology online to connect humans offline such as marketplace apps. This is a great episode, I hope you enjoy. 

This week I am joined by Louisa Bartolo to discuss all things algorithms. She recently finished her PhD on this very topic and we dive into every aspect of how content gets recommended to us online, publishing transparency reports, user tooling options, and regulation. Recommendation algorithms are a hot topic in regulation right now and Louisa shares some great research and insight into the topic, hope you enjoy the show. 

This week I speak with Majalise Tolan, an educator and administrator with 20 years of experience. We discuss the evolution of technology in education from computer labs to AI, and the importance of integrating these advancements into the classroom. Majalisse shares insights on the successful use of social media for district-wide communication, managing student behavior with tech tools like the Yonder Bag, and fostering positive digital habits. She emphasizes the role of educators in teaching students how to use technology responsibly and the relevance of having students involved in celebrating and documenting their educational experiences through tech. 

This week, I’m joined by Sean Herman, founder and CEO of Kinzoo Messenger, blogger at ThatDigitalDad.com, and author of Screen Captured: Helping Families Explore the Digital World in The Age of Manipulationan and I dive into the foundational principles of Kinzoo, where Sean wanted to create positive screen time experiences for under 13. We also discuss the importance of open parent-child conversations about technology, and the societal shift towards nuanced understandings of tech's impact on youth and how to cultivate healthy digital habits for children.

In this episode of the 'Safety is Sexy' podcast, I am rebroadcasting an episode from the 'Go Reboot Your Life' podcast featuring Lisa Thee. We discuss my career journey from education to becoming a trust and safety professional and everything in between. The conversation delves into pivotal moments in my career, balancing work with personal values, and the importance of building a positive community both online and offline. The episode also outlines Matt's current roles at 'All Tech is Human,' Tramau,' and various nonprofits, emphasizing the value of aligning one's professional work with personal passions. We share practical tips for navigating unwelcome changes and career transitions along with my principles for success and fulfillment.

This week, I speak with Dr. Robin Henderson, or Doc Rob as she likes to be called, about the impact of digital technology on youth mental health. Doc Rob is the Chief Executive of Behavioral Health for Providence Health in Oregon. We discuss the importance of accessible mental health resources and the need for critical thinking regarding screen time and social media use. We also discuss how tech policy influences access to mental health support and the positive initiatives of young people in creating their own support networks and crisis interventions.

In this episode of Safety is Sexy, Dave Byrne and I talk about the intersection of trust and safety with brand safety, revenue impact, the role of AI, the importance of communication and education across teams, and the evolving landscape of trust and safety in the coming year.