Tech and Democracy, Banning Kids Phones, Geriatric Infidelity

Tech and Democracy, Banning Kids Phones, Geriatric Infidelity

The Matt Townsend Show - Season 6, Episode 182

  • Aug 2, 2017 4:00 pm
  • 2:26:36 mins

Internet Companies Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy (17:56) Jonathan Taplin is Director Emeritus of the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Move Fast and Break Things: How Google, Facebook, and Amazon concerned culture and undermined Democracy. If you got up this morning… around 61% of you checked your phone for notifications within five minutes go getting up.  Just how social media and online platforms are slowly taking control of our lives, they are also taking control of the market and government.  Could huge tech companies such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon, be contributors or even the reason for America’s ailing economy?  Jonathan Taplin explains why it may be time to break up some of the biggest tech companies in the United States. Banning Kids Smart Phones (1:08:15) Nick Bowman, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies at West Virginia University, where he researches the uses and effects of communication technology. One of the questions we face as parents is what to do about smart phones. There can be a lot of risk and danger associated with access to the internet especially for children under the age of 13. This has become such a problem for some parents that in Colorado a new lobbying group called the Parents Against Underage Smartphones is trying to pass legislation that will ban companies from selling smartphones for underage use. As wonderful as the message of awareness is, media psychologist Nick Bowman discusses why this new movement might just be an exaggerated reaction to new technology. Older Americans Cheating (1:59:38) Brian Willoughby, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University. Dr. Willoughby is also the Director of the RELATE Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to studying and improving romantic relationships. Dr. Willoughby's research focuses on young adult dating and relationship patterns. Dr. Willoughby is the co-author of the book "The Marriage Paradox" Dr. Willoughby discussed a new study in the cheating habits of Older Americans.