iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

I've just read this. It is very, very good!!

ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

There are some really interesting (though maybe unsurprising?) insights in this report, eg: “The research suggests, however, that social media use is becoming more passive and circumspect. Around half of adult social media users (49%) now actively post, share or comment- down from 61% in 2024…”

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

'The emphasis on the book's scope, the inclusion of appendices detailing participant demographics and ethical considerations, and Gerrard's scholarly and public writing credentials are not mere paratextual elements but central to establishing trustworthiness in a contentious field.' 🥹🥹🥹

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

I've just returned from my maternity leave to an emailing linking me to the first scholarly review of my book: The Kids Are Online (@ucpress.bsky.social). I feel *so* honoured that @devinasarwatay.bsky.social has taken the time and care to write such a thorough piece. www.ucpress.edu/books/the-ki...

ucpress.edu

The Kids Are Online by Ysabel Gerrard - Paper

Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.

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Reposted by ysabel

Amy Orben @orbenamy.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

UKgov publishes new screen time guidance for under 5s 👨‍🍼 <2s: Avoid screens except shared activities 👶 2-5s: Try for less than 1hr a day 📱 Choose safe, slow-paced content 🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Lead by example 🛌 Have screen-free areas/times Glad to have contributed. Parent guidance and research report linked below.

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

‘"Because the ad implied that viewers could use an app to remove a woman's clothing, we considered it condoned digitally altering and exposing women's bodies without their consent," the agency said in a statement.’ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Ad for AI video app which said it could 'remove anything' banned

The UK regulator said the ad condoned

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

'Meanwhile, leaked information about Twitch streamer income revealed that someone would need to rank in the “top 0.015% of all streamers” to achieve the current median household income (in the US) (D’Anastasio, 2021).'

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

'...both academic research and firsthand accounts from creators reveal marked disparities in the tiers of economic success. On YouTube, for instance, researchers estimate that the top 3% of channels receive 90% of the viewership (Bärtl, 2018).'

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Up next on my post-maternity leave reading list, @brookeerinduffy.bsky.social & @coltenmeisner.bsky.social's 'platform governance at the margins'. journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10....

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

I might even laminate it!

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

I also went through a Garamond phase in my PhD era! I've since swapped to Franklin Gothic Book, which feels a bit too casual for a CV...

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Drawing on Taina Bucher's work, they say: 'Alongside gatekeeping videos for individual users, visibility moderation disciplines content creators through their desire to be seen, as well as through the threat of invisibility.’

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

I am officially back from maternity leave and trying to retrain my brain to write a book chapter. I've turned to Jing Zeng & @bondykaye.bsky.social fabulous article on visibility moderation for inspiration ✨ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

From content moderation to visibility moderation: A case study of platform governance on TikTok

You have to enable JavaScript in your browser's settings in order to use the eReader.

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

To all who have been following Fobazi’s story, I’ve posted an update to the GoFundMe page. We’ve been inundated with messages asking how people can best support @elenamaris.bsky.social during this time, and my post answers that question. Thank you in advance for reading it 🙏🏼 gofund.me/2a39028c1

gofund.me

Donate to Honoring the life of Fobazi Ettarh: Funeral & other costs, organized by Ysabel Gerrard

Hello all, my name is Ysabel and I’m fundraising for my frien… Ysabel Gerrard needs your support for Honoring the life of Fobazi Ettarh: Funeral & other costs

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

gofund.me

Donate to Honoring the life of Fobazi Ettarh: Funeral & other costs, organized by Ysabel Gerrard

Hello all, my name is Ysabel and I’m fundraising for my frien… Ysabel Gerrard needs your support for Honoring the life of Fobazi Ettarh: Funeral & other costs

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

“Have you checked Reddit?” Thoroughly enjoyed contributing to this @dazeddigital.com piece by the brilliant Ashleigh Spiliopoulou. www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture...

dazeddigital.com

Why are so many women joining Reddit?

New research suggests that growing numbers of women are leaving X – and turning to Reddit instead

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Sending solidarity from maternity leave to my brilliant colleagues today ✊🏼

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Reposted by ysabel

Mark Pendleton @markpendleton.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Been a while since the pink beanie came out. Sheffield pickets here we come. Our message to management is simple: No redundancies. Stop the incessant restructures. Listen to your staff. There is no University of Sheffield without us.

Mark Pendleton wears a pink UCU beanie, while standing on a train platform in the dawn light

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Thrilled to be quoted in this fascinating @mashable.com piece by Alice Glover. '15 years ago, 62% of Americans said the landline was a necessity of life [...] By the end of 2022, 72.6% of adults and 81.9% of children lived in households without a landline'. mashable.com/article/land...

mashable.com

The landline phone is making a comeback and your brain will thank you

Young people are turning to landline telephones to cure their smartphone obsessions and brain rot.

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

What an excellent article: “Its goal isn’t to help you discover new music, its goal is simply to keep you listening for as long as possible. It serves up the safest songs possible to keep you from pressing stop.” www.theverge.com/column/81574...

theverge.com

The algorithm failed music

True music discovery has suffered.

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

A great piece by @kattenbarge.bsky.social, with a powerful note from @mariahlwellman.bsky.social that the radicalisation of women and girls has flown under the radar because girly content online = make-up = ✨trivial✨, and yet it so clearly, clearly isn’t. www.teenvogue.com/story/womano...

teenvogue.com

The 'Womanosphere' Is Coming for Teen Girls

How beauty and wellness influencers are part of a misinformation ecosystem pushing traditional values on girls.

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Right?! On the one hand I get that this satisfies the frustrated parents of Sephora Kids, who are begged to buy products far too mature for delicate skin. But on the other hand it feels…bleak?

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

“The initial launch includes three products ranging from $5.99 to $6.99 (a nice price for Rini’s target customers, who are too young to have their own jobs).” www.thecut.com/article/shay...

thecut.com

Shay Mitchell Is Launching Skin Care for 3-Year-Olds

The sheet masks look like animal faces.

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

‘Through their constant interactions with Caelum, they had developed a theory: that the more “relational” interaction with humans an LLM has, the more distinct it can become from its default settings, possibly taking on and sustaining an identity all its own.’ www.wired.com/story/ai-the...

wired.com

The Haunting Story of Two People—and Their Bots—on Therapy’s New Frontier

As millions confide in ChatGPT about their most intimate problems, these relationships are even stranger, more moving, and more insidious than we've imagined.

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

“…some 400,000 items are uploaded [to Depop] each day.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/s...

nytimes.com

How Depop Captured the Heart of Gen Z

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

‘A woman on TikTok rued how she racked up $32,000 in debt by buying “everything under the sun” on B.N.P.L., not realizing how steep the interest rates could get on longer-term loans.’ www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/m...

nytimes.com

They Got to Live a Life of Luxury. Then Came the Fine Print.

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

A bit late to this one, but: “Globally, among babies born in 2000, a staggering 1.6m girls were missing from the number you would expect, given the natural sex ratio at birth. This year that number is likely to be 200,000—and it is still falling.” www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

economist.com

The stunning decline of the preference for having boys

Millions of girls were aborted for being girls. Now parents often lean towards them

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

V excited to read Cory Doctorow’s new book - “The experiences we enjoyed in the early days of social media and on-demand apps turned out to be unsustainable; the services that were initially free or subsidized would have to pay for themselves eventually.” www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...

newyorker.com

The Age of Enshittification

In a new book, the technology critic Cory Doctorow expands on a coinage that has become bleakly relevant, in Silicon Valley and beyond.

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Maybe I’m misunderstanding but I’m not seeing the USP here? Or is their strategy just to create a carbon copy and hope it sticks better than the others? www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...

wsj.com

OpenAI Launches Video Generator App to Rival TikTok and YouTube

The company’s new social media app allows users to create short videos with audio from text prompts and insert themselves in AI-generated scenes.

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

I am so unfathomably late to this party, but aren’t audiobooks great?!

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

TW: disordered eating This story highlights precisely how difficult it is to blame social media (Instagram, here) outright for someone’s health condition, while also recognising the app’s blatant harms to people like Karolina, and to others within the same community. www.thecut.com/article/karo...

thecut.com

The Woman Who Ate Only Fruit

Karolina Krzyzak went to Bali to meet the raw-vegan influencers she’d followed for years. She never made it back home.

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Reposted by ysabel

emily blight 🐦‍⬛ @threnody.northsky.social · 12/09/2025

hi, cis folks! the WSJ endangered trans lives with false reporting yesterday. it’s still accepted as truth by many, regardless of it being false. the article’s still up with a little note. it needs full retraction. it's not even a phone call—it's email. you can do this. contact info below.🧵⬇️

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article detailed how an internal law enforcement bulletin said that ammunition recovered following the Charlie Kirk shooting was engraved with expressions of "transgender and anti-fascist ideology." Justice Department officials later urged caution about the bulletin by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, saying it may not accurately reflect the messages on the ammunition, and the article was updated Thursday to reflect that.

This editor's note was appended on Friday, Sept. 12, after Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said the engravings included one that said "Hey fascist!" along with other messages and symbols. He gave no indication that the ammunition included any transgender references.

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Lol exactly. It also says in the article that some schools have now banned iPods etc, but I’ll bet the people enacting the new bans love listening to music in their downtime, just like the kids want to do…

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

“Mike Givens, 51, remembers listening to his Walkman on the bus but being instructed to leave it in his locker during school hours. He now belongs to a Reddit forum for iPod enthusiasts that has been flooded with students scrambling to prepare for phone bans.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/s...

nytimes.com

Their Schools Banned Phones. Out Came the iPods and Cassette Players.

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

‘In December, Google sent an internal guideline to its contractors working on Gemini that they were no longer allowed to “skip” prompts for lack of domain expertise, including on healthcare topics…’

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

And this, reader, is why the AI Overview sucks: “One work day, her task was to enter details on chemotherapy options for bladder cancer, which haunted her because she wasn’t an expert on the subject.” www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

theguardian.com

How thousands of ‘overworked, underpaid’ humans train Google’s AI to seem smart

Contracted AI raters describe grueling deadlines, poor pay and opacity around work to make chatbots intelligent

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ysabel @ysabel.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

And from Pete Etchells: ‘“It’s really difficult to craft a story that explains the complexity of the research literature, but still gives people something to take away with them to do. And that’s what parents are craving”.’

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