Ep 40: The benefits of handwriting, an adorable piglet, and US social media litigation

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. Liz takes us through the details of the suit, as well as offering reflections on how legal processes can be used to get accountability for tech companies.Liz and Kim also reflect on some Norwegian research about the effects of typing and handwriting on your brain (don’t chuck those pens out yet!), and Mike is back with another review. This one is about the movie that launched a million vegetarians …Show notesNorwegian paper: FR (Ruud) Van der Weel and Audrey LH Van der Meer, 'Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: a high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom' (2024) 14 Frontiers in Psychology 1219945 DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1219945Babe review: https://childrenandmedia.org.au/movie-reviews/movies/babeBabe availability in Australia: https://www.flicks.com.au/movie/babe/Lawsuit regarding alleged drug sales: https://socialmediavictims.org/press-releases/smvlc-and-c-a-goldberg-pllc-amend-neville-complaint/; https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/families-lawsuit-snapchat-alleging-platform-enables-drug-dealers/story?id=106076434&eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=82ea8b83-a4b5-4cb4-8f95-baf5b6694aaf; https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/families-sue-snapchat-parent-company-drug-delivery-deaths-96848024The miniseries mentioned is The Long Shadow, originally shown on ITV in the UK and available on Stan in Australia.Find us on:FacebookInstagramSubstackApple PodcastsSpotifyOR search your favourite listening platform (let us know if we’re not there! – outsidethescreenpod[at]gmail.com)Children and Media Australia (CMA)You can find the Children and Media Australia Know Before You Go service via this link.Then, depending what you’re looking for, you can sort the list or search by title -alphabetically, by age suitability, by classification or by date added. All of the reviews are prepared by people with training in child development, and they cover every G and PG title released in Australian cinemas since 2002, as well as selected M-rated movies and some pre-2002 ones that are available on streaming services.Or at this link, you can access Know Before You Load – reviews of game style apps and apps that may appeal to young children. These cover some extra things that are relevant to games, like data collection and gambling-like content.You might also like to sign up for our KBYG Weekly newsletter about the latest reviews, and join the CMA facebook community.Kim’s clinicMike’s radio show, Route 66 on Radio Adelaide Get full access to Outside the Screen Podcast at outsidethescreen.substack.com/subscribe