Web culture
Streamer Kick’s failure on guidelines riles Australian web watchdog
The office of Australia’s eSafety Commissioner says the platform needs to do more to uphold its own guidelines, or it may face millions in fines, after a man died during a live-stream.
- Tim Biggs
Latest
China did not ban crypto this week, so why is the internet saying it did?
Posts and articles claiming the implementation of a new ban were viewed millions of times on Sunday, though they are seemingly based on lies.
- Tim Biggs
How blind boxes became the talk of Gen Z, big business – and psych researchers
Blind boxes have been around for decades, but Labubus and Sonny Angels have collectors in a chokehold. What is so addictive about these little plastic figurines?
- Nell Geraets, Gabriela Sumampow and The Visual Stories Team
Hopelessly distracted by you: Can we break our love affair with tech?
Doomscrolling, video autoplay and swiping left, right, up and down is devouring everyone’s attention. A new exhibition asks how we might break the habit.
- Karl Quinn
- Analysis
- Social media
How adult content platform OnlyFans transformed porn
The platform, reportedly up for sale for billions, has made a smutty industry far more lucrative.
- The Economist
- Opinion
- Opinion
Why Mountainhead’s ‘tech bro’ satire rings eerily true
A new movie from the creator of hit series Succession has shown us what happens when AI and social media are unregulated.
- Julia Baird
- Exclusive
- Phones
Gaming, smartphone addiction starts in primary school as daily screen times soar
The study of students in years four to eight found the average daily screen time for junior high schoolers was nine hours a day.
- Jordan Baker
Edgy or offensive? How these early-2000s internet creators kept webcomics alive
Webcomics are well past their peak, but Cyanide & Happiness is still deep in the game. Here’s how it has managed to keep up with the non-stop beast that is the internet.
- Nell Geraets
WTF! Australians don’t swear as much as others do online, study shows
The University of Queensland researchers examined more than 1.7 billion words of online content across 20 English-speaking countries.
- Savannah Meacham
They’re a childhood rite of passage, so why are more parents saying ‘no’ to sleepovers?
With concerns around safety and unsupervised access to the internet, some parents don’t feel comfortable with sleepovers.
- Lauren Ironmonger