RTÉ News | Momo Hoax
What did we learn amid unfounded fears about Momo? After the viral spread of the Momo Challenge in recent weeks, I talked to Mark O’Flynn in RTÉ about why it went viral, how media, schools and police organisations exacerbated the problem, and how a lack of media literacy caused parents to overreact. Read the piece...
read moreRTÉ Lifestyle | Is online dating harming us?
by Charlotte Ryan I talked with Charlotte Ryan about some of the problems people might encounter when they date online. I also discussed with her why people share a lot online, how they probably won’t stop doing that unless they experience a negative effect of it directly, and how our own psychology can prevent us seeing scams or people who aren’t presenting themselves honestly....
read moreaha festival | Lucerne, Switzerland
January 25th & 26th 2019. Südpol Lucerne, Switzerland. aha is a new science festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. The board of trustees have 20 interesting questions on a broad range of topics that they have invited experts to answer. I was invited to answer the question “how do dating platforms decide whom I date?” Luzern, Südpol Aha Festival © Franca Pedrazzetti www.pedrazzetti.com Luzern, Südpol Aha Festival © Franca Pedrazzetti www.pedrazzetti.com For a full programme and more information –...
read moreTages-Anzeiger | Interview
Alexandra Bröhm Before my talk on online dating at the aha festival in Lucerne, I spoke with Alexandra Bröhm in the Tages-Anzeiger (most subscribed to newspaper in Switzerland) about how people present themselves in online dating, what they lie about, what works well in a profile, and some of the difficulties we have in finding out what people are really like from their profiles and chatting online. You can read the interview here (PDF in...
read moreDas Magazin | Aha Festival piece
Das Magazin is the weekly magazine of Tages-Anzeiger Alongside four other presenters from the aha festival in Lucerne, I wrote a short piece about my talk. See below for the English version. Can an algorithm choose the right partner for me? (Maybe even better than I could myself?) The short answer is – no, but the longer answer is much more complex. Dating platforms use algorithms to choose the order in which we see profiles, and this order plays a part in how attractive we will find those profiles. For example, we...
read moreScience Gallery | Are we getting close?
Are we getting close? A debate on intimacy in the digital age. January 17th. 6pm. Paccar Theatre in the Science Gallery, Dublin. How do we find intimacy in the 21st century? Can technology help us to fundamentally fulfil our desire for connection, or are we ultimately re-programming ourselves for future loneliness? The panel consisted of myself, Dr Jamie Saris, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at Maynooth University, Dr. Kris Gowen, sexuality educator and Director of Community Engaged Evaluation at Oregon Health and Science University, and...
read moreTG4 | Náire: online shaming
TG4 | Náire: a documentary about online shaming A documentary looking at victims who have been shamed online and exploring the devastating consequences it had on their lives. I contributed to the programme talking about what revenge porn is, and how romance scammers use our own psychology against us. Watch it on the TG4 player until January...
read morePrime Time RTE 1 | Dating apps
Prime Time | Online dating apps How successful are dating apps and what are the dangers that lurk within? You can see the show here and the Dating apps segments starts at 16 minutes – the segment is available online until Thursday December 6th 2018.
read moreEU Cyber Summit talk & panel
I was invited to give a talk and take part in a panel discussion at the EU Cyber Summit in the Helix, DCU, on October 24th. Why do we fall for scams: Lessons from cyberpsychology I shared some lessons from cyberpsychology on why we fall for online scams. Scammers manipulate basic human motivations, they utilise powerful principles of persuasion, and they take advantage of the fact that computer mediated communication changes how we communicate, and shifts our attention. I also took part in a panel discussion taking a look at the problem of...
read morePrime Time RTE 1 | Sextortion
Prime Time | Sextortion and Shame People are falling for online scams where they are tricked into believing the scammers are interested in a relationship, but are actually being manipulated into exposing themselves in intimate pictures so that they can be blackmailed. I spoke to journalist Fran McNulty from RTÉ Prime Time about the psychology of why people fall for these scams, about why they might engage in behaviour online that they wouldn’t offline, and why they should not feel ashamed of their behaviour. You can see the show here...
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