WEBVTT

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>>I'd like to kick it
over to you.

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>>Thank you, Ryan.
That's very kind of you to say.

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And I got to say,
we're going to have two hours

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together of this
moderated discussion.

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As we've seen, especially
in the attack on the US Capitol

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on January 6th,

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technology affects all of us.

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It primarily affects
our information ecosystem,

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one of the topics

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that surely will come up today.

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As we can say or as I would say,
in my opinion,

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our democracy depends on a
vibrant information ecosystem

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and a shared sense of truth.

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And technology obviously affects
this in so many different ways.

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And I think what we're trying
to do today

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with the esteemed panel
that we have assembled

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is discuss how we can improve,

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how we can build a
better tech future.

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What we're going to do with our
two hours together is,

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first, we're going to hear
from each individual panelist.

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And each of these panelists
are going to be describing

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a little bit
of their background.

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So, we're going to have
these mini presentations

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that are going to happen.

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So, what I want you to do,
as an attendee,

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one, thank you
for being here today.

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But really, as you listen
to each of these panelists,

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I want you to start
thinking of questions,

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thinking of areas
that can be asked

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as we kind of welcome
everyone back together.

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After each individual
presentation,

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we're going to have time
together where we can do

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a little bit of Q&A.

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So without further ado,

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I'll start us off in the order

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that we're going to go
through with our panel.

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So, I'm going to introduce
each panelist separately,

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and then that panelist is going
to share their screen

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and do a little
bit of a mini presentation,

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probably around 10 to 15
minutes for each presentation.

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And then we come back and then
have a little bit of Q&A

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that I'm going to moderate.

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And then we want to
start hearing

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from all of you with our
remaining time together.

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So, the first individual that
we're going to bring on today

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is Dr. Greg Gerber.

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Greg is the senior advisor

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and case consultant
with Safer Schools Together,

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and an assistant professor

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at the New York Institute
of Technology in Vancouver.

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Greg also serves
as the dean of Science

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and Instructional Technology,

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and is the
director of the Center

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for Teaching and Learning.

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So, I'm going to ask Greg
right now to put on his camera

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and then share his screen

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so we can learn a little bit
more about his background.

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>>Perfect. Thank you, David,
and hello to everyone.

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I'm actually going to integrate
my screen into the feed,

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so hopefully that works well.

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If there are any issues,
let me know,

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and we'll change tracks
really quickly.

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Thank you for that introduction.

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My background,
to go a little further into it,

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is I actually
began this journey

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as a high school teacher
and vice principal,

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and worked for about 14 years

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as a senior technical consultant
for Fortune 500 companies,

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and ran an IT consulting form,

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which ultimately,
with the combination

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of education and technology,

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landed me in the
roles that I hold today.

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Most significantly, of course,
is working with the university

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on training future educators,

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but also in the work that we're
going to talk about today,

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which is with
Safer Schools Together.

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And so, I'm very
excited to be here.

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Now, of course,
all of that work life

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is coupled with
the real life experience

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of being a dad
of four young men.

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And I have lived through
this technological infusion,

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and trying to navigate
the goods and the bads, etc.,

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that have come with it,

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as now my oldest son
is 21 years of age,

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and the youngest is 14.

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That grants an awful
lot of perspective.

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Now, really quickly,

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I need to say that

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some of what I'm
going to share with you

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in this short presentation

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may be a contextual
trigger for people

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who have gone through difficult
times in the past.

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And so, just a quick word to
your own safety and well-being,

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if there is something that has
triggered you in any way,

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please feel free to take a
moment away from the screen.

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There will be some graphics

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that I am going to
share as a result

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of the observational data

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that we've been collecting
with Safer Schools Together.

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Now, in Safer Schools together,

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our vision,
very simply and concisely,

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is to end all school violence.

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It's a lofty dream,
there's no doubt.

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But the way that we do this
is by investing today

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for a safer tomorrow

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and considering all the
learnings that we have garnered

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from working closely
with school districts,

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states, provinces,
in responding to threats,

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violent situations,
self-harm, etc.

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But not only in response to,
but instead, very specifically,

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our work is geared towards

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moving
into a lane of intervention,

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as opposed to response,
as opposed to reaction, okay?

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How do we move
towards prevention?

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That's the goal.

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How does tomorrow become safer?

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We apply the learnings

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and engage
all community stakeholders

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that we have access to.

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We've learned from years
of working with schools,

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law enforcement, and government

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in the aftermath of violent acts
that there are commonalities

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and things 20 years ago,
22 years ago,

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when I was first started
as a vice principal,

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that I never had access to.

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And it would've absolutely
transformed the way

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that we would deal
with individuals.

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As a vice principal responsible
for discipline,

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you can imagine,
a student comes in,

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they're in trouble,
they've done something wrong,

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they've behaved poorly -

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what is the reaction?

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Discipline.

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We've learned that acting out
of a mindset of discipline

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as a primary response
often acts as a catalyst

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for that individual
to go and cause harm,

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to engage in the violence
they were considering.

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What we also learned in the
aftermath of the violent acts,

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like Columbine, etc.,

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is that nobody wakes up
a healthy individual today,

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has a day, wake up tomorrow,
and suddenly snaps.

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You've probably heard that
in the media before.

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It just doesn't happen.

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What we see instead is

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that there is a very specific
progression or pathway

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towards violence.

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There's some sort of grievance
that takes place. I'm upset.

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I feel like I've lost something
as an individual.

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And only if
that is not repaired,

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if we don't settle
the grievance,

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if we don't find a way
to do better,

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to repair the
relationships normally,

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then it may progress through
ideation planning, preparation,

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and finally, the act of
committing violence.

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But this takes time.

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It takes time.

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And the utility of recognizing
this kind of progression

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allows us to see,

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it provides us a purview

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into the motivation
of any individual,

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a motivation towards
some sort of gain.

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A payoff.

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They feel like

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they're getting something out
of moving in this direction.

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Not in all cases, of course.

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But in many cases where we see
that violence,

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and having considered
the information

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after the event has taken place,

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we also see that one of those
motivations might be notoriety.

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So the question is, how do we,
recognizing this pathway,

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intervene appropriately?

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How can we stop it
at the ideation or the planning

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so that we don't see
that violent action?

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Well, that's the goal, isn't it?

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First, we recognize
that behavior provides a window

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into the psychology

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and the mindset
of an individual.

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And while this won't be
a philosophy

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or psychology session,

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we've learned from behavioral
psychiatrists and philosophers

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alike that recognize
how mindset influences behavior.

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And similarly,
behavior influences mindset.

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Boy, that sounds simple
when I say it, doesn't it?

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For example, self-help gurus

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and body language experts all
agree that forcing a smile,

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something as simple as that,
can change our feelings.

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Try it right now
if you don't believe me.

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What happens inside?

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Or standing in the hero pose can
make you feel more confident.

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Okay. We get it.

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How we behave
tells us an awful lot

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about what's going
on in our minds.

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And, as our technology-infused
culture continues to illustrate,

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times have changed.

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Oh boy. [laughter]

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Have they ever.

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Technology is more pervasive
and ubiquitous today

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than it has ever been
in history.

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It's constantly
at our fingertips.

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And with that technology,

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people are sharing more
about their inmost thoughts

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than they ever have.

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But they don't
necessarily recognize

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that they're sharing the
depth of thinking that they are.

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And this is good in terms
of being able to move towards

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intervention and prevention
over that lane of reaction.

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At Safer Schools Together,
we call this leakage.

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We call the ability to access it
through open source information

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and social media something
of a golden ticket.

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And yes, this is reference
to Charlie's chocolate factory

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and Willy Wonka golden ticket.

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We are enabled
through technology

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to see far more deeply into
an individual's inner world.

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And if we take that information

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and construct something
of a baseline,

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or, as some people call it,
a profile,

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and recognize where there
has been a significant change

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in behavior or ideation,
things that influence them,

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that information
is absolutely instrumental

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as a consideration

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in our multidimensional
assessment teams.

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Coupled with behavioral
threat assessment,

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the digital profile provides
an increasingly deep purview.

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People post things
that are consistent with

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what they're thinking about.

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When somebody posts
a picture of their dinner plate,

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I know they're thinking
[laughter] about that dinner,

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but also that it was worth
posting for some reason.

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The leakage of one's mindset

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and what they're thinking about,
usually, in that social media,

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provides an incredible purview.

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Let's take a look
at a few examples.

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What we've been seeing over
the course of the pandemic,

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and of course, prior as well,
are increased numbers,

00:13:26.272 --> 00:13:34.580
increased incidents of people
sharing their difficulties.

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Depression.
Low self-esteem.

00:13:39.118 --> 00:13:43.156
Constantly wanting
to commit self-die.

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Why would you say that?
It's grammatically incorrect.

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Because TikTok's algorithms
will take the post down

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if you say suicide.

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So our kids are finding
increasingly,

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I would say, creative ways
to ensure that their post,

00:14:01.974 --> 00:14:04.277
potentially a cry for help,

00:14:04.277 --> 00:14:09.015
their signal to a loss
of power and freedom

00:14:09.015 --> 00:14:12.251
- they want to ensure
that it has an audience.

00:14:12.251 --> 00:14:16.489
Why? What does that
sort of behavior tell us?

00:14:16.489 --> 00:14:21.127
I can go through slide
after slide of real cases

00:14:21.127 --> 00:14:22.729
where you see things like this.

00:14:22.729 --> 00:14:25.064
Reasons I'm going to hell.

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Hm. How many of us would post
that sort of thing online?

00:14:31.871 --> 00:14:33.840
What's the end game?

00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:35.308
What are we thinking?

00:14:37.376 --> 00:14:43.216
Do we believe this individual
feels accepted or important?

00:14:43.216 --> 00:14:45.451
And we have to ask the question,

00:14:45.451 --> 00:14:48.187
are they posting because they
wonder whether or not

00:14:48.187 --> 00:14:51.924
anyone who sees this will
care enough to notice?

00:14:51.924 --> 00:14:55.428
Am I seen? Am I accepted?

00:14:55.428 --> 00:14:57.330
And it goes on and on
with different trends

00:14:57.330 --> 00:14:59.298
that we've been seeing
develop through COVID.

00:14:59.298 --> 00:15:01.033
And you've probably
seen this one.

00:15:01.033 --> 00:15:03.970
People noting my firsts.

00:15:03.970 --> 00:15:09.375
And you can see my first drugs,
my first sexual encounters,

00:15:09.375 --> 00:15:12.545
my first - right here,

00:15:12.545 --> 00:15:16.082
my first pictures being sent
to me on my phone

00:15:16.082 --> 00:15:20.820
of male parts,
female parts, etc.

00:15:20.820 --> 00:15:25.625
And so, we're always asking
the question,

00:15:25.625 --> 00:15:28.294
what is the payoff?

00:15:28.294 --> 00:15:32.231
Our primary hypothesis
is this is a cry for help,

00:15:32.231 --> 00:15:38.237
which allows us to move squarely

00:15:38.237 --> 00:15:43.609
into that lane of intervention
with community supports.

00:15:43.609 --> 00:15:47.280
They're simply hoping
someone will see,

00:15:47.280 --> 00:15:50.716
someone will recognize
that they have a need,

00:15:50.716 --> 00:15:54.587
will care for and love them
enough to help.

00:15:59.158 --> 00:16:00.526
And it goes on and on.

00:16:03.863 --> 00:16:06.799
Unalive. Self-die.

00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:11.938
Depression spelt differently,
simply to evade the censors,

00:16:11.938 --> 00:16:15.107
to ensure that their message
is seen by an audience.

00:16:18.277 --> 00:16:21.314
As a parent, that's troubling.

00:16:21.314 --> 00:16:23.282
So we need to do
all that we can.

00:16:23.282 --> 00:16:26.686
Now, some of the trends that
we're seeing very specifically

00:16:26.686 --> 00:16:28.487
and this data doesn't
exist anywhere else.

00:16:28.487 --> 00:16:31.157
Safer Schools works
with the entire province

00:16:31.157 --> 00:16:32.658
of British Columbia,

00:16:32.658 --> 00:16:37.864
so works closely with each one
of the school districts

00:16:37.864 --> 00:16:39.398
and the government.

00:16:39.398 --> 00:16:40.833
We also work in multiple states

00:16:40.833 --> 00:16:43.603
and across the US
and parts of Europe,

00:16:43.603 --> 00:16:45.805
and have data similar to this.

00:16:45.805 --> 00:16:46.606
But what we're seeing,

00:16:46.606 --> 00:16:48.908
and I hope you can see this
clearly enough

00:16:48.908 --> 00:16:52.545
I can zoom in a little bit -

00:16:52.545 --> 00:16:56.515
is the blue line
is pre-pandemic.

00:16:56.515 --> 00:17:00.953
The orange-y line
is during the pandemic.

00:17:00.953 --> 00:17:02.121
Now, what we're seeing,

00:17:02.121 --> 00:17:04.156
and this probably doesn't
surprise anyone,

00:17:04.156 --> 00:17:08.027
is that through our
engagements with schools,

00:17:08.027 --> 00:17:09.996
with districts,
with law enforcement,

00:17:09.996 --> 00:17:14.533
there have been case consults
increasing in proportion

00:17:14.533 --> 00:17:16.836
around threat-related behavior,

00:17:16.836 --> 00:17:20.039
negative digital climate
and culture,

00:17:20.039 --> 00:17:24.210
sextortion, hate, racism,
or radicalization,

00:17:24.210 --> 00:17:28.948
mental health concerns,
cyber bullying, etc.

00:17:28.948 --> 00:17:31.918
We also see that there
have been a decline

00:17:31.918 --> 00:17:34.820
in some of the other areas.

00:17:34.820 --> 00:17:36.989
Okay. So what's going on?

00:17:36.989 --> 00:17:39.558
Part of those declines,
school community concerns,

00:17:39.558 --> 00:17:42.261
we saw schools were closed
for a long time,

00:17:42.261 --> 00:17:44.297
so we didn't receive
those reports.

00:17:45.765 --> 00:17:48.234
Needless to say,

00:17:48.234 --> 00:17:51.671
that with this increase
of threat-related behavior,

00:17:51.671 --> 00:17:57.443
how do we intervene becomes
the most important question.

00:17:57.443 --> 00:17:59.679
And so, we engage
in a systematic review

00:17:59.679 --> 00:18:01.914
of social media from geocoding,

00:18:01.914 --> 00:18:07.019
so using known locations
to find individuals,

00:18:07.019 --> 00:18:09.522
from reports from schools,

00:18:09.522 --> 00:18:12.391
and finally,
from anonymous reporting.

00:18:12.391 --> 00:18:15.027
And I'll talk about that
in a moment.

00:18:15.027 --> 00:18:21.300
But so, we've seen things like
this in the past year.

00:18:21.300 --> 00:18:23.936
Concerning, no doubt.

00:18:23.936 --> 00:18:30.009
First question:
is this a stock image,

00:18:30.009 --> 00:18:32.478
or do they really
have the weapon?

00:18:32.478 --> 00:18:36.048
That changes our
assessment level of risk.

00:18:36.048 --> 00:18:39.151
And similarly, in these images,
what else can we find?

00:18:39.151 --> 00:18:40.519
How do we intervene?

00:18:40.519 --> 00:18:41.954
Who are the
community stakeholders

00:18:41.954 --> 00:18:43.422
that we need to connect with?

00:18:45.224 --> 00:18:52.031
We're seeing as well,
those evidences of,

00:18:52.031 --> 00:18:56.502
as I've already spoken about,
the mental health concerns.

00:18:56.502 --> 00:18:58.404
This trend, handprints,

00:18:58.404 --> 00:19:00.473
where individuals
paint their hands

00:19:00.473 --> 00:19:04.744
and place those paint marks
all across their body

00:19:04.744 --> 00:19:06.212
to indicate,

00:19:06.212 --> 00:19:10.716
this is where I've been
inappropriately touched or hurt.

00:19:10.716 --> 00:19:14.620
Mm. Ouch.

00:19:14.620 --> 00:19:17.023
Is it a cry for help?

00:19:17.023 --> 00:19:21.627
How do we, as responsible
person, intervene?

00:19:21.627 --> 00:19:25.264
Well, thankfully,
as I was just tipping my hat to,

00:19:25.264 --> 00:19:26.866
we are seeing,

00:19:26.866 --> 00:19:29.468
and we are educating,
a growing culture

00:19:29.468 --> 00:19:33.939
where people report concerning
behaviors or worrisome trends

00:19:33.939 --> 00:19:35.808
if they see them.

00:19:35.808 --> 00:19:37.376
And we advocate very strongly,

00:19:37.376 --> 00:19:40.579
and actually run
an anonymous reporting tool

00:19:40.579 --> 00:19:43.082
so that people can do this.

00:19:43.082 --> 00:19:45.151
Now, in the anonymous
reporting tool,

00:19:45.151 --> 00:19:48.387
we have the eyes of everyone
in the community,

00:19:48.387 --> 00:19:50.923
provided they remember
that the tool is there.

00:19:50.923 --> 00:19:55.628
So there's an education campaign
that must take place.

00:19:55.628 --> 00:19:56.562
And with no surprise,

00:19:56.562 --> 00:19:59.532
because the majority
of that reporting

00:19:59.532 --> 00:20:03.035
comes from the students
themselves.

00:20:03.035 --> 00:20:08.908
Well, the highest category
of tips is cyber bullying,

00:20:08.908 --> 00:20:13.646
school community concerns,
relationship, substance abuse,

00:20:13.646 --> 00:20:18.217
and, go figure, mental health.

00:20:18.217 --> 00:20:21.687
And so, we recognize that there
is an implicit duty

00:20:21.687 --> 00:20:23.489
of all of us,

00:20:23.489 --> 00:20:26.358
of everyone in the know
that has access to resources

00:20:26.358 --> 00:20:29.095
and supports for our students,

00:20:29.095 --> 00:20:32.331
to help them through these
mental health concerns,

00:20:32.331 --> 00:20:35.167
and again, move towards
intervention.

00:20:35.167 --> 00:20:36.735
How do we do that?

00:20:36.735 --> 00:20:40.439
Digital threat assessment
utilizing the technology

00:20:40.439 --> 00:20:45.077
allows us a deep purview
into understanding the risks

00:20:45.077 --> 00:20:47.680
associated with
somebody's behavior,

00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:51.016
and in particular,
the shifts in those baselines.

00:20:51.016 --> 00:20:54.954
Once we extract
and preserve the data

00:20:54.954 --> 00:20:58.524
that provides us a profile,

00:20:58.524 --> 00:21:04.597
we then consider that
information not in isolation,

00:21:04.597 --> 00:21:06.799
but through the lens of a

00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:11.337
multidisciplinary
assessment team,

00:21:11.337 --> 00:21:14.707
engaging all stakeholders,
as you see here.

00:21:14.707 --> 00:21:19.912
But the online component has
given us a golden ticket,

00:21:19.912 --> 00:21:22.448
which, back when I was
in the schools,

00:21:22.448 --> 00:21:28.387
I could only wish we had,
or wish I knew about.

00:21:28.387 --> 00:21:30.456
I mean, I could talk
about some doozies there.

00:21:32.024 --> 00:21:34.226
On the positive side,

00:21:34.226 --> 00:21:37.129
even though we're seeing things
like this and you can read,

00:21:37.129 --> 00:21:41.600
she says here, "I'm sorry
if you know what this means."

00:21:41.600 --> 00:21:45.538
She's drawn a butterfly
onto her wrist.

00:21:45.538 --> 00:21:49.842
What it means is, it's part
of the Butterfly Project.

00:21:49.842 --> 00:21:52.811
And the Butterfly Project
states,

00:21:52.811 --> 00:21:55.347
"If you've been engaging
in self-harm,

00:21:55.347 --> 00:21:59.485
in cutting,
draw a butterfly on yourself."

00:21:59.485 --> 00:22:02.021
And for every day
that you don't cut,

00:22:02.021 --> 00:22:04.023
you leave the butterfly there.

00:22:04.023 --> 00:22:07.560
If the butterfly disappears

00:22:07.560 --> 00:22:08.961
and you haven't
cut yourself again,

00:22:08.961 --> 00:22:10.896
you just saved a butterfly.

00:22:10.896 --> 00:22:15.034
You progress to the charms.

00:22:15.034 --> 00:22:17.903
For every week,
that you don't cut yourself,

00:22:17.903 --> 00:22:20.639
add a butterfly charm.

00:22:20.639 --> 00:22:23.008
And so, there's social
media movements as well

00:22:23.008 --> 00:22:28.714
that are trying to intervene and
promote positive mental health,

00:22:28.714 --> 00:22:31.116
for which I'm thankful.

00:22:31.116 --> 00:22:33.686
So, I'll end with,
it's important,

00:22:33.686 --> 00:22:35.321
once we have this information,

00:22:35.321 --> 00:22:38.190
and Safer Schools Together
does this very specifically

00:22:38.190 --> 00:22:40.693
with our 13 analysts,

00:22:40.693 --> 00:22:43.729
who survey the internet and
collect information,

00:22:43.729 --> 00:22:47.032
and construct something of a
digital baseline report,

00:22:47.032 --> 00:22:50.769
preserve the data,
provide insights,

00:22:50.769 --> 00:22:55.608
and make notes of what's going
on when we see it.

00:22:55.608 --> 00:22:58.510
Because when we share it with a
multidisciplinary team,

00:22:58.510 --> 00:23:01.547
they might not understand
all the cues.

00:23:01.547 --> 00:23:04.016
In this slide,
the individual is talking about

00:23:04.016 --> 00:23:06.619
how he got that bullet hole
in his shirt,

00:23:06.619 --> 00:23:09.021
then continues, in his video.

00:23:09.021 --> 00:23:10.322
He says, "I'm not gonna tell you

00:23:10.322 --> 00:23:13.158
what's underneath
my neck piece."

00:23:13.158 --> 00:23:17.229
A quick look into
his online profile,

00:23:17.229 --> 00:23:19.198
and we see
all sorts of evidence.

00:23:19.198 --> 00:23:21.500
"I go out because
I stand remembering

00:23:21.500 --> 00:23:23.903
how my ex killed herself."

00:23:23.903 --> 00:23:27.973
He's not in a good place,
hoping to get hit.

00:23:27.973 --> 00:23:34.213
Even the posting in his other
social media profiles

00:23:34.213 --> 00:23:40.586
tips the hat to help us best
ascertain the level of risk.

00:23:40.586 --> 00:23:42.254
And so, Safer Schools Together

00:23:42.254 --> 00:23:44.256
does this through
multiple services.

00:23:44.256 --> 00:23:45.924
And, and if you're
interested in more,

00:23:45.924 --> 00:23:49.061
I know this is a short time,
and my time is now up,

00:23:49.061 --> 00:23:52.498
please do feel free to get in
contact with us.

00:23:52.498 --> 00:23:54.733
And I look forward to the rest
of the dialogue.

00:23:54.733 --> 00:23:56.068
Over to you, David.

00:23:56.068 --> 00:23:57.369
>>Thank you, Greg.

00:23:57.369 --> 00:24:00.973
And also, thank you
for your inspiring work.

00:24:00.973 --> 00:24:04.276
As we've seen, especially all
living through this pandemic,

00:24:04.276 --> 00:24:05.744
a trying time,

00:24:05.744 --> 00:24:08.113
both economically,
for a lot of individuals,

00:24:08.113 --> 00:24:11.583
and being surrounded
by so much turmoil

00:24:11.583 --> 00:24:15.454
with the tragic circumstances
with COVID-19

00:24:15.454 --> 00:24:18.857
has definitely been a pressing
time for mental health,

00:24:18.857 --> 00:24:20.192
as we've seen.

00:24:20.192 --> 00:24:22.728
I also want to put out
with a lot of your work,

00:24:22.728 --> 00:24:24.797
with the cat and mouse game

00:24:24.797 --> 00:24:27.466
that oftentimes teens play
with social media,

00:24:27.466 --> 00:24:30.469
and some of the content
moderation algorithms

00:24:30.469 --> 00:24:32.671
that you're alluding to as well.

00:24:32.671 --> 00:24:36.141
I will certainly get back to
that when we get into the Q&A.

00:24:36.141 --> 00:24:37.409
But without further ado,

00:24:37.409 --> 00:24:40.646
we want to bring on
Dr. Vicki Harrison

00:24:40.646 --> 00:24:45.551
for her next mini presentation
that Vicki is going to give.

00:24:45.551 --> 00:24:47.820
Dr. Vicki Harrison
is the program director

00:24:47.820 --> 00:24:51.690
at the Stanford Center for Youth
Mental Health and Wellbeing,

00:24:51.690 --> 00:24:54.226
and the manager
of community partnerships

00:24:54.226 --> 00:24:57.029
for the Stanford Department
of Psychiatry

00:24:57.029 --> 00:24:58.597
and Behavioral Sciences.

00:24:58.597 --> 00:24:59.531
And on the personal note,

00:24:59.531 --> 00:25:02.034
I've had the pleasure
and privilege

00:25:02.034 --> 00:25:06.538
with serving on multiple boards
with Vicki over the years,

00:25:06.538 --> 00:25:08.907
and always inspired
by her incredible work.

00:25:08.907 --> 00:25:13.011
So, Vicki, I'd like to bring you
on for your mini presentation.

00:25:14.313 --> 00:25:15.714
>>Thank you so much, David.

00:25:15.714 --> 00:25:18.417
Hopefully you can hear me.
->>Yes.

00:25:18.417 --> 00:25:21.887
>>And let me share my screen.

00:25:26.492 --> 00:25:27.659
There we go.

00:25:32.564 --> 00:25:33.999
All right.

00:25:37.336 --> 00:25:38.670
All right.

00:25:39.304 --> 00:25:43.175
Well, thank you again, everyone,
for inviting me to be with you.

00:25:43.175 --> 00:25:47.112
And I'm just going to spend
the next 10 to 15 minutes

00:25:47.112 --> 00:25:49.715
talking a little bit
about the work I do

00:25:49.715 --> 00:25:51.950
and how it's relevant
to this conversation.

00:25:51.950 --> 00:25:54.853
And so, the outline I have here
is just talking a little bit

00:25:54.853 --> 00:25:58.757
about the benefits and risks of
social media for young people,

00:25:58.757 --> 00:26:00.659
especially related
to youth mental health,

00:26:00.659 --> 00:26:03.929
some of the vulnerabilities
and the opportunities we have.

00:26:03.929 --> 00:26:05.497
To give you some context for

00:26:05.497 --> 00:26:09.568
what I bring to this
conversation and where I work,

00:26:09.568 --> 00:26:11.703
at the Stanford Center for Youth
Mental Health and Wellbeing,

00:26:11.703 --> 00:26:13.672
we're part of the
School of Medicine,

00:26:13.672 --> 00:26:16.208
the Department of Psychiatry
and Behavioral Science.

00:26:16.208 --> 00:26:17.810
And we have several initiatives.

00:26:17.810 --> 00:26:19.812
We mostly work out
in communities,

00:26:19.812 --> 00:26:22.047
so we're trying
to increase access

00:26:22.047 --> 00:26:25.551
to mental health services,
decrease stigma,

00:26:25.551 --> 00:26:29.488
really focus on the public
health end of the spectrum.

00:26:29.488 --> 00:26:31.390
So, prevention,
early intervention.

00:26:31.390 --> 00:26:33.125
So, we do a lot
of work with schools

00:26:33.125 --> 00:26:34.259
directly with young people,

00:26:34.259 --> 00:26:35.894
a lot of co-design.

00:26:35.894 --> 00:26:37.596
And media and mental health
is one area

00:26:37.596 --> 00:26:40.365
that we care a lot about.

00:26:40.365 --> 00:26:43.335
This slide underscores
a lot of the work that we do

00:26:43.335 --> 00:26:44.536
and why we do it.

00:26:44.536 --> 00:26:47.606
And this slide,
we've been using for many years.

00:26:47.606 --> 00:26:51.410
So, these are
pre-pandemic figures,

00:26:51.410 --> 00:26:54.813
that really half of all lifetime
cases of mental illness

00:26:54.813 --> 00:26:56.548
begin by age 14.

00:26:56.548 --> 00:27:00.219
75% of those start by 24.

00:27:00.219 --> 00:27:01.687
So if you look at this graph

00:27:01.687 --> 00:27:04.189
with the yellow blip
in the middle,

00:27:04.189 --> 00:27:07.292
that's really when
mental health issues present.

00:27:07.292 --> 00:27:10.395
So, adolescence is the time
where those emerge

00:27:10.395 --> 00:27:12.931
and where we really need
to be supporting people

00:27:12.931 --> 00:27:14.967
and connecting them
with services.

00:27:14.967 --> 00:27:17.369
And then I also point out here
on the slide,

00:27:17.369 --> 00:27:20.539
the majority of young people
do not access care,

00:27:20.539 --> 00:27:23.575
despite having mental
health presentations.

00:27:23.575 --> 00:27:26.979
And suicide is currently the
second leading cause of death

00:27:26.979 --> 00:27:29.481
for young people after
unintentional injury.

00:27:31.216 --> 00:27:33.752
So, for the media work we do,

00:27:33.752 --> 00:27:36.021
I don't think it's a surprise
how much media plays a role

00:27:36.021 --> 00:27:37.289
in all of our lives,

00:27:37.289 --> 00:27:39.691
especially the lives
of young people.

00:27:39.691 --> 00:27:42.060
We look at it in these
three main categories:

00:27:42.060 --> 00:27:45.531
the role of journalism and news
media and the narratives there,

00:27:45.531 --> 00:27:49.434
some of which perpetuate some of
the stereotypes and stigmas

00:27:49.434 --> 00:27:52.337
that we have
around mental health;

00:27:52.337 --> 00:27:54.473
social media, we're going
to talk about here;

00:27:54.473 --> 00:27:55.741
and entertainment media

00:27:55.741 --> 00:27:58.977
is obviously a big part
of young people's lives.

00:27:58.977 --> 00:28:02.047
And we work with
all of these sectors

00:28:02.047 --> 00:28:05.217
to try to improve the content

00:28:05.217 --> 00:28:08.153
of what young people
are interacting with,

00:28:08.153 --> 00:28:09.821
and make sure that
it's supporting mental health,

00:28:09.821 --> 00:28:12.491
and not contributing
to contagion

00:28:12.491 --> 00:28:16.061
and some other risk factors
that we'll talk about.

00:28:16.061 --> 00:28:17.729
I just wanted to
include a slide here

00:28:17.729 --> 00:28:21.133
about the purposes of why young
people are using social media.

00:28:21.133 --> 00:28:23.635
I don't think
this is news to anyone,

00:28:23.635 --> 00:28:25.771
but I just want to talk about
the benefits.

00:28:25.771 --> 00:28:29.241
Because we all use it and we all
enjoy it and get a lot from it.

00:28:29.241 --> 00:28:31.376
And so, that sort of goes
without saying.

00:28:31.376 --> 00:28:34.012
But I just wanted to point out
some of the primary reasons

00:28:34.012 --> 00:28:35.847
that we hear
from young people

00:28:35.847 --> 00:28:39.952
that they go on their phones
and their devices so much.

00:28:39.952 --> 00:28:42.321
Connecting with friends
is bolded for a reason.

00:28:42.321 --> 00:28:43.488
That's the primary reason.

00:28:43.488 --> 00:28:48.060
And it's hard
to not be connected anymore

00:28:48.060 --> 00:28:50.963
when you're trying
to interact with peers.

00:28:50.963 --> 00:28:53.465
Also, they go on there
to lift their mood.

00:28:53.465 --> 00:28:56.435
So, it does provide
some mood management.

00:28:56.435 --> 00:28:58.203
Creative expression.

00:28:58.203 --> 00:29:00.038
And schoolwork,
I added at the bottom,

00:29:00.038 --> 00:29:02.207
that's something
that everyone needed,

00:29:02.207 --> 00:29:04.509
especially this past year.

00:29:04.509 --> 00:29:07.346
Even if you were trying
not to have your young person

00:29:07.346 --> 00:29:08.580
on a device,

00:29:08.580 --> 00:29:10.716
it's pretty hard now
once they get in school.

00:29:10.716 --> 00:29:14.219
They are sent to YouTube
to watch school-related videos

00:29:14.219 --> 00:29:16.555
and need to check their grades
and their work

00:29:16.555 --> 00:29:17.556
and submit it online.

00:29:17.556 --> 00:29:21.960
So, it's embedded in our lives,
whether we want it to be or not.

00:29:21.960 --> 00:29:25.197
These are by no means
exclusive lists.

00:29:25.197 --> 00:29:26.898
But these are some of
the challenges

00:29:26.898 --> 00:29:28.567
that we hear from young people

00:29:28.567 --> 00:29:31.403
that they face when they are
just going on their phone

00:29:31.403 --> 00:29:34.406
for all of those positives
reasons that they're seeking.

00:29:34.406 --> 00:29:39.011
And this is a pretty
thorny list of big items

00:29:39.011 --> 00:29:42.481
that they have to face
and deal with.

00:29:42.481 --> 00:29:44.316
Obviously, privacy is something

00:29:44.316 --> 00:29:46.918
that we're still trying
to work out,

00:29:46.918 --> 00:29:48.253
for young people, especially.

00:29:48.253 --> 00:29:52.624
And the age verification process
is very porous

00:29:52.624 --> 00:29:55.160
and not much of a protection.

00:29:55.160 --> 00:29:57.896
And so, young people,
elementary school age,

00:29:57.896 --> 00:30:01.900
it's quite normal at this stage
for them to all have phones

00:30:01.900 --> 00:30:03.168
and be on their phones.

00:30:03.168 --> 00:30:04.269
And so then,
they're encountering

00:30:04.269 --> 00:30:06.838
this type of content

00:30:06.838 --> 00:30:10.442
really without a lot
of guidance from parents,

00:30:10.442 --> 00:30:12.811
from school professionals.

00:30:12.811 --> 00:30:15.247
And the platforms
are trying to help some,

00:30:15.247 --> 00:30:21.486
but it's pretty hard to prevent
finding some of this content

00:30:21.486 --> 00:30:22.821
within just a few clicks.

00:30:24.956 --> 00:30:26.758
These are just some quotes
from some of the work

00:30:26.758 --> 00:30:28.393
that we've done directly
with young people,

00:30:28.393 --> 00:30:30.595
again, showing the good,
the bad, and the ugly.

00:30:30.595 --> 00:30:35.300
So, there obviously is a great
deal of benefit and connection,

00:30:35.300 --> 00:30:36.802
especially from
some marginalized

00:30:36.802 --> 00:30:41.373
groups like LGBTQ young people,
who are finding community

00:30:41.373 --> 00:30:44.042
where it may not exist
in their home life

00:30:44.042 --> 00:30:46.611
or in their small communities.

00:30:46.611 --> 00:30:48.513
And so, it's really
a lifeline for them

00:30:48.513 --> 00:30:50.716
to see some representation.

00:30:50.716 --> 00:30:54.453
The flip side of that
is obviously hate speech

00:30:54.453 --> 00:30:57.155
and terrible content

00:30:57.155 --> 00:31:00.559
that they might see directed
towards the characteristics

00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:02.761
that they identify with.

00:31:02.761 --> 00:31:05.831
But then you have
the mood management,

00:31:05.831 --> 00:31:07.866
the creativity that they see.

00:31:07.866 --> 00:31:10.268
And then we hear a lot about
the ads that they encounter,

00:31:10.268 --> 00:31:13.071
and how they really
feel powerless with the ads

00:31:13.071 --> 00:31:15.173
that are being presented
to them incessantly,

00:31:15.173 --> 00:31:19.478
and that they can tell are based
on searches that they've done,

00:31:19.478 --> 00:31:22.180
whether it's related to searches
they've done

00:31:22.180 --> 00:31:24.683
for physical activity
or fitness,

00:31:24.683 --> 00:31:26.785
and then they'll start
seeing more ads

00:31:26.785 --> 00:31:31.056
directed towards dieting
or getting skinny.

00:31:31.056 --> 00:31:36.128
And that obviously is difficult
to handle for many of them.

00:31:36.128 --> 00:31:38.697
And also, the violent content
that they see,

00:31:38.697 --> 00:31:40.198
the streaming that people do,

00:31:40.198 --> 00:31:42.134
and that they will just be
scrolling,

00:31:42.134 --> 00:31:45.604
and they'll see - in this case,
they saw a murder online,

00:31:45.604 --> 00:31:47.606
or they'll see something
that they can't unsee,

00:31:47.606 --> 00:31:51.109
and they didn't necessarily
choose to see it.

00:31:51.109 --> 00:31:53.512
So overall, there's just a lot
that young people

00:31:53.512 --> 00:31:55.580
have to deal with online.

00:31:55.580 --> 00:32:00.051
It's a ton of content
that's hard to avoid.

00:32:00.051 --> 00:32:03.021
And I would say, as of today,

00:32:03.021 --> 00:32:07.192
that these platforms are pretty
unsafe for young people.

00:32:07.192 --> 00:32:10.395
It's pretty hard to not
encounter this type of content.

00:32:11.463 --> 00:32:14.232
So, I wanted to just talk
a moment

00:32:14.232 --> 00:32:17.869
about the role of media
in suicide,

00:32:17.869 --> 00:32:19.604
because it's something
that I think is relevant

00:32:19.604 --> 00:32:20.806
to these conversations

00:32:20.806 --> 00:32:25.811
and that people don't really -
aren't really aware of

00:32:25.811 --> 00:32:28.146
and don't give
a lot of weight to,

00:32:28.146 --> 00:32:29.414
where I think

00:32:29.414 --> 00:32:31.683
that it's something
we need to look at more deeply.

00:32:31.683 --> 00:32:34.586
And that really is
that the media has

00:32:34.586 --> 00:32:39.691
a pretty significant impact
potential on suicidal behavior.

00:32:39.691 --> 00:32:40.225
And this is something

00:32:40.225 --> 00:32:43.028
that has quite a bit
of research behind it

00:32:43.028 --> 00:32:44.830
over many, many years.

00:32:46.298 --> 00:32:48.466
So much so that these effects,

00:32:48.466 --> 00:32:52.971
that they have named them,
are based off of literature

00:32:52.971 --> 00:32:56.808
from many, many centuries ago,
where the degree of publicity

00:32:56.808 --> 00:32:59.344
given to a suicide
is now directly correlated

00:32:59.344 --> 00:33:01.980
with the number of suicides
that will follow that.

00:33:01.980 --> 00:33:04.850
And here,
I just included three headlines

00:33:04.850 --> 00:33:06.651
from the three buckets of media

00:33:06.651 --> 00:33:10.722
that we look at of how
this contagion effect plays out.

00:33:10.722 --> 00:33:13.191
And so, as much as we like to
think of suicide

00:33:13.191 --> 00:33:15.660
as a very personal,
individual act,

00:33:15.660 --> 00:33:18.930
it really has
a social component to it.

00:33:18.930 --> 00:33:21.132
It's got a social construct
behind it.

00:33:21.132 --> 00:33:24.603
And that means that the more
that you publicize something,

00:33:24.603 --> 00:33:30.976
the more that that individual
suicide was sensationalized,

00:33:30.976 --> 00:33:35.714
it can increase suicides
to follow, or copycat suicides.

00:33:35.714 --> 00:33:38.049
So we saw like
when Robin Williams died,

00:33:38.049 --> 00:33:41.119
there was a 10% increase
following his death

00:33:41.119 --> 00:33:45.257
in the same type of age range
and male bracket

00:33:45.257 --> 00:33:48.293
that he was part of,
middle-aged men.

00:33:48.293 --> 00:33:51.229
And then the same with some of -
the 13 Reasons

00:33:51.229 --> 00:33:53.198
Why is
a pretty controversial film

00:33:53.198 --> 00:33:57.202
because of the live - the very
graphic suicide that it showed.

00:33:57.202 --> 00:33:58.770
And there was
a spike after that.

00:33:58.770 --> 00:34:00.205
And then on social media,

00:34:00.205 --> 00:34:02.140
we're seeing more
of that related to self-harm.

00:34:02.140 --> 00:34:03.441
So, the good news is that

00:34:03.441 --> 00:34:05.610
there's
the so-called Papageno effect,

00:34:05.610 --> 00:34:09.481
which is the flip side -
that you can prevent suicides,

00:34:09.481 --> 00:34:12.417
potentially,
if you spread different messages

00:34:12.417 --> 00:34:14.753
that are not glorifying
the act of suicide

00:34:14.753 --> 00:34:17.589
or giving attention
to the behavior.

00:34:17.589 --> 00:34:20.558
And I put here the reporting
on suicide.org

00:34:20.558 --> 00:34:22.394
is where you will see
some of the guidelines

00:34:22.394 --> 00:34:25.630
that are put out there
for mass media to follow.

00:34:25.630 --> 00:34:28.600
There's also a set
for reporting on mass shootings.

00:34:28.600 --> 00:34:30.335
And ironically or not,

00:34:30.335 --> 00:34:32.771
I was working
on this slide deck last week,

00:34:32.771 --> 00:34:34.105
when down the street from me,

00:34:34.105 --> 00:34:36.374
the San Jose
shooting took place,

00:34:36.374 --> 00:34:40.011
and was seeing
the streaming footage

00:34:40.011 --> 00:34:44.015
on the news of just the event
and the aftermath.

00:34:44.015 --> 00:34:47.485
And so, this is the type
of attention and publicity

00:34:47.485 --> 00:34:50.989
that can really
create contagion.

00:34:50.989 --> 00:34:52.357
And this slide just shows you

00:34:52.357 --> 00:34:57.696
a really compelling set
of evidence for this effect.

00:34:57.696 --> 00:35:01.099
And this was something that
happened in Vienna in the '80s,

00:35:01.099 --> 00:35:04.102
where they had a lot of people
taking their lives

00:35:04.102 --> 00:35:06.237
in the subway system.

00:35:06.237 --> 00:35:09.541
And the safe
reporting guidelines

00:35:09.541 --> 00:35:11.443
went into effect in 1987.

00:35:11.443 --> 00:35:14.846
And directly following changes
by the media

00:35:14.846 --> 00:35:16.281
in how they reported,

00:35:16.281 --> 00:35:19.317
the suicides and attempts
decreased by 80%.

00:35:19.317 --> 00:35:23.021
So, pretty striking.

00:35:23.021 --> 00:35:26.458
And so, the reason I think
this is relevant,

00:35:26.458 --> 00:35:28.727
just that obviously,
there is some harm

00:35:28.727 --> 00:35:30.962
that is being done
by the degree of publicity

00:35:30.962 --> 00:35:34.032
and media attention
that we're giving.

00:35:34.032 --> 00:35:38.169
And we can also flip that
by doing a better job.

00:35:38.169 --> 00:35:41.306
And really, there's still ways
to report on these incidents,

00:35:41.306 --> 00:35:45.377
but doing it in ways that use
different types of headlines,

00:35:45.377 --> 00:35:50.982
less graphic imagery, and can
really provide some ways to help

00:35:50.982 --> 00:35:52.917
to prevent this type of thing,

00:35:52.917 --> 00:35:56.421
and also influence
better behavior

00:35:56.421 --> 00:35:57.756
instead of harmful behavior.

00:35:57.756 --> 00:36:00.825
And I just want to point out
that some mass shootings

00:36:00.825 --> 00:36:03.828
and terror attacks
are often murder-suicides.

00:36:03.828 --> 00:36:06.598
And so, even though some people
will consider

00:36:06.598 --> 00:36:10.869
that kind of a separate bucket
from just an individual suicide,

00:36:10.869 --> 00:36:12.971
it's something worth looking at.

00:36:12.971 --> 00:36:16.541
And I think that there's also
really a need for further study

00:36:16.541 --> 00:36:19.744
of contagion effects
in social media in general.

00:36:19.744 --> 00:36:21.946
And this information
is something that I think

00:36:21.946 --> 00:36:24.349
is being talked about
and we'll hear more about,

00:36:24.349 --> 00:36:26.685
that is also contagious
in many ways.

00:36:28.687 --> 00:36:31.456
So, I think I put
this slide here

00:36:31.456 --> 00:36:34.692
because I think that we have
a lot of concerns

00:36:34.692 --> 00:36:37.495
about whether the benefits
are outweighing the risks

00:36:37.495 --> 00:36:40.198
or if it's starting to tip
a little bit.

00:36:40.198 --> 00:36:45.236
This statistic is recent.
So, having come out after COVID,

00:36:45.236 --> 00:36:47.739
I think we've seen that hate
speech,

00:36:47.739 --> 00:36:49.374
body shaming, racist content,

00:36:49.374 --> 00:36:52.677
that's all increased
in the past year.

00:36:52.677 --> 00:36:55.814
So, this is one
in four young people are saying

00:36:55.814 --> 00:36:57.582
not just that they have
encountered this content,

00:36:57.582 --> 00:36:59.717
but they encounter it often.

00:36:59.717 --> 00:37:02.487
So really, the ecosystem
that we have for young people

00:37:02.487 --> 00:37:03.955
is currently just not -

00:37:03.955 --> 00:37:06.024
it's not setting them
up for success.

00:37:06.024 --> 00:37:09.427
So, we need a combination
of individual skill-building,

00:37:09.427 --> 00:37:14.265
but also, I think,
substantial structural changes.

00:37:14.265 --> 00:37:16.968
This is just a couple examples
of some of the work

00:37:16.968 --> 00:37:18.903
that we are doing in this area.

00:37:18.903 --> 00:37:22.107
This was a set of guidelines
trying to help control

00:37:22.107 --> 00:37:26.344
some of the suicidal content
that happens online.

00:37:26.344 --> 00:37:28.680
As you saw from the prior
presentation,

00:37:28.680 --> 00:37:29.948
it's hard to do that.

00:37:29.948 --> 00:37:33.218
And the lexicon
is always evolving.

00:37:33.218 --> 00:37:35.620
But this is a set of guidelines
that we are working -

00:37:35.620 --> 00:37:37.122
we've worked with
Origin in Australia

00:37:37.122 --> 00:37:38.923
around developing these,

00:37:38.923 --> 00:37:43.461
and a second set
is coming out soon.

00:37:43.461 --> 00:37:46.898
This is a project that I
launched with some young people

00:37:46.898 --> 00:37:49.067
we work
with just earlier this year.

00:37:49.067 --> 00:37:52.470
So, this is kind of recognizing
that while we work

00:37:52.470 --> 00:37:55.340
on these structural changes
that are needed,

00:37:55.340 --> 00:37:57.075
young people
are really left to navigate

00:37:57.075 --> 00:38:00.445
these pretty substantial themes
and issues on their own.

00:38:00.445 --> 00:38:04.115
And so, it's how can we help
them get through this,

00:38:04.115 --> 00:38:05.483
when it's a key part

00:38:05.483 --> 00:38:06.885
of adolescence
to be on your phone

00:38:06.885 --> 00:38:08.686
and be interacting
with your friends?

00:38:08.686 --> 00:38:10.955
So, this is a peer mentoring
campaign

00:38:10.955 --> 00:38:13.792
where we're really trying
to help older teens

00:38:13.792 --> 00:38:17.562
who have navigated
these issues help younger teens

00:38:17.562 --> 00:38:20.165
that are just starting
on their phones,

00:38:20.165 --> 00:38:22.200
to do a better job of protecting
their mental health,

00:38:22.200 --> 00:38:25.069
or using strategies
that might help them.

00:38:25.069 --> 00:38:26.905
So, these are some of the goals
of what we're doing

00:38:26.905 --> 00:38:28.706
with this project,

00:38:28.706 --> 00:38:31.142
which are useful
for this project,

00:38:31.142 --> 00:38:32.410
but also the types of themes

00:38:32.410 --> 00:38:34.546
that I would say
we need to start

00:38:34.546 --> 00:38:36.247
incorporating into our design.

00:38:36.247 --> 00:38:40.018
When we are looking at how we
work on improving platforms,

00:38:40.018 --> 00:38:43.788
we really, in addition
to just creating more diversity,

00:38:43.788 --> 00:38:48.226
lived experience
in the design process,

00:38:48.226 --> 00:38:50.662
really just need
to empower young people

00:38:50.662 --> 00:38:52.897
to promote authenticity,

00:38:52.897 --> 00:38:56.534
get away from this curation
and this sense of perfection,

00:38:56.534 --> 00:38:58.636
and this sort
of inauthentic world

00:38:58.636 --> 00:39:00.972
that social media
has created for them

00:39:00.972 --> 00:39:03.208
that creates
a lot of comparison.

00:39:03.208 --> 00:39:05.343
Promoting empathy and belonging,
and really just,

00:39:05.343 --> 00:39:08.546
it's the humanization aspect
that we need to pull out.

00:39:11.082 --> 00:39:15.353
So, kind of in summary,
I think this is just a graph

00:39:15.353 --> 00:39:19.924
that I created to show
that as much as those examples

00:39:19.924 --> 00:39:23.294
I just gave are really focused
on this individual level

00:39:23.294 --> 00:39:26.731
of what you can control
as a personal line,

00:39:26.731 --> 00:39:28.700
I think there's a lot of work
that's put in that area,

00:39:28.700 --> 00:39:30.134
and it's clearly
very important.

00:39:30.134 --> 00:39:33.171
Media literacy
and getting more control.

00:39:33.171 --> 00:39:35.273
I know that Instagram
and Facebook

00:39:35.273 --> 00:39:39.410
rolled out a feature
to hide likes last week.

00:39:39.410 --> 00:39:40.945
And so, that is
the kind of thing

00:39:40.945 --> 00:39:43.848
that you could create
more control individually.

00:39:43.848 --> 00:39:45.984
But really, the majority
of the recommendations

00:39:45.984 --> 00:39:49.020
that I think need to happen are
more at the structural level,

00:39:49.020 --> 00:39:52.824
where we really need to invest
more in age-appropriate design,

00:39:52.824 --> 00:39:56.094
safety by design,
research these issues more,

00:39:56.094 --> 00:39:57.662
really have zero tolerance

00:39:57.662 --> 00:40:00.965
for some of the hate
that we're seeing online,

00:40:00.965 --> 00:40:04.068
and cracking down on this mis-
and disinformation

00:40:04.068 --> 00:40:06.938
in order to make
these places safer,

00:40:06.938 --> 00:40:10.241
because we're really creating
a vulnerable population

00:40:10.241 --> 00:40:12.744
of young people.

00:40:12.744 --> 00:40:17.081
And I will cede my time
and hand it back over to David.

00:40:17.081 --> 00:40:18.583
Thank you very much.

00:40:18.583 --> 00:40:20.218
>>Well, thank you, Vicki,
and thank you again

00:40:20.218 --> 00:40:23.254
for your incredibly
valuable work

00:40:23.254 --> 00:40:25.757
in trying to build
a better tech future.

00:40:25.757 --> 00:40:29.260
As we both know,
the social media experience,

00:40:29.260 --> 00:40:30.628
especially for teens,

00:40:30.628 --> 00:40:33.931
is not something that's
always a choice anymore.

00:40:33.931 --> 00:40:37.302
It's hard almost not to be
on social media platforms.

00:40:37.302 --> 00:40:42.140
So, to your point,
I would certainly want to second

00:40:42.140 --> 00:40:44.942
that social media obviously
needs to do a better job

00:40:44.942 --> 00:40:47.111
of making sure that it aligns

00:40:47.111 --> 00:40:49.714
with some of the values
for youth.

00:40:49.714 --> 00:40:54.986
In particular, as you mentioned,
with the kind of metrics,

00:40:54.986 --> 00:40:59.424
anxiety that oftentimes teens
post what will be liked,

00:40:59.424 --> 00:41:02.593
as opposed to what
authentically they like.

00:41:02.593 --> 00:41:05.830
Certainly, we'll come back
to that into the Q&A.

00:41:05.830 --> 00:41:07.598
But without further ado,

00:41:07.598 --> 00:41:11.669
we want to bring
on Dr. Kelli Dunlap.

00:41:11.669 --> 00:41:15.440
Kelli is a clinical
psychologist, game designer,

00:41:15.440 --> 00:41:19.444
and Adjunct Professor of Game
Design at American University.

00:41:19.444 --> 00:41:23.481
Also, Kelli is the community
manager for Take This,

00:41:23.481 --> 00:41:26.551
a games-focused
mental health nonprofit;

00:41:26.551 --> 00:41:28.786
and the chair of
the International Game

00:41:28.786 --> 00:41:32.256
Developers Association
of Mental Health.

00:41:32.256 --> 00:41:35.460
So, with that, we'd like
to bring on Kelly

00:41:35.460 --> 00:41:39.163
for the mini presentation.

00:41:39.163 --> 00:41:40.798
>>Hello.

00:41:40.798 --> 00:41:44.102
I am just trying to get it
to share my screen,

00:41:44.102 --> 00:41:45.903
so give me just a moment.

00:41:47.338 --> 00:41:48.973
I am not familiar with Teams.

00:41:48.973 --> 00:41:50.241
I've gotten
every other one down.

00:41:50.241 --> 00:41:51.776
But Teams
is a whole [crosstalk].

00:41:51.776 --> 00:41:53.511
>>[Laughter]
There's a lot of platform -

00:41:53.511 --> 00:41:54.779
it should be, yes.

00:41:54.779 --> 00:41:58.516
There's a lot of platform
choices we have.

00:41:58.516 --> 00:42:00.618
So, we'll bear with you.

00:42:00.618 --> 00:42:07.525
And if not, I'll do a routine
for an in-between moderator.

00:42:10.027 --> 00:42:11.262
-Do you see it?
->>Up at the top.

00:42:11.262 --> 00:42:14.732
I'm getting mail that says
it's up at the top.

00:42:14.732 --> 00:42:19.871
>>Do you see a share tray
to the right of your microphone?

00:42:19.871 --> 00:42:22.407
>>Yeah.
I see open and close share tray.

00:42:22.407 --> 00:42:23.875
But when I open it,
nothing happens.

00:42:23.875 --> 00:42:25.076
[Laughter]

00:42:25.076 --> 00:42:27.478
>>Oh, you don't have
below that a share screen?

00:42:27.478 --> 00:42:31.182
It should pop up for
a share screen desktop window.

00:42:31.182 --> 00:42:32.383
>>Nope. Not there.

00:42:32.383 --> 00:42:34.652
>>That's not popping up?

00:42:34.652 --> 00:42:36.254
>>Okay.

00:42:36.254 --> 00:42:37.789
>>Everything's been going
too smooth so far,

00:42:37.789 --> 00:42:39.090
so I need to make sure

00:42:39.090 --> 00:42:41.225
that I bring in some
technical challenge.

00:42:41.225 --> 00:42:44.562
>>Oh, not at all. [Laughter]

00:42:44.562 --> 00:42:46.431
If you'd like, I mean,
we can play around

00:42:46.431 --> 00:42:47.698
with that a little more,

00:42:47.698 --> 00:42:52.670
or if it's also preferred,
if you have your slides nearby,

00:42:52.670 --> 00:42:57.275
we could always do that
without the visuals.

00:42:57.275 --> 00:42:58.543
>>Yes, I do have my slides,

00:42:58.543 --> 00:43:02.180
and I can actually send you
the link, if that works for you.

00:43:02.180 --> 00:43:03.748
>>And then as a reminder
for everyone,

00:43:03.748 --> 00:43:07.251
I did see a few questions
in the chat.

00:43:07.251 --> 00:43:10.755
Yes, all of this information
will be made available

00:43:10.755 --> 00:43:15.393
to each of you
who registered for today.

00:43:15.393 --> 00:43:17.462
And there will be
additional information

00:43:17.462 --> 00:43:20.565
that will also be shared
from our panelists.

00:43:25.236 --> 00:43:26.537
>>All right.

00:43:26.537 --> 00:43:30.107
So, you should be getting
an email in just a second.

00:43:38.015 --> 00:43:39.584
In theory.

00:43:41.252 --> 00:43:43.221
>>Don't worry, Kelli.
We're all on the same Teams.

00:43:43.221 --> 00:43:44.489
[Laughter]

00:43:44.489 --> 00:43:45.690
>>There we go.

00:43:45.690 --> 00:43:47.592
A little Microsoft joke,
I guess.

00:43:47.592 --> 00:43:48.860
>>Yeah.

00:43:48.860 --> 00:43:50.127
>>Yeah.

00:43:50.127 --> 00:43:51.329
>>You know what?

00:43:51.329 --> 00:43:53.564
I'm just going to drop
the link in chat,

00:43:53.564 --> 00:43:56.467
because that's just
going to be what it is.

00:43:59.804 --> 00:44:01.405
So, if other people
want to follow along,

00:44:01.405 --> 00:44:04.008
they're happy,
they're welcome to as well.

00:44:06.043 --> 00:44:08.212
>>Yeah, you can open up the
slides

00:44:08.212 --> 00:44:09.547
that were just sent over,

00:44:09.547 --> 00:44:11.983
and then this will be
like a museum tour,

00:44:11.983 --> 00:44:14.685
where you can follow along
at your own pace.

00:44:14.685 --> 00:44:16.787
>>[Laughter] All right.

00:44:16.787 --> 00:44:18.990
Well, thank you all so much,
and thank you, Greg, for that...

00:44:18.990 --> 00:44:21.058
or, I'm sorry, thank you, David,
for that lovely introduction,

00:44:21.058 --> 00:44:23.995
and thank you, everyone,
for hanging in there with me

00:44:23.995 --> 00:44:27.265
while we figure this out.

00:44:27.265 --> 00:44:29.167
So, yes, my name
is Dr. Kelli Dunlap.

00:44:29.167 --> 00:44:31.068
This is slide one.

00:44:31.068 --> 00:44:33.404
And I am the community manager
for Take This,

00:44:33.404 --> 00:44:36.440
and that is who I'm here
representing today.

00:44:36.440 --> 00:44:38.409
But as mentioned previously,
I am also a licensed

00:44:38.409 --> 00:44:39.911
and practicing
clinical psychologist.

00:44:39.911 --> 00:44:43.214
So, my day job
is actually seeing clients.

00:44:43.214 --> 00:44:44.382
And I do teach game design.

00:44:44.382 --> 00:44:45.583
I have a masters in game design,

00:44:45.583 --> 00:44:47.818
and I'm very much involved
in the game

00:44:47.818 --> 00:44:50.421
and game development spaces.

00:44:50.421 --> 00:44:53.524
So, for slide two, if you're
following along at home,

00:44:53.524 --> 00:44:55.693
I want to tell you
a little bit about Take This.

00:44:55.693 --> 00:44:58.196
So, Take
This was founded in 2012,

00:44:58.196 --> 00:45:01.832
and it is a nonprofit dedicated
to decreasing the stigma

00:45:01.832 --> 00:45:04.769
and increasing support
around the mental health

00:45:04.769 --> 00:45:08.239
of game players
and game developers.

00:45:08.239 --> 00:45:11.008
At Take This,
we have three core pillars

00:45:11.008 --> 00:45:13.778
that support our mission
and guide our work.

00:45:13.778 --> 00:45:16.614
And those are support,
community, and mental wellness.

00:45:16.614 --> 00:45:19.250
So, support is our focus

00:45:19.250 --> 00:45:21.419
on providing mental
health education and training

00:45:21.419 --> 00:45:24.221
to game players
and game developers.

00:45:24.221 --> 00:45:26.257
Take This works closely
with studios and teams

00:45:26.257 --> 00:45:28.859
across the industry to support
their mental health needs.

00:45:28.859 --> 00:45:30.161
In the past year,

00:45:30.161 --> 00:45:33.164
we've conducted workshops
for game studios of all sizes,

00:45:33.164 --> 00:45:36.334
and we've spoken at and
organized numerous conferences

00:45:36.334 --> 00:45:38.903
and events about self-care,
community management,

00:45:38.903 --> 00:45:40.838
leadership, mental
health accommodations,

00:45:40.838 --> 00:45:43.374
and how to be an advocate.

00:45:43.374 --> 00:45:46.210
Slide five.
Our community programs

00:45:46.210 --> 00:45:48.212
focus on connections
and resilience

00:45:48.212 --> 00:45:49.947
through support
and engagement.

00:45:49.947 --> 00:45:51.682
We know that
from mental health research,

00:45:51.682 --> 00:45:52.917
feeling connected and supported

00:45:52.917 --> 00:45:55.987
is an important piece of
preventative mental healthcare.

00:45:55.987 --> 00:45:57.588
And we use
our community programs

00:45:57.588 --> 00:46:01.058
to provide spaces
for community to develop.

00:46:01.058 --> 00:46:02.727
So, for example,
we have a Twitch channel,

00:46:02.727 --> 00:46:04.395
and we also have a Discord.

00:46:04.395 --> 00:46:06.263
We also highlight
and support others

00:46:06.263 --> 00:46:08.332
in the gaming spaces
and streaming community

00:46:08.332 --> 00:46:09.900
who share our goals.

00:46:09.900 --> 00:46:10.801
For example,

00:46:10.801 --> 00:46:12.903
our Streaming Ambassador
program features streamers

00:46:12.903 --> 00:46:16.140
who use their platforms
to advocate for mental health

00:46:16.140 --> 00:46:19.110
and destigmatize
mental illness.

00:46:19.110 --> 00:46:21.746
Offline, Take This has a program
for creating safe,

00:46:21.746 --> 00:46:25.883
quiet spaces at gaming
conventions, such as PAX and E3.

00:46:25.883 --> 00:46:28.052
And these are known
as the AFK rooms.

00:46:30.655 --> 00:46:32.657
These rooms are staffed
by trained volunteers

00:46:32.657 --> 00:46:34.592
as well as mental
health professionals

00:46:34.592 --> 00:46:37.595
so that we can continue
to provide education and support

00:46:37.595 --> 00:46:41.799
at the places
where gamers gather.

00:46:41.799 --> 00:46:43.567
And then, of course,
at our core,

00:46:43.567 --> 00:46:46.404
we are dedicated
to mental wellness

00:46:46.404 --> 00:46:48.539
through destigmatization
of mental illness

00:46:48.539 --> 00:46:49.774
and increasing access

00:46:49.774 --> 00:46:52.310
to mental health resources
and information.

00:46:52.310 --> 00:46:54.845
So, an important
distinction here is that

00:46:54.845 --> 00:46:56.781
just because you do not have
good mental health

00:46:56.781 --> 00:46:59.216
does that mean that
you have a mental illness.

00:46:59.216 --> 00:47:01.218
And so, highlighting
those differences

00:47:01.218 --> 00:47:03.054
is really, really important.

00:47:03.054 --> 00:47:06.257
But awareness and education
are just the beginning for us.

00:47:06.257 --> 00:47:08.926
Through resource sharing and
partnering with organizations

00:47:08.926 --> 00:47:12.496
like Twitch and the Games
and Online Harassment Hotline,

00:47:12.496 --> 00:47:15.066
we strive to bring these kinds
of resources and wellness

00:47:15.066 --> 00:47:17.802
to game players and developers
at a larger scale,

00:47:17.802 --> 00:47:19.837
more than we could
ever do on our own.

00:47:19.837 --> 00:47:21.205
And that was slide six.

00:47:21.205 --> 00:47:23.507
So, thank you for putting
them up on the screen.

00:47:23.507 --> 00:47:25.042
[Laughter]
All right.

00:47:25.042 --> 00:47:29.346
So, that's kind of a quick recap
of who we are at Take this.

00:47:29.346 --> 00:47:32.049
Next slide.

00:47:32.049 --> 00:47:35.319
So, bringing resources
to the gaming community

00:47:35.319 --> 00:47:38.556
is very much aligned
with the old clinical saying of,

00:47:38.556 --> 00:47:40.291
"Meet the client
where they're at."

00:47:40.291 --> 00:47:42.393
And at Take This,
we bring our expertise

00:47:42.393 --> 00:47:44.195
as mental health professionals

00:47:44.195 --> 00:47:46.097
into gaming spaces
and communities,

00:47:46.097 --> 00:47:48.766
because those are the exact
same spaces and communities

00:47:48.766 --> 00:47:51.202
that we ourselves
are already a part of.

00:47:53.270 --> 00:47:54.538
As I mentioned earlier,

00:47:54.538 --> 00:47:56.674
feeling a sense of connection
and community

00:47:56.674 --> 00:47:59.410
is an important part of
preventative mental healthcare.

00:47:59.410 --> 00:48:00.878
Given the state
of mental healthcare,

00:48:00.878 --> 00:48:02.079
[laughter]

00:48:02.079 --> 00:48:06.083
even before the pandemic,
we need all the help we can get.

00:48:06.083 --> 00:48:08.152
This map here on your screen

00:48:08.152 --> 00:48:12.390
represents the unmet need
of mental health

00:48:12.390 --> 00:48:13.724
across the United States

00:48:13.724 --> 00:48:17.261
due specifically to healthcare
provider shortages.

00:48:17.261 --> 00:48:22.366
And the darker red, the states,
indicates a greater unmet need.

00:48:22.366 --> 00:48:24.034
So, it's not good.
[Laughter]

00:48:24.034 --> 00:48:27.371
And again, that was 2019,
before COVID.

00:48:27.371 --> 00:48:30.274
All right, next slide.

00:48:30.274 --> 00:48:34.545
Prior to COVID, there were
47 million American adults

00:48:34.545 --> 00:48:37.081
and seven million
American children

00:48:37.081 --> 00:48:40.384
who met criteria for
at least one mental illness.

00:48:40.384 --> 00:48:42.520
And unfortunately,
despite the prevalence

00:48:42.520 --> 00:48:44.688
of mental illness
throughout the US,

00:48:44.688 --> 00:48:46.857
the majority of those
who experience it

00:48:46.857 --> 00:48:50.094
do not receive any kind of
therapeutic intervention.

00:48:50.094 --> 00:48:52.963
In fact, next slide,
on average,

00:48:52.963 --> 00:48:55.065
less than half of those
who meet criteria

00:48:55.065 --> 00:48:57.802
will actually obtain
any kind of treatment.

00:48:57.802 --> 00:48:59.403
This is for a variety
of reasons,

00:48:59.403 --> 00:49:01.906
from the practitioner shortages
that I just mentioned

00:49:01.906 --> 00:49:05.342
to things like cost
or lack of access,

00:49:05.342 --> 00:49:08.946
and just general stigma against
mental illness and help-seeking.

00:49:11.816 --> 00:49:15.853
So, on our next slide here,
in August of 2020,

00:49:15.853 --> 00:49:18.322
after five months of
social distancing and lockdown,

00:49:18.322 --> 00:49:20.024
the Center for Disease Control
reported

00:49:20.024 --> 00:49:22.359
that the prevalence
of anxiety and depression,

00:49:22.359 --> 00:49:24.795
the two most common types
of mental illness,

00:49:24.795 --> 00:49:27.765
were three and four times
higher, respectively,

00:49:27.765 --> 00:49:30.835
than they were at the same point
during the previous year.

00:49:30.835 --> 00:49:33.537
Between January 2020
and September 2020,

00:49:33.537 --> 00:49:38.609
the number of people seeking
help for anxiety rose 634%,

00:49:38.609 --> 00:49:42.947
and the number seeking support
for depression rose 873%.

00:49:44.481 --> 00:49:47.251
Next slide.

00:49:47.251 --> 00:49:51.388
Suicidality, in terms
of suicidal thoughts,

00:49:51.388 --> 00:49:53.023
is also at an all-time high.

00:49:53.023 --> 00:49:56.060
So, 37%
of distressed individuals

00:49:56.060 --> 00:49:59.563
reported having suicidal
thoughts almost every day.

00:49:59.563 --> 00:50:01.365
And this was the most common

00:50:01.365 --> 00:50:04.969
and the highest rates
were reported by LGBTQIA youth.

00:50:07.504 --> 00:50:08.672
Next slide.

00:50:10.774 --> 00:50:13.344
Given the shortage of
mental health professionals

00:50:13.344 --> 00:50:16.146
and the significant systemic
barriers to treatment -

00:50:16.146 --> 00:50:19.149
again, cost, insurance,
location, and stigma -

00:50:19.149 --> 00:50:21.685
and the predictable,
yet still alarming spike

00:50:21.685 --> 00:50:23.687
in request for mental
health services,

00:50:23.687 --> 00:50:26.123
it is not a surprise
at all that people seek

00:50:26.123 --> 00:50:28.893
and find
nontraditional resources,

00:50:28.893 --> 00:50:31.128
like streamers
and streaming communities,

00:50:31.128 --> 00:50:32.963
to get their mental
health needs met

00:50:32.963 --> 00:50:35.799
and find mental health support.

00:50:35.799 --> 00:50:37.167
Next.

00:50:38.302 --> 00:50:41.272
Speaking of streaming,
in April of 2019,

00:50:41.272 --> 00:50:46.010
Twitch, which is the largest
broadcaster of game-play streams

00:50:46.010 --> 00:50:48.312
in the word,
I think, currently,

00:50:48.312 --> 00:50:52.216
reported 4.2 million active
streamers on their platform.

00:50:52.216 --> 00:50:54.285
But one year later,
in April of 2020,

00:50:54.285 --> 00:50:56.854
after COVID hit,
that number skyrocketed

00:50:56.854 --> 00:50:59.757
to 7.2 million active streamers.

00:50:59.757 --> 00:51:00.624
And the amount of people

00:51:00.624 --> 00:51:02.960
watching also
dramatically increased,

00:51:02.960 --> 00:51:07.498
from 889 million hours
watched in April of 2019

00:51:07.498 --> 00:51:11.802
to 1.8 billion hours
watched in April of 2020.

00:51:11.802 --> 00:51:15.239
So, the massive increase
in engagement on Twitch

00:51:15.239 --> 00:51:18.275
is largely attributed to the
majority of the US population

00:51:18.275 --> 00:51:21.845
being under stay at home orders
or other lockdown measures,

00:51:21.845 --> 00:51:25.816
such as the cancellation
of professional sporting events.

00:51:25.816 --> 00:51:26.850
Next slide.

00:51:28.585 --> 00:51:31.522
Since the COVID-19 pandemic
began,

00:51:31.522 --> 00:51:34.892
Twitch communities have provided
an essential social service

00:51:34.892 --> 00:51:36.760
by keeping people connected.

00:51:36.760 --> 00:51:39.697
Increases in depression
and anxiety and loneliness,

00:51:39.697 --> 00:51:41.598
and reduced social support

00:51:41.598 --> 00:51:43.600
are very common
adverse mental health

00:51:43.600 --> 00:51:46.236
impacts experienced
during COVID.

00:51:46.236 --> 00:51:49.006
However, social bonding
through collective gatherings,

00:51:49.006 --> 00:51:51.408
like Twitch streams,
have been shown to have

00:51:51.408 --> 00:51:55.312
protective psychological effects
in times of tragedy and crisis,

00:51:55.312 --> 00:51:58.315
especially in times
of tragedy and crisis.

00:51:58.315 --> 00:52:00.651
Next slide.

00:52:00.651 --> 00:52:02.252
Online platforms like Twitch

00:52:02.252 --> 00:52:04.288
and community-building tools
like Discord

00:52:04.288 --> 00:52:06.023
have been
psychologically protective

00:52:06.023 --> 00:52:07.992
and supportive environments.

00:52:07.992 --> 00:52:10.327
Research has shown
that social gatherings,

00:52:10.327 --> 00:52:13.630
so in person or online,
facilitate bonding

00:52:13.630 --> 00:52:17.101
and enhance a sense of cohesion
and social identity.

00:52:17.101 --> 00:52:19.770
It's very much
a coming together effect

00:52:19.770 --> 00:52:22.206
that provides mutual support.

00:52:22.206 --> 00:52:24.341
Um, collective gatherings
provide a venue

00:52:24.341 --> 00:52:27.544
for socially acceptable
outpouring of emotion.

00:52:27.544 --> 00:52:30.881
It allows us to acknowledge that
tragedy is a collective grief,

00:52:30.881 --> 00:52:33.150
rather than maybe
an individual loss.

00:52:33.150 --> 00:52:34.651
And it reminds
community members

00:52:34.651 --> 00:52:38.689
that they are not alone
in their struggles.

00:52:38.689 --> 00:52:40.858
Next slide.

00:52:40.858 --> 00:52:44.094
Each Twitch stream is a
public-facing collective

00:52:44.094 --> 00:52:46.764
gathering for members
of that community,

00:52:46.764 --> 00:52:49.933
and it contains the potential
for meeting core emotional needs

00:52:49.933 --> 00:52:52.202
like belongingness,
acceptance,

00:52:52.202 --> 00:52:55.239
and feeling supported
by fear [laughter] by peers.

00:52:55.239 --> 00:52:57.307
If these needs go unmet,

00:52:57.307 --> 00:53:00.544
we experience feelings
like loneliness and isolation,

00:53:00.544 --> 00:53:03.247
lacking a sense
of belonging or identity.

00:53:03.247 --> 00:53:06.150
And these experiences
produce feelings like anger

00:53:06.150 --> 00:53:09.653
and shame and depression -
feelings that predispose us

00:53:09.653 --> 00:53:12.990
to become psychologically
vulnerable.

00:53:12.990 --> 00:53:15.259
Next slide.

00:53:15.259 --> 00:53:18.529
For example, shame is
a deeply painful emotion,

00:53:18.529 --> 00:53:21.198
where we believe ourselves
to be flawed

00:53:21.198 --> 00:53:24.401
and unworthy of love
or connection.

00:53:24.401 --> 00:53:28.372
Guilt is "I did something bad."
Shame is "I am bad."

00:53:28.372 --> 00:53:31.508
and as a result, we become
more likely to seek out

00:53:31.508 --> 00:53:35.312
any social connection.
We are driven to fit in,

00:53:35.312 --> 00:53:38.348
no matter how much
we ourselves have to change

00:53:38.348 --> 00:53:39.750
in order to become accepted.

00:53:39.750 --> 00:53:40.551
And that, of course,

00:53:40.551 --> 00:53:42.820
is a very vulnerable place
to find ourselves,

00:53:42.820 --> 00:53:46.356
especially for a teen
or young adult.

00:53:46.356 --> 00:53:47.958
We become more isolated,

00:53:47.958 --> 00:53:50.861
or at least perceive ourselves
to be more isolated.

00:53:50.861 --> 00:53:52.429
And we turn inward.

00:53:52.429 --> 00:53:55.099
We become more protective,
we become more defensive,

00:53:55.099 --> 00:53:59.036
and we become more vigilant
against any perceived threat.

00:53:59.036 --> 00:54:01.572
And then, last,
because the pain of shame

00:54:01.572 --> 00:54:03.707
and feeling more defensive,

00:54:03.707 --> 00:54:06.009
we are more likely
to externalize those,

00:54:06.009 --> 00:54:09.713
to lash out as a means
of offloading that pain

00:54:09.713 --> 00:54:13.050
from being disconnected
from others.

00:54:13.050 --> 00:54:15.619
Next one.

00:54:15.619 --> 00:54:18.489
Online communities, like
streaming communities on Twitch

00:54:18.489 --> 00:54:20.724
or surrounding ones
on Discord,

00:54:20.724 --> 00:54:23.527
can help people feel seen,
heard, valued,

00:54:23.527 --> 00:54:25.462
and socially connected.

00:54:25.462 --> 00:54:28.699
During the pandemic,
health services were overrun,

00:54:28.699 --> 00:54:31.368
and many streamers
found themselves in the position

00:54:31.368 --> 00:54:35.205
of holding space for people
experiencing grief, loss,

00:54:35.205 --> 00:54:37.374
and overwhelming emotions.

00:54:37.374 --> 00:54:41.011
But those people weren't able to
obtain mental health services.

00:54:41.011 --> 00:54:43.814
Streamers and the streaming
community rose to that challenge

00:54:43.814 --> 00:54:48.585
and have proven time and again
that if done well and with care

00:54:48.585 --> 00:54:50.020
and with intention,

00:54:50.020 --> 00:54:51.755
online communities can provide

00:54:51.755 --> 00:54:54.124
psychologically
protective spaces

00:54:54.124 --> 00:54:56.693
where vulnerable populations
and individuals

00:54:56.693 --> 00:54:59.496
can get at least
some of their core

00:54:59.496 --> 00:55:01.798
social and emotional
needs met,

00:55:01.798 --> 00:55:04.101
therefore preventing
the shame spiral,

00:55:04.101 --> 00:55:05.536
the anger, the isolation,

00:55:05.536 --> 00:55:09.306
and the despair
of feeling separated

00:55:09.306 --> 00:55:12.876
and socially disconnected
from others.

00:55:12.876 --> 00:55:14.545
And that's it.
So, thank you all so much.

00:55:14.545 --> 00:55:16.180
And again, thank you
for bearing with me

00:55:16.180 --> 00:55:18.215
through the technical
difficulties.

00:55:18.215 --> 00:55:19.716
And it's back to you.

00:55:19.716 --> 00:55:22.486
>>All right, thank you.
Thank you, Kelli.

00:55:22.486 --> 00:55:25.756
And also, I will mention,
as we were talking about,

00:55:25.756 --> 00:55:28.325
see, we're all in
the same Teams together.

00:55:28.325 --> 00:55:32.329
And we'll send over
20 karma points to Greg,

00:55:32.329 --> 00:55:35.265
who was able to quickly
share the screen

00:55:35.265 --> 00:55:36.767
that you had sent over
from your slides.

00:55:36.767 --> 00:55:38.001
>>Thank you.

00:55:38.001 --> 00:55:39.870
>>So, again, thank you for that,

00:55:39.870 --> 00:55:42.439
and thank you for your
incredibly valuable work

00:55:42.439 --> 00:55:45.976
that you're doing to increase
some of the value

00:55:45.976 --> 00:55:47.177
that we have on social media

00:55:47.177 --> 00:55:49.279
and make it
a better environment.

00:55:49.279 --> 00:55:51.481
We'd also, later on,

00:55:51.481 --> 00:55:53.684
after we finish up
with the mini presentations,

00:55:53.684 --> 00:55:55.986
love to come back to you
around some of the work

00:55:55.986 --> 00:55:57.955
that you're doing
with resilience.

00:55:57.955 --> 00:55:59.489
Resilience, certainly a term

00:55:59.489 --> 00:56:02.159
that we're hearing
a lot of lately.

00:56:02.159 --> 00:56:08.165
And then also, some of your work
around shame being an area

00:56:08.165 --> 00:56:12.035
that leads to so many issues
around the vulnerability

00:56:12.035 --> 00:56:16.640
and its potential connectedness
to other issues

00:56:16.640 --> 00:56:19.543
that might stem
and be related to extremism.

00:56:19.543 --> 00:56:21.945
So, with that,
we're going to send it on

00:56:21.945 --> 00:56:26.016
to our fourth mini presentation
of our two hours together.

00:56:26.016 --> 00:56:28.252
I will also mention two things.

00:56:28.252 --> 00:56:29.953
One, start thinking of questions

00:56:29.953 --> 00:56:31.822
that you might have
for the panelists

00:56:31.822 --> 00:56:34.992
that we'll get to near
the end of our time together.

00:56:34.992 --> 00:56:38.228
And then, two,
as Greg also mentioned

00:56:38.228 --> 00:56:41.231
in the first presentation,

00:56:41.231 --> 00:56:44.067
we are talking about
extremely sensitive topics,

00:56:44.067 --> 00:56:48.038
and we're also very aware
of the strenuous circumstances

00:56:48.038 --> 00:56:52.042
that we're all living through
right now during the pandemic.

00:56:52.042 --> 00:56:53.410
So, please take
care of yourself.

00:56:53.410 --> 00:56:58.982
And if there's any issues
that are triggering to you,

00:56:58.982 --> 00:57:01.618
please step away
from your computer,

00:57:01.618 --> 00:57:03.920
join us at a later time,

00:57:03.920 --> 00:57:09.293
and just always be mindful of
your personal state of health.

00:57:09.293 --> 00:57:12.729
So, with that, we're going to
bring on our next panelist.

00:57:12.729 --> 00:57:15.098
Dr. Kurt Braddock.

00:57:15.098 --> 00:57:18.702
Kurt is an assistant professor
of Public Communication

00:57:18.702 --> 00:57:22.172
in the School of Communication
at American University,

00:57:22.172 --> 00:57:24.941
and a faculty fellow
at the Center for Media

00:57:24.941 --> 00:57:27.711
and Social Impact,
and at the Polarization

00:57:27.711 --> 00:57:31.048
and Extremism Research
and Innovation Lab,

00:57:31.048 --> 00:57:33.483
also known by
the acronym of PERIL.

00:57:33.483 --> 00:57:35.852
So, Kurt, love to bring you
on right now

00:57:35.852 --> 00:57:38.922
to hear a little bit
more about your work.

00:57:38.922 --> 00:57:40.257
>>Sure. Thanks, David.

00:57:40.257 --> 00:57:46.763
And I am going to hopefully
avoid what we had last time.

00:57:46.763 --> 00:57:49.633
How we looking?
Do we see slides in a second?

00:57:49.633 --> 00:57:51.535
>>Yes. Mm-hmm.

00:57:51.535 --> 00:57:54.037
>>All right. There we go.

00:57:54.037 --> 00:57:56.473
Success.
Biggest hurdle overcome.

00:57:56.473 --> 00:57:57.808
Okay.

00:57:57.808 --> 00:58:00.410
So, I thought, as the other
panelists have done,

00:58:00.410 --> 00:58:02.813
I would talk a little bit
about myself,

00:58:02.813 --> 00:58:04.114
where I'm coming from,

00:58:04.114 --> 00:58:09.252
and kind of my role
in this space.

00:58:09.252 --> 00:58:10.987
Unlike some of
the other panelists,

00:58:10.987 --> 00:58:13.523
who are more embedded
in the world of education,

00:58:13.523 --> 00:58:16.893
I'm more embedded in
the world of disinformation,

00:58:16.893 --> 00:58:19.629
violent extremism,
and these days,

00:58:19.629 --> 00:58:22.599
how the former
really perpetuates the latter.

00:58:22.599 --> 00:58:24.801
So, a lot of what I research

00:58:24.801 --> 00:58:26.703
and what I'll be
talking about today

00:58:26.703 --> 00:58:28.905
relates to a particular strategy

00:58:28.905 --> 00:58:32.542
that I've been testing
in online environments

00:58:32.542 --> 00:58:36.012
for preventing the assimilation
of beliefs and attitudes

00:58:36.012 --> 00:58:39.316
that bring about the
sorts of problematic outcomes

00:58:39.316 --> 00:58:41.685
that we've heard
talked about already.

00:58:41.685 --> 00:58:43.520
I focus on violent extremism.

00:58:43.520 --> 00:58:46.390
And my focus these days
is on the far right,

00:58:46.390 --> 00:58:50.460
though I've tested this strategy
in other contexts as well,

00:58:50.460 --> 00:58:54.464
and it seems to be
pretty robust across contexts -

00:58:54.464 --> 00:58:56.867
this strategy called
attitudinal inoculation.

00:58:56.867 --> 00:58:59.202
And when people talk
about inoculation,

00:58:59.202 --> 00:59:01.705
the word gets thrown
around a bit.

00:59:01.705 --> 00:59:03.740
But as a communication
researcher,

00:59:03.740 --> 00:59:04.975
when I talk about it,

00:59:04.975 --> 00:59:07.511
it has a very,
very specific meaning.

00:59:07.511 --> 00:59:09.179
But I'll get into that.

00:59:09.179 --> 00:59:11.948
So, what I'm going to do is talk
about inoculation theory

00:59:11.948 --> 00:59:14.684
kind of at large,
describe what it is.

00:59:14.684 --> 00:59:16.586
I'll describe a study
that I did,

00:59:16.586 --> 00:59:19.990
I guess, a year-and-a-half ago
now testing the theory.

00:59:19.990 --> 00:59:23.427
I'll talk a bit about work
that I'm doing with DHS

00:59:23.427 --> 00:59:25.495
now in the CP3 program.

00:59:25.495 --> 00:59:28.632
And I'll close with a new area
I'm going to be going into,

00:59:28.632 --> 00:59:32.602
looking into whether
inoculation works online

00:59:32.602 --> 00:59:36.740
for a particular kind of source
of extremist messaging.

00:59:36.740 --> 00:59:39.676
But let me start with
attitudinal inoculation

00:59:39.676 --> 00:59:41.545
and what it is,

00:59:41.545 --> 00:59:45.615
and how it's been taught
for basically decades,

00:59:45.615 --> 00:59:48.151
and kind of where
I'm coming from with it.

00:59:48.151 --> 00:59:49.686
This is all based -
all this work

00:59:49.686 --> 00:59:52.789
is based on the idea
that we seem to - and by we,

00:59:52.789 --> 00:59:56.960
I mean those of us in the kind
of terrorism studies community -

00:59:56.960 --> 01:00:00.430
have gotten better at
designing interventions.

01:00:00.430 --> 01:00:02.265
But as good as our ideas are,

01:00:02.265 --> 01:00:06.636
we're not terribly good
at gathering data to demonstrate

01:00:06.636 --> 01:00:08.605
whether or not
they're actually proven,

01:00:08.605 --> 01:00:10.106
or whether there is
no evidence to show

01:00:10.106 --> 01:00:11.775
whether
they're effective or not.

01:00:11.775 --> 01:00:14.478
Most of our arguments as to
whether certain interventions

01:00:14.478 --> 01:00:16.913
are effective are based
on stories and anecdotes

01:00:16.913 --> 01:00:18.782
and things of that nature.

01:00:18.782 --> 01:00:22.185
So, a couple of years ago,

01:00:22.185 --> 01:00:24.321
being kind of the data nerd
that I am,

01:00:24.321 --> 01:00:27.457
I thought I would start doing
some quantitative research

01:00:27.457 --> 01:00:29.559
to see whether or not
some of these interventions

01:00:29.559 --> 01:00:32.128
that have been tested
in communication studies

01:00:32.128 --> 01:00:34.664
can be brought to bear in the
development of interventions

01:00:34.664 --> 01:00:38.034
in the violent extremism space,
particularly online.

01:00:38.034 --> 01:00:40.437
So, the research driving
most of my question

01:00:40.437 --> 01:00:43.306
relates to how we can
use communication science

01:00:43.306 --> 01:00:45.375
and the theories
that underpin it

01:00:45.375 --> 01:00:48.745
to provide evidence
for what works and what doesn't

01:00:48.745 --> 01:00:52.282
in preventing people
from adopting

01:00:52.282 --> 01:00:54.818
kind of extremist mindsets,
beliefs, attitudes,

01:00:54.818 --> 01:00:56.086
and intentions

01:00:56.086 --> 01:00:58.421
that are consistent
with ideologies

01:00:58.421 --> 01:01:01.224
that promote the use of violence
for the sake of terrorism.

01:01:01.224 --> 01:01:04.060
And the first stop here,
because of the theory itself,

01:01:04.060 --> 01:01:06.363
is something
called inoculation theory.

01:01:06.363 --> 01:01:08.164
And to understand
inoculation theory,

01:01:08.164 --> 01:01:10.200
it's important
to understand inoculation

01:01:10.200 --> 01:01:12.569
and how it works more generally.

01:01:12.569 --> 01:01:15.639
And I would very much appreciate
if you all are

01:01:15.639 --> 01:01:18.875
very impressed by this slide,
because as little as it is,

01:01:18.875 --> 01:01:21.211
it took probably about an hour
to make a couple years ago.

01:01:21.211 --> 01:01:24.481
My students are still
very impressed by it, so.

01:01:24.481 --> 01:01:27.217
So, the way inoculation
works more generally is

01:01:27.217 --> 01:01:31.021
that somebody is exposed
to a small bit of a contagion,

01:01:31.021 --> 01:01:32.389
typically a virus.

01:01:32.389 --> 01:01:35.392
And as a function of being
exposed to that contagion,

01:01:35.392 --> 01:01:38.161
it replicates in their body
to a point

01:01:38.161 --> 01:01:41.331
that it triggers
an immune response.

01:01:41.331 --> 01:01:44.768
And that immune response
is enough to develop antibodies,

01:01:44.768 --> 01:01:47.370
but not so strong
as to make the person sick.

01:01:47.370 --> 01:01:50.106
So, when the person kind of
encounters the contagion again

01:01:50.106 --> 01:01:51.308
in the wild,

01:01:51.308 --> 01:01:53.810
they have those antibodies
to protect against it

01:01:53.810 --> 01:01:55.946
making them sick
in the real world.

01:01:55.946 --> 01:01:57.781
Inoculation theory,
which was developed,

01:01:57.781 --> 01:02:02.018
I guess, almost 60
years ago now, 60 years,

01:02:02.018 --> 01:02:06.122
argues that ideas can operate
in the same manner.

01:02:06.122 --> 01:02:07.591
That being,

01:02:07.591 --> 01:02:11.027
that we can become resistant
to ideas in the same way

01:02:11.027 --> 01:02:13.563
that we're made
resistant to viruses

01:02:13.563 --> 01:02:15.098
that we're vaccinated against.

01:02:15.098 --> 01:02:18.068
Now, it's a bit more complicated
than what I'm explaining here.

01:02:18.068 --> 01:02:21.438
But generally speaking,
and I say this very generally,

01:02:21.438 --> 01:02:24.541
inoculation messages
tend to have two components.

01:02:24.541 --> 01:02:28.178
Number one, in your audience,
you raise the specter of threat.

01:02:28.178 --> 01:02:30.714
I don't mean threat they're
going to be physically hurt,

01:02:30.714 --> 01:02:34.317
but threat, the beliefs and
attitudes they currently hold

01:02:34.317 --> 01:02:36.486
are at risk of changing.

01:02:36.486 --> 01:02:39.322
Generally speaking,
pretty much everywhere,

01:02:39.322 --> 01:02:42.659
but even stronger
so in the United States,

01:02:42.659 --> 01:02:44.527
we like making
our own decisions.

01:02:44.527 --> 01:02:46.463
And when we think somebody's
influencing those decisions

01:02:46.463 --> 01:02:49.065
or that our decisions
might be made for us,

01:02:49.065 --> 01:02:50.800
we push back against it.

01:02:50.800 --> 01:02:52.502
So the first step
is to make people feel

01:02:52.502 --> 01:02:55.739
as though the beliefs they
have will be under threat.

01:02:55.739 --> 01:02:58.308
The second step
is to provide counterarguments

01:02:58.308 --> 01:03:01.444
against the arguments they will
encounter in the real world.

01:03:01.444 --> 01:03:03.013
So, in the same way

01:03:03.013 --> 01:03:06.182
that you give somebody
a little dose of a virus

01:03:06.182 --> 01:03:09.519
to trigger immune response
in the body with vaccination,

01:03:09.519 --> 01:03:11.287
you do the same thing
with inoculation.

01:03:11.287 --> 01:03:13.523
You expose the person
to a bit of the argument

01:03:13.523 --> 01:03:16.326
they'll run into
to raise the specter of threat,

01:03:16.326 --> 01:03:17.727
and then give them
the tools they need

01:03:17.727 --> 01:03:19.329
to defend against that threat

01:03:19.329 --> 01:03:22.132
when they encounter it
in the real world.

01:03:22.132 --> 01:03:23.099
Now, one of the mechanisms

01:03:23.099 --> 01:03:25.902
by which this works
is called reactance.

01:03:25.902 --> 01:03:28.538
And it's a bit difficult
to explain reactance.

01:03:28.538 --> 01:03:30.306
But the best way to describe it

01:03:30.306 --> 01:03:33.910
is if you've ever gone into a
shop or went shopping for a car,

01:03:33.910 --> 01:03:35.745
and a salesman
comes up to you

01:03:35.745 --> 01:03:37.280
and tries to convince you
to buy something,

01:03:37.280 --> 01:03:39.683
that negative pushback
that you have,

01:03:39.683 --> 01:03:42.852
that you get a little annoyed
and angry - that's reactance.

01:03:42.852 --> 01:03:45.622
It's a negative
motivational tendency

01:03:45.622 --> 01:03:47.190
to want to make
our own decisions.

01:03:47.190 --> 01:03:49.025
And it's typically been found
to be the combination

01:03:49.025 --> 01:03:51.327
of being angry and
counter-arguing

01:03:51.327 --> 01:03:54.764
to what the person's
going to say.

01:03:54.764 --> 01:03:57.500
The most exciting thing
about inoculation for me,

01:03:57.500 --> 01:03:58.702
even prior to doing the study

01:03:58.702 --> 01:04:00.303
I'm going to explain
in a second,

01:04:00.303 --> 01:04:02.972
was that it's been shown
to work across contexts.

01:04:02.972 --> 01:04:05.108
Inoculation messages
have protected people

01:04:05.108 --> 01:04:09.312
in the domains of health
communication, politics,

01:04:09.312 --> 01:04:13.083
interpersonal relationships
like friendships, marketing.

01:04:13.083 --> 01:04:14.517
All these different
contexts have shown

01:04:14.517 --> 01:04:16.352
that if you use these
inoculation messages,

01:04:16.352 --> 01:04:19.155
you can prevent people
from being persuaded.

01:04:19.155 --> 01:04:22.125
So, I conducted a study to see
whether or not we can do that

01:04:22.125 --> 01:04:24.761
when we expose people
to an inoculation message,

01:04:24.761 --> 01:04:26.563
and then whether
it helps them defend

01:04:26.563 --> 01:04:28.832
against extremist propaganda.

01:04:28.832 --> 01:04:31.634
So, I won't go into the details
of the study itself.

01:04:31.634 --> 01:04:34.237
I'll give you a general outline
of what it looks like.

01:04:34.237 --> 01:04:35.505
But I know my audience,

01:04:35.505 --> 01:04:38.341
and I know that it's
not a particular...

01:04:38.341 --> 01:04:40.477
people get bored
by academic stuff.

01:04:40.477 --> 01:04:43.113
So, the basic thing to note here

01:04:43.113 --> 01:04:46.082
is that I tested
four different groups.

01:04:46.082 --> 01:04:49.719
I inoculated all four groups.

01:04:49.719 --> 01:04:52.088
I had one control group
that wasn't inoculated.

01:04:52.088 --> 01:04:54.457
And I checked to see whether
or not inoculation worked,

01:04:54.457 --> 01:04:57.160
depending on whether
it was delivered by myself

01:04:57.160 --> 01:04:58.828
or it was delivered
by somebody...

01:04:58.828 --> 01:05:03.500
a message that wasn't me,
posing as a former extremist.

01:05:03.500 --> 01:05:06.035
And the other was
left and right wing propaganda,

01:05:06.035 --> 01:05:09.172
to just test these
little source outcomes.

01:05:09.172 --> 01:05:10.840
But the main findings

01:05:10.840 --> 01:05:14.144
were linked to the effectiveness
of inoculation itself.

01:05:14.144 --> 01:05:17.680
So, the main predictions
in the study

01:05:17.680 --> 01:05:19.949
were that, number one,

01:05:19.949 --> 01:05:23.253
if you inoculated people with
those messages I just described,

01:05:23.253 --> 01:05:25.955
they would have more of this
pushback, this reactance,

01:05:25.955 --> 01:05:27.924
which is the combination
of anger and counter-arguing,

01:05:27.924 --> 01:05:29.125
as you said,

01:05:29.125 --> 01:05:32.028
when they were exposed
to disinformation propaganda.

01:05:32.028 --> 01:05:34.264
Second, that if you
inoculate people,

01:05:34.264 --> 01:05:36.332
they would think the source
of the propaganda,

01:05:36.332 --> 01:05:39.836
so the people who authored
the extremist propaganda,

01:05:39.836 --> 01:05:42.839
would be less credible
than if they weren't inoculated.

01:05:42.839 --> 01:05:44.841
And finally, they would
report less intention

01:05:44.841 --> 01:05:48.077
to support the group
that produced the propaganda.

01:05:48.077 --> 01:05:49.913
And I believe,
if I'm remembering right,

01:05:49.913 --> 01:05:54.083
it would be logistically,
financially, ideologically,

01:05:54.083 --> 01:05:55.251
and armed support.

01:05:55.251 --> 01:06:00.123
And I can get into that in the
Q&A if anybody wants.

01:06:00.123 --> 01:06:01.925
So, the two groups that I used,

01:06:01.925 --> 01:06:03.860
because I wanted to check kind
of polar opposites,

01:06:03.860 --> 01:06:05.094
were left and right wing groups.

01:06:05.094 --> 01:06:06.763
And these are the groups
that I used.

01:06:06.763 --> 01:06:09.399
I used the old Weather
Underground talking points

01:06:09.399 --> 01:06:11.267
from their actual manifesto.

01:06:11.267 --> 01:06:13.436
And I actually used excerpts

01:06:13.436 --> 01:06:14.904
from the webpage of
the National Alliance,

01:06:14.904 --> 01:06:17.440
which is a right wing
neo-Nazi group.

01:06:17.440 --> 01:06:19.409
So, the groups
that I inoculated

01:06:19.409 --> 01:06:20.844
were warned about
this propaganda

01:06:20.844 --> 01:06:22.779
before they were exposed to it.

01:06:22.779 --> 01:06:24.714
Some were exposed to the
inoculation methods;

01:06:24.714 --> 01:06:25.982
some were not.

01:06:25.982 --> 01:06:28.918
And then we saw whether or not
inoculation prevented people

01:06:28.918 --> 01:06:32.355
from being persuaded by the
propaganda when they saw it.

01:06:32.355 --> 01:06:36.659
And I'm going to spare you
the technical jargon here.

01:06:36.659 --> 01:06:39.362
But what you're looking at
is called a structural model.

01:06:39.362 --> 01:06:41.264
And when you see
a positive number,

01:06:41.264 --> 01:06:44.868
that means that there was
a positive relationship -

01:06:44.868 --> 01:06:46.903
as one went up,
the other went up.

01:06:46.903 --> 01:06:49.372
And a negative number means
as one went up,

01:06:49.372 --> 01:06:50.940
the other one went down.

01:06:50.940 --> 01:06:53.309
So, if you look at the era
between inoculation

01:06:53.309 --> 01:06:55.712
and reactance,
for example, that's positive.

01:06:55.712 --> 01:06:58.081
That means that people
who I inoculated,

01:06:58.081 --> 01:07:00.917
they had that pushback against
the extremist propaganda

01:07:00.917 --> 01:07:03.253
more than people
who weren't inoculated.

01:07:03.253 --> 01:07:06.256
You see the negative number
on the arrow between inoculation

01:07:06.256 --> 01:07:08.391
and credibility
of the extremist group?

01:07:08.391 --> 01:07:10.293
That means those I inoculated
perceived the group

01:07:10.293 --> 01:07:12.161
to be less credible.

01:07:12.161 --> 01:07:13.329
Now, the important
things to note

01:07:13.329 --> 01:07:15.198
are the negative number
on the arrow

01:07:15.198 --> 01:07:17.066
from reactance to intention,

01:07:17.066 --> 01:07:18.735
and the positive arrow

01:07:18.735 --> 01:07:23.339
on the number from credibility
to intention.

01:07:23.339 --> 01:07:25.508
So, as reactance went up -

01:07:25.508 --> 01:07:26.876
now remember,
as we inoculated people,

01:07:26.876 --> 01:07:28.311
reactance went up -

01:07:28.311 --> 01:07:31.047
their intention to support the
group went down.

01:07:31.047 --> 01:07:33.149
So, the more we instilled
reactants in people,

01:07:33.149 --> 01:07:35.718
the less they intended
to support the group.

01:07:35.718 --> 01:07:37.253
And on the other hand,

01:07:37.253 --> 01:07:38.488
the less credibility

01:07:38.488 --> 01:07:41.391
or the less credible
we made the group seem,

01:07:41.391 --> 01:07:43.760
the less they were likely
to support the group.

01:07:43.760 --> 01:07:44.994
The more credible
somebody seems,

01:07:44.994 --> 01:07:46.763
the more likely they're
going to support the group.

01:07:46.763 --> 01:07:48.197
So, the less we were able -

01:07:48.197 --> 01:07:49.565
or the more we were
able to make them seem

01:07:49.565 --> 01:07:51.034
as though they weren't credible,

01:07:51.034 --> 01:07:53.836
the less likely they were to
support the group overall.

01:07:53.836 --> 01:07:56.572
So, we found that inoculation
generally did really well

01:07:56.572 --> 01:07:58.574
at preventing on both sides

01:07:58.574 --> 01:08:04.047
in terms of getting people
to not support the group,

01:08:04.047 --> 01:08:06.182
either with armed support,
logistically,

01:08:06.182 --> 01:08:08.584
or all the other things
that I have mentioned.

01:08:10.119 --> 01:08:13.089
Now, with that said,
what are the major takeaways

01:08:13.089 --> 01:08:16.893
from these finds that
we can use in online spaces?

01:08:16.893 --> 01:08:19.362
Number one, the main thing
is clearly that inoculation

01:08:19.362 --> 01:08:21.297
seems to have a negative effect
on persuasion

01:08:21.297 --> 01:08:22.999
in online contexts.

01:08:22.999 --> 01:08:25.201
So, inoculating against
these messages,

01:08:25.201 --> 01:08:27.270
the kinds of messages
that many young people

01:08:27.270 --> 01:08:31.708
are at risk of being exposed to,
disinformation and otherwise,

01:08:31.708 --> 01:08:34.844
inoculating against them
does seem to have some benefit

01:08:34.844 --> 01:08:37.046
in preventing it
from being persuasive.

01:08:37.046 --> 01:08:39.515
There seems to be two mechanisms
by which it works,

01:08:39.515 --> 01:08:41.484
through reactance
and credibility.

01:08:41.484 --> 01:08:44.887
And finally,
we can reduce support

01:08:44.887 --> 01:08:48.558
for the source of disinformation
and extremist messaging

01:08:48.558 --> 01:08:50.593
when we inoculate
against people.

01:08:50.593 --> 01:08:52.795
So, that was the initial study
that I did,

01:08:52.795 --> 01:08:55.832
which is now, I think,
two years ago.

01:08:55.832 --> 01:08:59.235
And since then, the work
has expanded quite a bit,

01:08:59.235 --> 01:09:03.940
including to work
with the new CP3 program.

01:09:03.940 --> 01:09:08.244
When I received funding
from DHS, it was TVTP.

01:09:08.244 --> 01:09:12.281
But I received funding to test
this theory and this practice

01:09:12.281 --> 01:09:13.516
on a grander scale

01:09:13.516 --> 01:09:16.219
against right wing extremism
in the United States.

01:09:16.219 --> 01:09:18.354
So, in a two-year project,

01:09:18.354 --> 01:09:20.823
I am bringing together some of
the best minds in the country

01:09:20.823 --> 01:09:24.360
and the world on disinformation
and right wing extremism

01:09:24.360 --> 01:09:26.496
to better understand the ways

01:09:26.496 --> 01:09:29.632
that disinformation,
as it's perpetuated,

01:09:29.632 --> 01:09:31.701
can promote right
wing extremism.

01:09:31.701 --> 01:09:34.904
And just as we want
to understand it,

01:09:34.904 --> 01:09:36.372
we also want to prevent it.

01:09:36.372 --> 01:09:39.809
So, taking what we learned
from the first phase

01:09:39.809 --> 01:09:42.111
and understanding
how disinformation

01:09:42.111 --> 01:09:44.247
affects right wing extremism,

01:09:44.247 --> 01:09:46.249
we are also going to be
testing inoculation

01:09:46.249 --> 01:09:51.254
on a much larger scale at scale
in communities and online,

01:09:51.254 --> 01:09:53.923
where right wing extremism
can take hold

01:09:53.923 --> 01:09:57.627
and where disinformation
is perpetuated more readily.

01:09:57.627 --> 01:09:59.495
So, that'll be over
the next two years or so.

01:09:59.495 --> 01:10:02.298
This work is underway
right now.

01:10:02.298 --> 01:10:06.369
But even beyond this, there is
another bit of work

01:10:06.369 --> 01:10:08.638
that I'm starting now
related to a topic

01:10:08.638 --> 01:10:11.674
on which there is
very little empirical work.

01:10:11.674 --> 01:10:14.844
And this is what my next book
is going to be on.

01:10:14.844 --> 01:10:16.779
And it's a topic
that's a bit controversial,

01:10:16.779 --> 01:10:20.183
so I'm sure I'll get pushback
on this in the Q&A a little bit.

01:10:20.183 --> 01:10:23.219
But I think it's a topic
that needs to be addressed.

01:10:23.219 --> 01:10:27.090
And I think inoculation may have
some benefit with respect to it.

01:10:27.090 --> 01:10:29.992
Now, before I get to it, I want
to play a little game here.

01:10:29.992 --> 01:10:33.696
And, David, if you could keep
an eye on the chat,

01:10:33.696 --> 01:10:36.065
because I'm curious to what
the answer's going to be,

01:10:36.065 --> 01:10:39.936
I'm going to put up a couple of
quotes here on the next slide.

01:10:39.936 --> 01:10:44.607
Some of them come from
actual convicted terrorists,

01:10:44.607 --> 01:10:47.977
and some of them
come from people who operate

01:10:47.977 --> 01:10:50.913
in the mainstream
and have large online platforms.

01:10:50.913 --> 01:10:53.783
So, what I'd like you to do,
after I do all four,

01:10:53.783 --> 01:10:55.051
I'd like you to write
in the chat

01:10:55.051 --> 01:10:56.919
which numbers you think
come from terrorists

01:10:56.919 --> 01:10:59.689
and which ones you think
come from people with platforms

01:10:59.689 --> 01:11:02.925
that have not been
convicted of terrorism.

01:11:02.925 --> 01:11:04.393
Number one:
"We'll also have no other choice

01:11:04.393 --> 01:11:07.763
but to take matters
into our own hands

01:11:07.763 --> 01:11:09.465
and defend our rights on our own

01:11:09.465 --> 01:11:12.335
if you don't act within
your powers to defend us."

01:11:12.335 --> 01:11:15.772
This was written as a letter
to President Trump

01:11:15.772 --> 01:11:18.141
threatening the use of violence

01:11:18.141 --> 01:11:21.711
if certain rights
were not defended by Trump.

01:11:21.711 --> 01:11:23.880
Second. "Rules of war.

01:11:23.880 --> 01:11:26.449
Stop all abortions,
no same-sex marriage,

01:11:26.449 --> 01:11:29.519
no idolatry or occultism,
no communism.

01:11:29.519 --> 01:11:31.454
And they must obey
all biblical law.

01:11:31.454 --> 01:11:34.657
If they yield, they must pay
their share of worker taxes.

01:11:34.657 --> 01:11:38.394
If they don't yield,
all males must be killed."

01:11:38.394 --> 01:11:40.863
Third. "I'd rather say that
I'm driven by my love

01:11:40.863 --> 01:11:44.033
for Europe, European culture,
and all Europeans.

01:11:44.033 --> 01:11:45.668
This doesn't mean
that I oppose diversity.

01:11:45.668 --> 01:11:47.403
But appreciating diversity
doesn't mean

01:11:47.403 --> 01:11:50.273
that you support genocide
of your own people."

01:11:50.273 --> 01:11:54.911
And fourth, this was a meme
that was posted by somebody:

01:11:54.911 --> 01:11:57.380
"Folks keep talking
about another civil war.

01:11:57.380 --> 01:11:59.315
One side has
three trillion bullets,

01:11:59.315 --> 01:12:01.918
and the other doesn't know
which bathroom to use."

01:12:01.918 --> 01:12:03.319
So, this is not a trick
question.

01:12:03.319 --> 01:12:06.656
Some of these are attributed
to actual convicted terrorists.

01:12:06.656 --> 01:12:10.359
Some of them are attributed
to actual mainstream people.

01:12:10.359 --> 01:12:13.963
So, if you have a guess
as to which numbers

01:12:13.963 --> 01:12:16.599
were from convicted terrorists

01:12:16.599 --> 01:12:18.601
and which ones were
from mainstream individuals,

01:12:18.601 --> 01:12:20.570
please feel free
to do so in the chat.

01:12:20.570 --> 01:12:22.004
I'll give it maybe 15 seconds.

01:12:22.004 --> 01:12:24.106
And then, David, if you could,
because I can't see the chat,

01:12:24.106 --> 01:12:25.741
let me know
what the consensus is.

01:12:39.889 --> 01:12:41.357
>>All right.
It looks like, Kurt,

01:12:41.357 --> 01:12:44.994
a lot of people are saying,
let's see.

01:12:44.994 --> 01:12:48.664
Mainstream three and four,
convicted one and two.

01:12:48.664 --> 01:12:49.866
Another person writes -

01:12:49.866 --> 01:12:52.668
>>Mainstream three and four,
convicted one and two.

01:12:52.668 --> 01:12:55.638
That's the consensus there?

01:12:55.638 --> 01:12:59.842
>>Well, it's hard to build a
consensus, because [crosstalk].

01:12:59.842 --> 01:13:01.177
It's a little bit
of disagreement.

01:13:01.177 --> 01:13:03.646
I see another one,
one not terrorist,

01:13:03.646 --> 01:13:07.516
two not terrorist, three
terrorist, four not terrorist.

01:13:07.516 --> 01:13:09.452
So, it does seem
to be hard to decipher.

01:13:09.452 --> 01:13:10.686
>>All over the place.

01:13:10.686 --> 01:13:11.954
>>Yes.

01:13:11.954 --> 01:13:15.291
>>Yeah. Well, that's
part of the point.

01:13:15.291 --> 01:13:17.159
To break the mystery here,
this first person

01:13:17.159 --> 01:13:21.530
was a prominent politician
in Ohio politics,

01:13:21.530 --> 01:13:24.066
the head of the Tea Party,
the Portage Tea Party,

01:13:24.066 --> 01:13:27.436
who said this, who took out
an ad in the Washington Times,

01:13:27.436 --> 01:13:30.473
threatening that if the election
was not protected,

01:13:30.473 --> 01:13:32.942
that they would take matters
into their own hands.

01:13:32.942 --> 01:13:37.346
This is from a state rep
in Washington, Matt Schey,

01:13:37.346 --> 01:13:40.016
who wrote a manifesto
talking about the need

01:13:40.016 --> 01:13:42.518
to instill biblical law.

01:13:42.518 --> 01:13:46.322
He has been linked to right
wing terrorist offenses,

01:13:46.322 --> 01:13:48.424
though I don't think
he's been convicted.

01:13:48.424 --> 01:13:50.826
Third, whoever said terrorist,
Anders Breivik.

01:13:50.826 --> 01:13:52.695
Good call.

01:13:52.695 --> 01:13:55.364
This was in his manifesto
about protecting Europe.

01:13:55.364 --> 01:14:00.569
And fourth is Steve King,
a US representative from Iowa.

01:14:00.569 --> 01:14:03.005
So, three out of four of these
were prominent politicians,

01:14:03.005 --> 01:14:05.007
and the fourth was
a convicted terrorist.

01:14:05.007 --> 01:14:08.077
But the fact that there was
so much disagreement,

01:14:08.077 --> 01:14:09.545
and there doesn't seem
to be a consensus

01:14:09.545 --> 01:14:11.213
that it was the first two,

01:14:11.213 --> 01:14:14.884
and the final were politicians,
shows that this kind of language

01:14:14.884 --> 01:14:17.486
has effects that can be
discerned in different ways.

01:14:17.486 --> 01:14:19.855
And this is the area that I'm
going with my research now.

01:14:19.855 --> 01:14:23.559
And the topic is called
stochastic terrorism.

01:14:23.559 --> 01:14:26.095
Stochastic terrorism,
basically speaking,

01:14:26.095 --> 01:14:29.298
is the idea that an individual -

01:14:29.298 --> 01:14:31.334
and this has gotten
much more prominent

01:14:31.334 --> 01:14:33.035
in the age
of disinformation -

01:14:33.035 --> 01:14:36.005
individuals can spread messages
online that,

01:14:36.005 --> 01:14:39.075
on the face of it,
do not advocate for violence,

01:14:39.075 --> 01:14:41.744
or they don't overtly call
for violence,

01:14:41.744 --> 01:14:44.313
but can be interpreted
as calls for violence.

01:14:44.313 --> 01:14:46.449
And the reason
it's called stochastic

01:14:46.449 --> 01:14:48.184
is because it comes
out of statistics,

01:14:48.184 --> 01:14:49.452
where a stochastic process

01:14:49.452 --> 01:14:51.787
is one
that is impossible to predict

01:14:51.787 --> 01:14:54.890
when and where it'll happen,
but it will happen.

01:14:54.890 --> 01:14:58.260
So, think about when a storm
is rolling into your town,

01:14:58.260 --> 01:14:59.562
a lightning strike.

01:14:59.562 --> 01:15:03.032
Almost impossible to predict
where, but most likely to occur.

01:15:03.032 --> 01:15:04.934
The prominent example in
the statistics literature

01:15:04.934 --> 01:15:06.369
is often a petri dish.

01:15:06.369 --> 01:15:09.672
If you sneeze in a petri dish,
bacteria are going to grow,

01:15:09.672 --> 01:15:11.440
but you can't predict
when and where.

01:15:11.440 --> 01:15:14.510
So, stochastic terrorism
is the idea

01:15:14.510 --> 01:15:17.980
that when individuals have
a large platform,

01:15:17.980 --> 01:15:20.116
especially an online platform,

01:15:20.116 --> 01:15:23.319
and they say statements
that seem to implicitly call

01:15:23.319 --> 01:15:25.454
for violence
in the way that they do,

01:15:25.454 --> 01:15:27.356
that you can't predict
when and where.

01:15:27.356 --> 01:15:30.326
But when they are talking to,
say, 88 million people,

01:15:30.326 --> 01:15:33.362
there may be at least one, two,
or a dozen

01:15:33.362 --> 01:15:35.364
who take it as a
literal call to action.

01:15:35.364 --> 01:15:36.932
And we've seen this happen
in the past

01:15:36.932 --> 01:15:39.035
with statements
from some individuals

01:15:39.035 --> 01:15:41.837
who have made implicit calls
for violence.

01:15:41.837 --> 01:15:44.040
So, I argue, or I think,

01:15:44.040 --> 01:15:46.075
that understanding
stochastic terrorism,

01:15:46.075 --> 01:15:49.412
understanding how to prevent
it can involve inoculation

01:15:49.412 --> 01:15:53.482
to some degree,
and online kind of interventions

01:15:53.482 --> 01:15:56.385
if we know what the
talking points might be.

01:15:56.385 --> 01:16:00.489
The challenges here relate to,
number one, first and foremost,

01:16:00.489 --> 01:16:02.258
I am a staunch
First Amendment advocate,

01:16:02.258 --> 01:16:05.728
and I in no way advocate
restricting anybody's speech

01:16:05.728 --> 01:16:09.765
in a way that is incongruent
with the First Amendment.

01:16:09.765 --> 01:16:13.235
That said, there needs to be
a way to understand

01:16:13.235 --> 01:16:14.036
where the line is.

01:16:14.036 --> 01:16:15.604
And to this point,

01:16:15.604 --> 01:16:17.973
we don't really have an idea
where that line is.

01:16:17.973 --> 01:16:20.643
Number two, one of
the big issues

01:16:20.643 --> 01:16:24.146
in trying to develop
large-scale interventions,

01:16:24.146 --> 01:16:26.715
especially those that are
implemented by government,

01:16:26.715 --> 01:16:27.950
is getting them to scale.

01:16:27.950 --> 01:16:30.519
It's very difficult to get
something to scale that works.

01:16:30.519 --> 01:16:32.455
Stochastic terrorism,
on the other hand,

01:16:32.455 --> 01:16:34.123
that can be done
to scale very quickly

01:16:34.123 --> 01:16:35.391
and can be shown
to be effective,

01:16:35.391 --> 01:16:38.928
because it only needs
to affect one or two people.

01:16:38.928 --> 01:16:40.663
And finally, as I said,

01:16:40.663 --> 01:16:43.999
the plausible deniability of
the speaker is kind of the meat

01:16:43.999 --> 01:16:46.769
and the potatoes
of stochastic terrorism.

01:16:46.769 --> 01:16:48.737
So, these are all things
I'm going to be addressing

01:16:48.737 --> 01:16:50.873
in my research upcoming,

01:16:50.873 --> 01:16:52.441
and how we might be able
to intervene

01:16:52.441 --> 01:16:53.943
in these sorts of processes.

01:16:53.943 --> 01:16:56.612
I don't think that there is,

01:16:56.612 --> 01:16:58.314
and I don't know
if there should be,

01:16:58.314 --> 01:16:59.782
legal ramifications
for these things

01:16:59.782 --> 01:17:01.150
because of the First Amendment.

01:17:01.150 --> 01:17:03.285
But there needs to be some way
to address this sort of thing.

01:17:03.285 --> 01:17:04.487
And that's what
I'll be addressing

01:17:04.487 --> 01:17:06.088
in my upcoming research.

01:17:06.088 --> 01:17:11.126
This is all complicated
by the death of truth,

01:17:11.126 --> 01:17:14.763
to the benefit of disinformation
to motivate one's base,

01:17:14.763 --> 01:17:17.967
something that really
makes it difficult

01:17:17.967 --> 01:17:19.802
to develop effective
interventions,

01:17:19.802 --> 01:17:23.305
when the idea of reality
itself comes under debate.

01:17:23.305 --> 01:17:25.407
So, these are all challenges
I'll be contending with.

01:17:25.407 --> 01:17:28.577
I'll be testing inoculation
in online contexts.

01:17:28.577 --> 01:17:32.781
And it does apply
to places like schools,

01:17:32.781 --> 01:17:35.117
because we find
that young people,

01:17:35.117 --> 01:17:38.521
especially in high school,
maybe even in college as well,

01:17:38.521 --> 01:17:40.422
are very politically
motivated these days,

01:17:40.422 --> 01:17:41.924
and they encounter
these messages.

01:17:41.924 --> 01:17:43.459
So, there can be
negative effects

01:17:43.459 --> 01:17:46.562
in the online space
for these individuals.

01:17:46.562 --> 01:17:47.830
So, as I move forward,

01:17:47.830 --> 01:17:50.933
I'll be looking into
this particular topic,

01:17:50.933 --> 01:17:52.601
seeing whether or not
we can prevent it

01:17:52.601 --> 01:17:54.870
from going into violence,

01:17:54.870 --> 01:17:57.406
and hopefully gathering data
on that front.

01:17:57.406 --> 01:18:00.175
So, with that, I'll stop.
If anybody has any questions -

01:18:00.175 --> 01:18:01.744
that email is
actually old there.

01:18:01.744 --> 01:18:04.113
It should be
braddock@american.edu.

01:18:06.582 --> 01:18:09.418
But I'll be happy to take any
questions during Q&A as well.

01:18:09.418 --> 01:18:10.819
So, thanks, David.

01:18:10.819 --> 01:18:11.520
>>Thank you, Kurt.