‘Today’s youth are the leaders of tomorrow.’ It’s a phrase often touted by well-meaning experienced leaders to inspire young people. But from the Tiananmen Square Protests to the Arab Spring, young people have always been key instigators of change in the fight for social justice. Growing up with the Internet, our generation has the resources…
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I recently spent five nights in what felt like the middle of nowhere, with no phone reception and no internet. Okay, so phone reception was just a ten minute drive up a hill if I needed it, but I found I didn’t, unlike some of the other adults I was staying with. Usually, teenagers are…
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Fourteen-year-old Layla is a 21st century Lolita, and like her antecedent, she’s not one to shy away from a man’s attention. She knows that all it takes is a gesture, a look, and she can have almost any man she wants. It makes her feel powerful, like she matters. But what she really wants is…
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She has a pet rat called ‘Buttloaf’ and one of her performance art videos just sold for $1,600 USD at the first ever digital art auction. Pretty much, Molly Soda is a self described ‘artist, internet persona, general webcam “diva” living the ~*dream*~’. TRU. Her super popular blog is filled with personal confessions, video art…
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Torrents of misogynistic abuse, both online and off, is nothing new. Anybody who dares to present as female and exist in a public space is almost certainly going to experience street harassment at some point, and the age of the internet has allowed misogyny to establish itself in a new, more anonymous format. Somewhat dubiously…
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So, do you want to hear the good news or the bad news? Well, the good news is that UK feminist campaigner and journalist, Caroline Criado-Perez was successful in her push for the inclusion of women (other than the Queen) on British bank notes, with Jane Austen to feature on the £10 note from…
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Reading Lottie Moggach’s debut novel Kiss Me First is like experiencing an extended claustrophobic fever-dream. From the perspective of an intense and unreliable narrator, this slow-burning novel explores obsession, connection, loneliness and identity, all through the mode of online communication. Leila is an intelligent, antisocial and reclusive young woman who lacks empathy or self-awareness. Following…
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Internet dating. The idea of being physically swept off your feet by a tall dark and handsome stranger replaced by the virtual sweep of a…well any persona the alter-ego is capable of conjuring. For someone of a natural over-analytical disposition, the thought of plating myself up for the picking by every love-lusting Tom, Dick or…
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So, you’ve got a headache. And you’re feeling tired. Reluctant to leave your bed, you reach for your laptop and log in. Headache and fatigue, you type into Google. According to SymptomChecker.com, you could have DIABETES, CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING or KIDNEY DISEASE. Sound familiar? With today’s technology, I bet you’ve diagnosed your aches and pains…
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Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest…the list goes on! So many social media and blogging pages, millions of people using them each day along with the thousands of dating websites around, are we just living in a fantasy world and losing the ability to interact with actual human beings? I think back to when I was growing…
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When I am not writing witty little ditties for Lip, my 9-5pm is spent in an office environment where a large part of that time is allocated to communicating via email. As an older member of Gen Y, I remember when emails just came out and the excitement I experienced as I created my first…
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Depending on which generation you are from, (Y, X, Boomer) you’ll most likely recognise a troll as one of the following: a fuzzy-headed nudist with an outie; the arch-nemesis of David the Gnome; or an arsehole under a bridge with a penchant for goat-meat. However, if you’re of the nebulous Z Generation (sometimes called the…
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I have always been what is derisively referred to as a “bleeding heart”. I’m not a sucker for a sob story, but people being treated poorly is one of my trigger points. I may have spoken before about a project I’ve become involved with — a friend of mine is doing a study and a…
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I think I was Googling something rather pathetic like ‘why do men lie’ (which speaks volumes either about the men I foolishly fall in love with, or the pitiful level of desperation I’ve succumbed to) when I somehow came across Dick Masterson’s Men are Better Than Women blog. Now, I’m going on the assumption that…
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