Monthly Archives: March 2022

The pandemic forced universities to rush out remote delivery of their courses online. Now we have had time to take stock of the impacts. Our newly published Australia-wide research investigated the challenges and opportunities of remote delivery for culturally and linguistically diverse migrant and refugee (CALDMR) students and university staff.

We identified many changes to teaching and learning that we should strive to keep. Students and teachers told us they got to know each other on a more personal, human level. Being essentially inside each others homes led to higher levels of care and engagement.

But the disruptions of COVID also highlighted existing educational disadvantage caused by the digital divide. Online delivery made it worse for equity cohorts, especially refugee students. As one student recalled:

[] at one point my laptop stopped working, and then I couldnt do Zoom meetings. That was a bit of an issue, and then co-ordinating that with the university.

A lecturer told us:

[] theres that extra language barrier. I cant see their confusion like I could see it in person.

Read more: Trauma, racism and unrealistic expectations mean African refugees are less likely to get into Australian unis

While looking to return to in-person learning, universities must still plan for possible disruptions in 2022. However, after two years of pivoting to emergency remote delivery, the time is right to proactively prepare for equitable online engagement.

We need to embed equity in our framing of teaching and learning to ensure we arent leaving groups of students behind.

Read more: Fair access to university depends on much more than making students 'job-ready'

Our research explored the impacts of government and institutional policies and of the move online.

We reviewed national, state and institutional policy statements in the year to March 2021. A range of financial supports from governments and universities provided a financial lifeline for many students.

However, our findings highlight the need to provide other resources to support culturally and linguistically diverse students in their studies.

Limited attention was paid to planning for equity in the sudden shift online. There was nothing that explicitly targeted the issues that migrant and refugee students faced, including limited access to technology and wi-fi.

COVID also exposed the stresses and workloads for staff who had to respond to CALDMR students needs during remote learning. They include lecturers and tutors, student-facing support staff (equity officers, student advisers, learning advisers, counsellors) and educational designers, who support teaching and learning design and delivery. One lecturer told us:

I just didnt have any time or space to be able to make big changes to my approach. I felt really pressured [] stressed [] definitely a question of survival.

Despite the negative aspects, our research captured hopeful changes, which benefited culturally and linguistically diverse students in particular.

Emergency remote delivery led to a greater focus on the importance of more caring and engaged teaching and learning practices. Educators gained an increased awareness of students complex lives and needs.

However, this came at a cost for these educators:

I felt to give students a good experience I really had to over-service them - drop-in sessions [on Zoom] [] play the [pre-recorded] lecture and sit on Zoom and answer everyones questions over the chat box []

Read more: Our uni teachers were already among the world's most stressed. COVID and student feedback have just made things worse

Paying attention to students needs in ways that are reasonable for educators requires careful planning. Based on the experiences of the past two years, we make three recommendations for sustaining the gains in equitable student learning.

Recommendation 1

Course delivery must be more flexible.

Culturally and linguistically diverse students need time and space to manage the linguistic load of their studies. But many migrant and refugee students also have work and caring responsibilities. That leaves them with less time to engage with course materials.

One support staff member told us:

There were quite conflicting activities that they had [] Some of my younger students really struggled. Im talking 18-to-20-year-olds with family responsibilities, not their own families, but looking after their parents because they were home, or they got thrown into domestic duties.

Hence the need to plan online or hybrid instruction that allows students to review learning materials at their own pace and enables meaningful interactions to build community.

Read more: COVID has changed students' needs and expectations. How do universities respond?

Recommendation 2

Design online learning with CALDMR students in mind.

Successful and equitable online education is not simply a matter of uploading materials used in face-to-face instruction. Careful planning is needed to maximise interaction and support within the digital space.

This means taking care not to assume students have equal access to linguistic and cultural resources, including digital literacy. One lecturer said:

A lot of [CALDMR] students [] often, in the class, you could tell that they werent getting something. You can see. I miss that with the online. [] A lot of them are probably falling through the cracks because they dont feel they could ask.

Explicit planning and modelling of literacy requirements linguistic, academic and digital will help ensure online learning is accessible and engaging for all students.

Recommendation 3

Support educators to embed inclusive practices in their teaching and engagement with students.

Universities need to invest in staff professional development, including casual staff. Around 90% of the educators in our study indicated they want to learn more about supporting CALDMR students.

Universities should also invest in dedicated liaison staff to help these students navigate university systems and assessment requirements. A developer involved in moving teaching online told us:

Itll be good to have some greater understanding of their needs and ways to address them in teaching and learning, assessment design and emotional well-being.

Read more: 5 tips on how unis can do more to design online learning that works for all students

The disruptions of the pandemic added to existing educational inequalities. Left unaddressed, students from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as refugees, are more likely to miss out on learning.

However, the shift to online delivery has also highlighted opportunities for sector-wide commitment to teaching and learning practices that are more responsive to issues of equity.

Go here to read the rest:

Lessons from the pandemic on fairer and more caring uni teaching and learning - The Conversation

Coodie Simmons (Center) films Kanye West. Coodie tracked Wests rise to fame leading up to Wests debut album release, The College Dropout.

There are few figures more entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist than Kanye Westthe brash, uncompromising, oft-criticized, and always enigmatic rapper whose music has shaped a generation of hip-hop fans. But no matter what you or I think of the rapper at any given moment, one thing about him will always remain true: Kanye West doesnt care about what we think. He only cares about what Kanye West thinks. Twenty years ago, when he was a no-name Chicago producer making beats for rappers (all of whom would beg to be featured on a Kanye album today), few people beyond his doting mother, Donda, believed in the inevitability of Wests success. Even today, with 21 Grammy Awards and 7 platinum albums under his belt, you wont find anyone who loves Kanye quite like Kanye loves Kanye.

Its hard to imagine that West was ever anything less than a bonafide star. But this year, thanks to Coodie Simmons Canon-GL1, millions of viewers were able to bear witness to the rappers determination and perseverance over four hours worth of footage from his early years. The result is jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy,a three-part docuseries chronicling Wests meteoric to fame and his recent plummet from grace. Coodie, an upstart comedian and host of the iconic Chicago public access show Channel Zero, is a long-time friend of Wests, who recognized the budding rappers potential early on and set about documenting the creation of his debut album, The College Dropout. Coodies tapes are a major component of the documentary, which he co-directed with his long-time collaborator Chike Ozah. Interview sat down with the director duo to discuss Kanyes early years, the filmmaking process, and the role of divine intervention in the creation of jeen-yuhs.

JACKSON WALD: Was there anything in the documentary that was left on the cutting room floor that you wish had made it in?

CHIKE OZAH: There was one moment, an altercation between Kanye and this other artist, when Kanye almost got his head bust open. Coodie filmed itor, he thought he filmed itbut in actuality, he hit the wrong button on the camera, so you can only hear everything thats going on. Its so funny, because we tried to edit it into Act One, then we tried to put it in Act Two, and it just wasnt working. It was a clip that could stand alone, and it would definitely go viral. But it wasnt working with our storyline. So, we just came to the conclusion that god didnt want that clip to come out, for whatever reason. I thought it was a strong clip, because its not all peachy and clean. There will always be roadblocks.

WALD: Can you describe who was involved in the altercation, or where it went down?

COODIE SIMMONS: Its when Kanye sold the song Never Change to Jay Z. Mind you, Kanye originally sold the track to this dude Payroll, whos in the movie, while he was in Chicago. Then Kanye played it for Jay, and Jay was like, I love this. I want this track. He loved the hook, so he had Kanye rap the rook, but it was really Payrolls hook. Kanye took care of Payroll, but eventually Payroll realized how big [the song] really was, and he wanted more. In the end, they tried to come at Kanye. Back when we were doing Channel Zero, we filmed Payroll talking about the incident. Its a whole arc. But as Chike said, Im happy it didnt make it in, because so much positivity came out of this film. They got Kanye out safe, but it was a huge fight. It was at a memorial for E2a tragedy that happened at a Chicago club where 21 people got trampled and died. They had a memorial in Chicago for the families, and Kanye wanted to go out and perform for them. That was before he even blew up, and thats when Payroll and them tried to get at Kanye. At the memorial.

WALD: Im curious about Dondas role in the documentary. Tell me a bit about how you shaped the film around her. Dondas influence seems to be the biggest factor in what made Kanye Kanye.

CHIKE: It was important for us to share moments to help viewers understand just how far her love extendedpast her own son, who she gave everything to. She had such a big impact, not only on Kanyes life, but also on Coodies life. It was important for us to introduce her to the story when we did, and to show how Coodie got to know her, because Kanye had to feel comfortable enough in his relationship with Coodie even to allow him to meet his mother. So, there were levels to it. We felt like her spirit was with us throughout this processCoodie has some amazing stories that prove how god was working, and how her spirit was working through Coodie directly to Kanye.

COODIE: When I met Donda for the first time, it was what god wanted to happen. In her conversations with Kanye, I never told them Yo, yall should talk about this, and yall should sit over there. I just captured all their moments together. I did her funeral presentation, which was the hardest thing I ever had to do, because she was a good friend of mine. I had to go through all this footage and put something together. Recently I rewatched the tape, which Id titled Donda and Kanye. the first thing she said when I put it in was, Kanye, I got something kind of serious I want to talk to you about. It seemed like the tape was not totally rewound, and was just sitting and waiting at that part. When I saw that, it felt like Donda [saying], I need you to send this to my son.

WALD: Wow.

COODIE: So I got Kanyes email from Common, and in the email subject line I said, Your mother told me to send this to you. This was a week before he went to meet with Trump in the White House. He watched it the day before he went there, and he FaceTimed me and was like, Dude, not in a million years do I remember her saying that. Im like, Me neither. I had this amazing thought: What if she didnt say it then? What if shes only saying it now?

WALD: Nowadays, were our own documentariansconstantly filming ourselves and uploading our work to social media. Do you guys think a documentary like this could still be made or started today?

COODIE: For sure. I shot the last scene in San Francisco on an iPhone.

CHIKE: Technology is the reason, I feel, that we were even able to put this film out on a platform like Netflixtheres more content allowed to come through the pipeline. When we started making this, the gatekeepers and barriers to entry were much bigger.

WALD: When did you two realize that the docs message was about more than Kanye? Its really an overall statement on genius and purpose.

CHIKE: Id say the message evolved. We initially presented this project to Kanye, as an opportunity [for him] to put it out. At that initial stage, it probably didnt look much like this. It was more specific to Kanye. But as weve evolved in our spiritual journeys, weve tapped into different things, and our feelings about whats important in life has changed. Thats when we realized that the work has a bigger purposeto impact positivity in peoples lives. Whats important is helping people unlock their passion, and having faith to do that.

WALD: When you went back this old footage, what was it like to see yourselves and chart your own growth?

COODIE: Man, I miss my hair. [Laughs] It was great. I didnt even realize how much I was filming myself.

WALD: If a pre-College Dropout Kanye could watch the full doc right now, how do you think he would react?

CHIKE: Man, I cant let my imagination get in the way of Gods manifestation. You have no idea. Everything in life has to happen for a reason. Coodie gives a great examplehe always equates this to Back To The Future. If you go back and you change one thing, that alters everything. Everything that happens to you, good and bad, puts you in the position youre in right now. So if Kanye in the past watches this, he might not even become Kanye. Who knows?

COODIE: I second that.

WALD: Why did you guys choose to spell the title this way?

CHIKE: We wanted you to intrigue right out of the gate. But we also wanted it to mean something, so we looked through several dictionaries and found a word that was interesting to us. We just didnt want to be too on the nose about it, because life isnt on the nose. Life is full of subtext, and a lot of the meaning is in the subtext.

WALD: My last question for you guys: What, more than anything else, are you hoping that viewers will take away from this documentary?

CHIKE: Just understanding what it takes to achieve your dream, and the type of faith you have to have to overcome the adversities that are going to present themselves on that journey. I think were just lucky to have examples of that, in both Kanye and Donda. You know, people often say, Speak it into existence, and its going to happen. But in this film, we actually show you that. We show you what it means to walk the walk. Its a blueprint. I think thats special, but I also think it was ordained that this blueprint would come into existence. Were merely the vessels to deliver it.

View original post here:

Coodie and Chike on Jeen-Yuhs, Kanye, and Divine Intervention - Interview

Were all used to crazy advertising about telecom products that make industry folks shake their headsmany of the ads about 5G come to mind. Most people dont realize that carriers in the industry routinely challenge the claims made by competitors to force them to modify or drop deceptive ads.

Most of the largest corporations in the country belong to the National Advertising Division (NAD), which is part of the Better Business Bureau and arbitrates disputes about advertising between participants in the plan. Participation is voluntary, but corporations join the effort because the arbitration process through NAD is far cheaper than using the courts to settle disputes. Corporations almost always comply with the recommendations of NAD. The NAD monitors national advertising campaigns in all media and tries to enforce standards of truth and accuracya high standard for advertising.

Charter recently challenged advertising that claimed AT&Ts business broadband services on fiber are better than business broadband services provided by cable companies. It was an interesting challenge because Charter disputed a number of the claims made by AT&T in the ads.

In the first dispute, AT&T claimed it was up to 20 times faster than cable broadband. NAB agreed that the upload speeds on AT&Ts gigabit product are up to 20 times faster than a gigabit product from the cable companies but found that AT&Ts wording of the claim made it sound like all AT&T products are 20 times faster than the equivalent cable company broadband products.

AT&T also claimed that its prices are half the price of cable broadband. The NAB found that the prices for AT&Ts top business products are half the price of the equivalent products from the cable companies but again sided with Charter because it said that the AT&T ad made it sound like all AT&T broadband products are half the price of cable company broadband.

The AT&T ads made the claim that AT&Ts fiber broadband is superior to cable company broadband. NAB found that while there was a big difference in upload speeds between the two products, both technologies download speeds are equivalent. NAB felt that most business customers care more about download speed than upload speed and sided against AT&Ts claim that its broadband is superior.

AT&T ads claimed that the upload speeds of cable companies are insufficient to support video conference, surging, streaming, and gaming and the NAB said there was not enough evidence to support that claim. NAD did support AT&Ts claim that fiber is superior for uploading large files.

In the ruling that will rile fiber fans, the NAD said the record did not substantiate a claim that AT&T fiber provides better internet than cable broadband. But the NAD supported AT&Ts claim that it provides a consistent speed, even at peak times.

AT&T told the NAD that it respectfully disagreed with all of the negative findings, but the company agreed to stop using the disputed claims. I would guess that AT&T will continue to make many of these claims but will be more specific and less generic.

Many of you might not realize that the big ISPs also often challenge advertising claims made by municipal and other smaller ISPs. Such complaints generally come from counsel for the big ISPs and demand that a smaller ISP stop the disputed advertising. The process is threatening since small ISPs dont want to engage in expensive legal disputes. Ive known a few small ISPs that ignored such claims and were never sued, but I dont know that there is any way to know the motivation of a big ISP in a given complaint. One of my clients who ignored such a claim said that fighting with the big ISP in the papers over an issue was the best advertising he could ever have wished for.

View post:

Truth in Broadband Advertising - CircleID

MILLIONS have watched the new series Pam and Tommy, retelling the mid-1990s story of celebrities Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee and their leaked sex tape.

People involved in the show including the showrunner and actors claim that they are making a feminist statement and suggest that the portrayal of events favours Pamela Anderson.

Lily James, who plays Anderson, said she hopes the show will make people look at their own culpability in perpetuating this unhealthy viral internet behaviour.

However, the show contributes to this unhealthy behaviour by turning Andersons experience of a private sexual video being widely distributed and viewed without her consent into entertainment.

Professor Clare McGlynn, Durham Law School

Many have searched for and found the original video, watching it on mainstream porn sites, encouraging others on internet forums to watch and sharing links to wherever else it can be found.

The reality is that Anderson was not involved with the series, and has not spoken publicly about what she thinks of it. When we peel back the good intentions the series is using as promotion, we are left with a show that exploits and profits from an incredibly traumatic experience in someones life.

Unfortunately, Andersons experiences are familiar. While rarer in the mid-1990s, distributing sexual images and videos without consent known as image-based sexual abuse is now alarmingly commonplace. During the pandemic, reports to the Revenge Porn Helpline have doubled.

Rather than society becoming more aware of the harm of intimate image abuse, the reaction to this new series suggests we are becoming desensitised. We accept as entertainment the retelling of a story that inevitably leads to the resurfacing of the original video.

The distribution and viewing of private sexual videos without consent can be devastating for survivors. The breach of trust and sense of violation is acute.

Some describe it as a social rupture which divides their lives into before and after the abuse. One described it as torture for the soul.

The harms are constant and relentless, with each viewing of the image or video experienced as a new assault and abuse. Actor Jennifer Lawrence, whose private images were hacked and went viral in 2014, said just last year that my trauma will exist forever. Paris Hilton, whose private video was non-consensually shared, revealed she has been left with PTSD and the abuse is something that will hurt me for the rest of my life.

With this in mind, its right to question the ethics of making a series like Pam and Tommy. The series recreates the video, so the producers themselves must have watched the original in making the show. And in the aftermath users on internet forums have encouraged others to watch it and posted links about how to find it.

Many have also made degrading comments about Anderson herself. All of this is an eerie echo of the original incident.

The creators of the series must have been aware this would happen, and they possibly knew it would mean an increased audience. This series facilitates the continuation of image-based sexual abuse by actively dredging up a traumatic experience.

In doing so, it contributes to the constancy of harms that victims experience.As well as challenging shows like Pam and Tommy, more can be done to reduce the prevalence and harms of experiences like Andersons.

While many internet platforms claim to have policies against non-consensual material, it is nevertheless freely and easily accessible. The availability of this material normalises and legitimises image-based sexual abuse. It is also a primary concern of those who face brick walls when trying to get the material removed.

Legislation, like the UKs online safety bill, should hold social media and internet companies accountable for their role in perpetuating these harms. Porn companies should be required to identify users uploading material, moderate content to remove non-consensual material and swiftly respond to take-down requests.

Platforms must also secure the consent of all those in uploaded videos, and it should be a criminal offence to upload material without consent.

While such steps would help to reduce the amount of non-consensual imagery online, we are fighting a losing battle if television and film producers are, in practice, trivialising these abuses.

We can only hope that the actors and creators of Pam and Tommy will reflect on how they have exploited Pamela Anderson for profit, in just the same way that she was exploited when the video was originally stolen.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence.

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Durham University on using trauma in drama in 'Pam and Tommy' - The Northern Echo

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Like many high school athletes, Bobby, 16, a junior from Long Island, has spent years whipping his body into shape through protein diets and workouts.

Between rounds of Fortnite and homework, Bobby goes online to study bodybuilders like Greg Doucette, a 46-year-old fitness personality who has more than 1.3 million YouTube subscribers. Bobby also hits his local gym as frequently as six days a week.

Those guys made me realize I wanted to get bodies like them and post stuff like them, said Bobby, who has fluffy curls of dark hair and the compact frame of a gymnast. (The New York Times is not publishing the surnames of minors or the names of their parents in this article to protect their privacy.)

He makes sure to hit the fridge, too, grazing on protein-packed Kodiak Cakes and muscle-mass-building Oreo shakes. He consumes so much protein that classmates sometimes gawk at him for eating upward of eight chicken-and-rice meals at school.

But Bobby isnt getting buff so he can stand out during varsity tryouts. His goal is to compete in a different arena: TikTok.

Bobby now posts his own workout TikToks. Shot on his iPhone 11, usually at the gym or in his familys living room, the videos are devoted to topics like how to get a gorilla chest, Popeye forearms or Lil Uzis abs.

Bobby said that he has occasionally fallen behind on his schoolwork because he dedicates so much time to weight lifting and prepping high-protein meals.

When Bobby first started posting his videos, our family did not even know what he was doing for months, as he was extremely independent and did stuff on his own, said his father, 49, who is a correctional officer at Rikers Island. He doesnt really talk much about what goes into his videos, but I know he takes his time with them to make sure theyre perfect.

Bobbys father can, in some ways, relate. When I was younger, I remember seeing the mens fashion magazines and seeing the jacked, buff guys on there and wanted to look like them, he said. It took me a while to realize that those mens bodies were most likely unattainable.

But unlike his fathers experience, as Bobbys body mass grows, so does his online audience. Young guys see me as their idol, said Bobby, who has more than 400,000 followers on TikTok. They want to be just like me, someone who gained muscle as a teenager.

Among his disciples is Tanner, 16, a high schooler from Arkansas, who reached out to Bobby on Instagram. Thank you for inspiring me, Tanner wrote.

For many boys and young men, muscle worship has become practically a digital rite of passage in todays beefcake-saturated culture. Examples are everywhere the hypermasculine video games they play, the mesomorphic superheroes in the movies they watch. The top grossing films of last year were ruled by C.G.I.-enhanced masculine clichs: Spider-Man, Shang Chi, Venom and the entire Marvel universe.

Many doctors and researchers say that the relentless online adulation of muscular male bodies can have a toxic effect on the self-esteem of young men, with the never-ending scroll of six packs and boy-band faces making them feel inadequate and anxious.

And while there has been increased public awareness about how social media can be harmful to teenagers spurred in part by the leak of internal research from Facebook showing that the company hid the negative effects of Instagram much of that focus has been on girls.

Recent reports, however, have found that those same online pressures can also cause teenage boys to feel bad about their bodies.

Girls discuss those pressures more, but its completely the same for boys, said Elliot, 17, a mop-haired high school student from Colorado, who began posting workout videos on TikTok two years ago, often with the hashtag #teenbodybuilding. I feel like Im trying to be some character just to get more views, rather than the person I want to be.

A 2019 survey published in the Californian Journal of Health Promotion examined body image in boys. Almost a third of the 149 boys surveyed, aged 11 to 18, were dissatisfied with their body shapes. Athletes were more likely to be dissatisfied than non-athletes and most wanted to increase muscle, especially in the chest, arms and abs.

The quest for perfect pecs is so strong that psychiatrists now sometimes refer to it as bigorexia, a form of muscle dysmorphia exhibited mostly by men and characterized by excessive weight lifting, a preoccupation with not feeling muscular enough and a strict adherence to eating foods that lower weight and build muscle. The condition can also lead young men to become obsessed with their appearance, checking themselves in the mirror either constantly or not at all.

Bryan Phlamm, 18, a college freshman in Illinois, often posts shirtless videos of himself in the locker room of Charter Fitness, flexing his chiseled hamstrings and pectoral muscles. But once his camera is off, he throws on a hooded sweatshirt to disguise his body while he works out on the gym floor.

I try not to look at myself, he said. I just get discouraged, especially when you look at social media and see these guys who utilize camera angles and lighting to make themselves appear as if theyre three times the size they actually are.

Most studies on the topic of body satisfaction and social media are conducted with a female population in mind, which, of course, is quite understandable, said Thomas Gltzow, a public health researcher at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Almost none of what is out there focuses on men.

In 2020, Mr. Gltzow and his co-authors published a study that analyzed 1,000 Instagram posts that depicted male bodies. Idealized images of highly muscular, lean men, the report found, received more likes and shares than content showing men who are less muscular or have more body fat.

A scroll through the most popular TikTok or YouTube accounts today reveals a landscape dominated by musclemen. Social media stars like the bros from Dude Perfect, the bodybuilder and comedian known as The Black Trunks, and the bad-boy creator Jake Paul all have bulging biceps and rock-hard abs. TikTok hype houses are populated by heartthrobs like Noah Beck, Chase Hudson and Bryce Hall, who strut around shirtless.

Even many gamers, once dismissed as geeks, are sizing up. PewDiePie ignited a Reddit frenzy when he showed off his newly ripped physique during the pandemic. His 20-minute workout diary has been viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube.

Some Hollywood hunks have started reassessment, though. Last month, Channing Tatum pushed back against a shirtless image of himself from Magic Mike XXL that was flashed in front of the audience of Kelly Clarksons daytime talk show.

Its hard to look like that. Even if you do work out, to be that kind of in shape is not natural, Mr. Tatum said. Thats not even healthy. You have to starve yourself. I dont think when youre that lean, its actually healthy.

Even if there is a long history of celebrating muscled physiques, no form of media has disrupted how young men view their bodies quite like the insatiable voyeurism and staged exhibitionism that fuels platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

Social media is really where young men experience evaluations of their appearance from others, said Veya Seekis, a lecturer at the School of Applied Psychology at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. The more men view their bodies as objects for public display, the more they fear being negatively evaluated, which so often triggers compulsive exercising and other healthy behaviors that can end up having an impact on their well-being.

For three years, Dr. Seekis has been collecting data on the social-media habits of 303 undergraduate men and 198 high school boys in Australia. She has found, in part, that exposure to images of archetypal masculine physiques was linked to low body esteem in young men and an increased desire to become more muscular.

Its a fitness feedback loop that has ensnared Johnny Edwin, 22, a linebacker-size scaffolder from British Columbia, Canada. He said that when he was in high school, he would spend hours glued to YouTube channels like that of Chris Jones, a self-described exercise guru known as Beastmode Jones.

Social media, and the pressure to live up to those guys and have that manly-looking physique, has completely taken over my life, said Mr. Edwin, who still watches weight lifting videos on YouTube.

Three years ago, Mr. Edwin started uploading his own gym-training content on TikTok under the user name Big Boy Yonny, where he has more than 12,000 followers. Even though people are saying I look good or whatever, I know Ill never have a perfect body, he said. If I gain any weight now, Im not going to look as good, which means Ill lose followers.

Pressure for a better body can start as early as elementary school.

Rudy, 17, a senior at a Los Angeles high school, said boys as young as 10 have hit him up on Instagram and YouTube seeking advice on what to eat and how to achieve a Dorito physique, the broad-shouldered triangular shape desired by many fitness influencers.

I just tell them, Have your parents buy you chicken breast or lean meat with white rice and vegetables, Rudy said.

The schoolboy body talk can be startling. Two parents from Burlington, Vt., gave their 13-year-old son permission to use social media for the first time last summer. It opened up this whole new world to him of Instagrammers and YouTubers in muscle shirts, the boys mother said.

Over the next several months, their son became fixated on his lack of muscle definition and complained he felt weak and not the right size. When you have 10 to 20 boys, all in eighth grade, referring back to that content content that has become their goal of what a man is and what they want to look like thats a powerful stew, the mother said.

The boys father said that his son doesnt even have a mans body yet because he hasnt gone through puberty, but he already has this incredibly high standard of what he should look like.

Dr. Jason Nagata, a pediatrician who specializes in adolescent medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, believes that the pandemic may have exacerbated some of these unhealthy behaviors.

The pandemic created a perfect storm for eating disorders with the combination of social isolation, disruption of normal routines and sports seasons, and constantly being in front of cameras through social media or videoconferencing, Dr. Nagata said. A lot of boys had their schedules and regular sports activities interrupted during the pandemic, which caused them to become anxious about either losing or gaining weight.

Dr. Nagata has met with teenage boys who have fainted at the gym sometimes suffering headaches, temporary blackouts and confusion because they overexerted themselves lifting weights and had low energy because of a compulsion to count calories (a condition known as orthorexia).

A study published last year in The Journal of Adolescent Health looked at eating disorders among men throughout young adulthood. By age 16 to 25, one-quarter of the 4,489 male participants told researchers they were worried about not having enough muscles. Eleven percent reported using muscle-building products such as creatine or anabolic steroids.

The consumption of over-the-counter supplements has become so pervasive that dry scooping protein powder consuming it without mixing it in water became a popular TikTok challenge last year. The stunt was dangerous enough to cause health experts to issue a warning that it could lead to wheezing and breathing troubles. Over-consuming powdered protein can also cause problems with metabolism and gut comfort, according to a Finnish meta-analysis.

The line between getting fit and fanatical is not always clear. We know there is a ton of pressure on guys, but disordered behaviors that fall specifically on the more muscular end of the spectrum tend to get a pass publicly, since goal-oriented habits around the gym are socially accepted, glamorized even, said Stuart B. Murray, who directs the eating disorders program at the University of Southern California.

Bigorexia can lead to interpersonal problems too. Many young men who overexercise and follow rigid diets often skip meals with family and friends, and complain of feeling isolated and socially anxious.

Ive completely lost my social skills, said Mr. Edwin, the Canadian TikToker. He frequently misses birthday parties and avoids socializing with friends because he fears the next days workout and how that could affect my muscle growth, he said, adding, there are so many memories that Ive missed because Ive been at the gym. I basically dont leave my house besides for groceries, work and the gym.

Mr. Edwin said that he ignores texts and calls from everybody and rarely finds the time to see his family, who lives 15 minutes away by car.

If there was no social media or internet, I probably wouldnt even care about my physique, to be honest, he said.

Bobby, the high schooler with a big TikTok following, has also experienced the downsides of so much working out. His mood at school may depend on how good he thought he looked that morning.

After school, socializing often takes a back seat to the gym, even though he feels a certain malaise when he sees his classmates on Instagram having a social life. When he does attend a party, he sometimes spends the whole night thinking, he said, I could have been getting an arm pump right now.

At first, he thought a muscular physique might be a way to make new friends, especially among the girls at school. But most of the attention has come from other boys on TikTok looking to get buff.

Your only new friends are the weights, he says in one video.

Audio produced by Kate Winslett.

Read more from the original source:

What Is Bigorexia? - The New York Times

The governments vision of a digital university to reach all students across the country, with its promise of personalized teaching at the doorstep, should be considered a landmark step in Indian education.

While serving on the Harvard Board of Overseers that launched Havardx (which offers free online courses from Harvard University) and Edx (a massive open online course provider by Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology), I was encouraged to see that the enrolment of Indian students for Edx was second only to that of US students. However, sadly only 16% of students completed these digital only courses.

There are many challenges that need to be overcome. Piramal Foundations own experience of working with about 2 million students and 700,000 educators during the pandemic has helped us see the lacunae in a digital-only approach.

Students struggle in their transition to online learning, feel demotivated in the absence of a mentor or peer group, and also struggle with tests and assignments. Teachers, on the other hand, struggle with producing online content and find it difficult to keep children engaged.

What does work is a phygital model that combines online course instruction with weekly or fortnightly in-person educational sessions. As observed, phygital education makes it easier for students to transition to learning online, stay motivated to complete their courses and also complete their tests and assignments. Phygital education also helps teachers keep students engaged, read behaviour patterns among them that may be of relevance, and tailor their delivery accordingly.

A phygital approach alone is not enough, though. We need many more components in order for it to be truly inclusive and game-changing, as it can prove to be.

Here are our key recommendations.

Employ a learning management system that is multi-lingual and accessible: Language barriers are a key challenge to online learning in our country, with such vast diversity of languages and dialects. Videos and frequently asked questions (FAQs) are primarily in English, and students struggle with access, navigation, understanding and synthesizing content. The website interface, applications, support and content for digital learning need to be made available in prominent regional languages. These need to be inclusive in other ways as well, keeping in mind the needs of people with disabilities, so that all learners embark on their learning journey with confidence.

Enable the adoption, retention and completion of courses: Students are overwhelmed with creating online accounts and filling and uploading complex documents, and all this adds to their confusion about using applications. Fixing this requires building their digital literacy through simple, concise learning modules on how to operate a device and engage with a digital platform. Providing on-call support with minimum wait time via call centres, chatbots, etc, will help them overcome teething issues.

Create engaging, immersive learning experiences: Shared teaching-learning experiences that have dipped because of the use of a virtual interface can be rebuilt by promoting a spirit of competition through periodic contests and events which rate performance and boost student motivation levels. A weekly in -person interaction between teachers and students will further enhance the experience for both.

Link peer learners to create strong learning communities: One of the big challenges in digital education is the absence of a peer network. Students cope with the difficulty of studying alone, coupled with the boredom of online education, which can lead to discontinuity and drop-outs. Creating peer learning communities and linking groups of 3-5 students who are located in the same geographical vicinity will bring back joy, while fostering healthy competition and cross-learning.

Improve the quality of instruction on digital platforms: Teachers face unique challenges with infrastructure required to teach online, an inability to adapt to the virtual-lecture mode, especially in the face of poor attendance and lack of real-time student feedback. Educators need to be supported in creating hygiene-checked content and regularly assessed to raise their competence levels. Additionally, curriculum frameworks need to be developed that encourage the creation of competency-based micro modular courses.

Phygital education has the potential to transform education in India. It is the future because it contextualizes and reimagines education. However, we need to put in place an enabling environment that makes students and teachers feel comfortable and confident navigating this space in their own language. Blended education opens up immense opportunities for capacity building among frontline workers. It holds high empowerment potential because it can enable adults, especially women, resume education. Phygital education can serve as an engine of economic growth and a transformative force that empowers every Indian.

SwatiPiramal & Aditya Nataraj are, respectively, vice-chairperson ofPiramalGroup and chief executive officer ofPiramalFoundation.

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Phygital education could prove transformative for the country - Mint