Category: Life

‘Free speech’ and Social Media…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Information Technology, Life, social media, Tech for social good

Social media started 2025 with a bang! Mr Musk expressed opinions on X about various UK politicians and UK issues, and Mr Zuckerberg announced the end of Meta’s fact-checking programme and changes to its content moderation policy. These two events produced lots of commentary about social media platforms and ‘free speech’ in the traditional media and in political circles. The Badger sighed on reading much of the discourse because ‘free speech’ has existed long before the existence of social media platforms. There are a wide variety of views about the importance of social media for ‘free speech’, but the Badger’s view is simple. Society as a whole, through its institutions, laws, and cultural norms, is the bastion of ‘free speech’, not Mr Musk, Mr Zuckerberg, or anyone else who owns a social media platform which, let’s not forget, is a business striving to maximise profit from its users.

Musing on some of the media discourse over a coffee on returning from a walk through a snowy park, the Badger’s thoughts converged on three points. The first was that social media is here to stay and cannot be ignored. With ‘free speech’, however, comes responsibility, and this seems to be in relatively short supply in the social media domain. The second was that social media platforms are businesses, and those that own or run them have a vested interest, an inevitable focus on making money, and an aversion to regulation. Messrs Musk, Zuckerberg, and indeed other leaders of massive corporations, will always have ‘an agenda’, and what they say and how they act will always be determined by that agenda and their vested interest. The relationship between  social media and ‘free speech’ must be considered with this in mind.

The third point was more holistic. It embraced more of our  current world’s dynamics. Technology,  ‘free speech’, and social media may be components of world dynamics, but the recent discourse illustrates something about the wielding of power in today’s world. That something is captured by John Lennon’s words uttered a quarter of a century ago. He said ‘Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends, and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it’. He has a point. ’Free speech’ existed when he said those words, and social media didn’t.

As the Badger finished his coffee, he decided that the key take-away from his musing was simply this, not to let tech and social media dominate one’s life. After all, life will go on if social media didn’t exist. Outsourcing one’s life to social media and being a slave to its content is a risky thing to do, but if you do, then keep John Lennon’s words in mind and don’t be naïve about the veracity of the content you consume…

2025 – A year of ‘Strain and Change’…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Information Technology, Leadership, Life, Opinion, Public Institutions, Risk, Technology, Transformation

The festive season is over, and most people are once again embroiled in the routine of normal life. Many start the year mentally refreshed, physically rested, and game for the next challenge, but some do not. And there’s the rub, to use an idiom from Shakespeare, because those starting the year unprepared for a challenge will surely find this year difficult. Why’s that, especially when every year presents challenges that must be dealt with? Well, the omens for 2025 suggest it’s going to be a particularly testing one across a broad range of fronts. As a relative put it over the holiday period, the world order’s changing fast, there’s disgruntlement with political leaders, AI and disruptive advances in digital tech driven by huge corporations continue unabated, retrenchment from the globalisation that’s been a norm for years  is underway, and so ‘Strain and Change’ will be everywhere in 2025.   Those stepping back into life’s rhythms expecting the status quo and unprepared for challenges are thus likely in for a rude awakening.

With this in mind, the Badger found himself chuckling as he read what the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World TV programme predicted in 1995 for 2025. When Professor Stephen Hawking told that programme that ‘Some of these changes are very exciting, and some are alarming. The one thing we can be sure of is that it will be very different, and probably not what we expect’, little did he (or the Badger) know that the Badger’s last post for 2024 would echo the same sentiment! The Badger started wondering what advice Professor Hawking, who produced many pearls of wisdom, might have given us at the start of a year of ‘Change and Strain’. After a little research, the Badger decided he would simply concatenate two of his memorable pearls of wisdom to say:

‘It is very important for young people to keep their sense of wonder and keep asking why. It’s a crazy world out there. Be curious. However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at’.

This seems apt in many ways, but especially for today’s always on, social media dominated, digital world where Hawking’s sentiment can be expressed as  ‘Don’t take anything you read, watch, or hear at face value. Be curious, ask questions, and always believe that you can take action to better your situation’. The Badger thinks that ‘Strain and Change’ is the drumbeat of 2025 technologically, nationally, geopolitically, commercially, and economically. Accordingly, whatever challenges lay ahead, they must be faced with the mindset embodied in Professor Hawking’s concatenated words above. As for the Badger? Well, he’s motivated, refreshed, and well prepared. The only status quo he’s anticipating in 2025 is the continuation of timeless, good, vintage music of which ’Living on an Island’ is a good example…

Looking forward…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Information Technology, IT Project Management, Leadership, Life

Do you know exactly what you were doing at a specific time on Christmas Eve 45 years ago? Regardless of your age, it’s unlikely that you do! But the Badger does. He and his brothers were helping their father complete deliveries so that he could get home at a reasonable time on Christmas Eve. We’d started at 3am, and on completing the last delivery in the middle of the afternoon we were exhausted! The Badger remembers the time, location, the weather, and what we were wearing for this last delivery because one of his brothers had a 35mm camera with him and asked a passerby to take a photo of us in front of the delivery vehicle. That photo is date and time-stamped and is cherished by the Badger and his brothers.

What’s this got to do with ‘looking forward’? Well, the Badger’s father, who’s no longer with us, never made predictions about the year ahead. Being orphaned while an evacuee from London during the Second World War meant he dealt with life one day at a time. The unpredictability of the future world and his personal circumstances made not looking beyond tomorrow routine. He joined the Army as soon as he was old enough to, as he put it, ‘get an education, some semblance of  structure and family, and to establish good life skills and standards’. He thrived, served in Germany and the Middle East, and only left the service to marry.

The Badger and his brothers frequently heard mantras rooted in his Army days and childhood experiences while growing up. Advice like ‘there’s no such thing as can’t, try’, ‘if you’re knocked back, pull yourself together and start again’, and ‘learn from your mistakes but don’t dwell on the past, look forward to the future’ were heard frequently. His favourites were ‘remember, if it looks wrong, feels wrong, smells wrong, or sounds wrong, then it’s wrong’, ‘if something untoward happens don’t ignore it, deal with it’, and ‘look forward,  because you can’t change the past’. He often said he never made predictions about the future because he’d learned that the future never turned out the way anyone expected. The Badger has thus resisted the temptation to express any opinion about what 2025 will hold. While ‘look forward, because you can’t change the past’ continues to be a key ethos, his father was right – the future will almost certainly turn out to be different to what’s anticipated!

Thank you for reading the Badger’s Blog during 2024,  and best wishes for Christmas and the New Year. The Badger and his brothers will be toasting those of the pre-internet/tech generation who are no longer with us because they provided a drumbeat of sound advice and wisdom that’s become much diluted in today’s world. Merry Christmas!

Banning social media for the under-16s…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Education, Ethics & Regulation, Information Technology, Life, Online Safety, social media, Tech for social good, Wellbeing

Richard Holway,  a well-known, respected, and influential analyst in the UK software and IT services markets, penned an item last week for TechMarketView entitled ‘What have we done?’. The item relates to the harm that social media and smartphones are doing to children. As a grandparent with a background in software and IT services, and having a grandchild who’s just started school, it struck a chord and reinforced the Badger’s own opinion that they have indeed caused great harm for children under 16. Holding this view doesn’t make the Badger, or anyone else with the same opinion come to that, an anti-tech dinosaur, just a human being who is pro technology that has safety, security, privacy, and human well-being as its paramount priorities. When it comes to ensuring the best for children in their formative years, it seems to be mainly the unprincipled and unscrupulous who argue about having these as dominant priorities.

History is littered with ‘products’ of one kind or another that were widely popular but were ultimately recognised over time as being a danger to human well-being. Plastics, DDT, cigarettes, fossil fuels, asbestos, paint with lead in it, illustrate the point. Did you know that a century ago cigarettes were advertised as being beneficial for asthma and anxiety? Also, incredibly popular patent medicines in the 19th and early 20th centuries  had no restrictions on what they contained. Many contained cocaine, morphine, and heroin. A very popular cough mixture for children did, indeed, include  heroin! Things, of course, changed once society eventually realised the scale of addiction and early deaths that occurred. It has long seemed to the Badger that aspects of our rampant tech-dominated world, especially with regard to social media, are following this same historical template, especially when it comes to use by children.

In little more than two decades, social media has evolved from being a novel way of staying connected to family and friends, into a powerful global force that shapes many dimensions of daily life. Evidence that social media has harmful effects on children is growing all the time. Science shows that social media causes the release of large amounts of dopamine into the human brain just like addictive drugs such as heroin, and even alcohol. No wonder it’s easy to get hooked!

Like Mr Holway, the Badger fully supports the ban on smartphones and social media apps for children under the age of 16. As you can see here, the legal age in the UK is 18 to buy alcohol, tobacco products, knives, and certain types of DVDs and games. The legal age is 16 to buy pets and animals, petrol, matches, and to be in fulltime employment. Why, therefore, shouldn’t smartphones and social media apps be banned for children under the age of 16? As Mr Spock from Star Wars would say, ‘Isn’t it illogical, Jim, to do otherwise?’

Today’s cutting edge is tomorrow’s obsolescence…

Posted on by The Information Badger in AI & Robotics, Automation, Driverless transport, Information Technology, Internet of Things, Life, Online Services, Smart & New Technology, Technology

As the Badger sat in traffic, a news item on the car radio grabbed his attention. It was a report that there are now no new car models in the UK that come with a CD player. The built-in CD player is joining the cassette tape player in the great scrapyard in the sky! The Badger’s reaction on listening to the report? A little sadness, but not surprised given the speedy evolution of in-car digital infotainment over the last 15 years. The march of connected, integrated, digital technology and the advent of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto have rendered CDs in vehicles obsolete. The Badger glanced at the half-dozen music CDs, a mix of factory-pressed and self-burned, resting in the cubbyhole behind the handbrake and was hit by a wave of nostalgia.

Nostalgia is a natural and common human experience that can help in navigating the  present by drawing comfort and strength from the past. The Badger has a kinship  with his car CDs because they’ve often been played during notable journeys full of either happiness or great sadness. There’s something personally satisfying and engaging about physically selecting a CD, taking it from its case, putting it into the car’s player, adjusting the volume, and then doing the reverse when the last track’s played. Tapping a digital screen or giving voice commands to play your music in a vehicle is a different, less engaging experience. The Badger’s CDs will continue to be played in his car until it too is beckoned by the great scrapyard in the sky.

The demise of in-car CD players is just another illustration that obsolescence is an unavoidable aspect of the rapidly advancing digital age. In the 1980s, the CD put the in-car cassette tape on the path to oblivion with the fitment of cassette players as standard in new vehicles ending completely in the first decade of this century. Now digital systems sourcing music and other entertainment from the ether have essentially done the same thing for the CD player. This implies, of course, that what’s replacing the CD in vehicles today will itself become obsolete in due course, especially as obsolescence is happening faster and faster in the consumer electronics, software, media and entertainment, manufacturing, and automotive industries.

Things once acclaimed as cutting edge are always eventually relegated to the side lines by something else, so what will in-car entertainment look like in a few decades time? Well, if mass adoption of truly self-driving cars becomes a reality, then occupants will absorb entertainment without the distraction of actually driving. In-car entertainment will be dominated by immersive technologies, AI, well-being/mood sensors, and so on, making the driving experience into something akin to that of lazing about in a mobile digital living room. The thought makes the Badger shudder because it represents  another step towards the potential obsolescence of the human race!

The price for being a Digital Citizen…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Digital Transformation, Information Technology, Life, Online Safety, Online Services, Privacy and Surveillance, Risk, Security, social media, Tech for social good

The vast majority of people are now ‘digital citizens’. There are many definitions of what being a digital citizen means, but the Badger thinks the term simply describes anyone who regularly uses the internet, online services, and IT to engage with social society, business, work, politics, and government. Becoming a digital citizen, in the Badger’s view, starts when any individual acquires an email address and then shares information online, uses e-commerce to buy merchandise, uses any other online service, or simply browses the internet. Everyone reading this is a digital citizen.

The Badger’s been a digital citizen for more years than he cares to admit to, but over the last decade he’s become circumspect and increasingly alarmed by the deterioration in responsible use of online technology and the internet by individuals and organisations. Yesterday the Badger helped an elderly neighbour carry their shopping bags the last few metres to their doorstep and was invited in for a quick cup of tea as a thank you. During the ensuing conversation, the Badger’s neighbour, a sharp 85-year-old ex-civil servant, mentioned they were a digital agnostic who strongly believed that the digital world has produced a surveillance society. They have a point, especially when you consider the following.

Supermarkets know what we purchase and when from our online transactions and use of debit and loyalty cards. They use this data for their business and to market products to us via, for example, voucher and loyalty point schemes. They don’t sell the data to others, but its theft by bad actors via security breaches can never be ruled out. The same is true for other retail companies. And then there’s the online giants like Amazon, Google, and Meta et al who capture so much data about our interests, behaviours, and habits that they often know more about a person than the person knows about themselves. All of this coupled with the fact that energy, transport, banking, central and local government functions are now also ‘online first’,  just reinforces the fact that the data describing our personal lives is in the digital ether and can be used for purposes which are invisible to most people.

Putting this together holistically with the fact that the UK has one of the highest densities of CCTV cameras amongst Western countries, with approximately 1 camera for every 13 people, it’s difficult to deny that the digital world has produced a surveillance society in barely 25 years. The price for being a digital citizen is thus personal acceptance of more and more surveillance. But here’s an interesting thought to end this musing with. Digital citizens are not just victims of surveillance, they are perpetrators too! Anyone who has checked out others using social media or internet searches has essentially engaged in surveillance. The digital world has thus made us all spies…

CEEFAX, pocket calculators, and the best music ever…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Change, Information Technology, Learning, Life, Science & Engineering, Technology

The postman pushed a package through the letterbox. The delivery of anything by a regular postman is always a surprise these days, especially when no one is expecting it! As the Badger bent down to pick the package up, alarm bells went off in his head as the security training during his career kicked in. Could this be something dangerous? These fleeting thoughts were quickly allayed because there was a return to sender name and address handwritten across the sealed end. It was from an old friend that the Badger had caught up with recently over Zoom. The package was opened to reveal two CD-ROMs holding 40 of his friend’s favourite songs from the 1970s.

The Badger chuckled. His friend is an entertainer who’s passionate about the music of the 1970s, and during our Zoom session we had reminisced about the music and technology of that decade, and our good times together. They had sent the CDs to test if the Badger still has devices that play this ‘old technology’ that first arrived in the early 1980s. The Badger has, and the sounds of the 1970’s filled the home for the rest of the day! Tunes like ‘Mouldy old Dough’ by Lieutenant Pigeon, ‘Sundown’ by Gordon Lightfoot, ‘Joybringer’ by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, and ‘It’s Only Rock and Roll’ by the Rolling Stones’ echoed through the house as a reminder that they were part of the soundtrack to the 1970s decade of innovation and technological change.

The Badger remembers the BBC’s launch of CEEFAX 50 years ago in 1974! It was a world first allowing viewers to access text-based information on their TV sets – an internet before the internet! The same decade saw the arrival of battery-operated pocket electronic calculators, electronic ignition systems becoming standard on cars, microprocessors, the start of Apple and Microsoft, the 747 Jumbo Jet, Concorde commercial flights, MRI machines, the Sony Walkman, barcodes, floppy discs and email. There were countless scientific and technological advances, and also an oil crisis and the emergence of Punk!

Today’s life is dominated by digital technology that was science fiction in the 1970s. Developments since have been phenomenal and made the Badger’s career in IT always interesting, perpetually challenging, rewarding, and full of learning. So, if you are a student about to start, for example, a new year at University, then work hard, be inquisitive, learn as much as you can, extend your interests and boundaries, and remember that the technology you use today will be obsolete before long. Remember that today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s reality, and that good music will be played for decades and transcend the generations. After all, music from bands like Abba, Pink Floyd, the Eagles, Queen, Blondie and many more is still popular today proving that the best music ever comes the 1970s!

In a world of complication, simplicity is best…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Change, Digital Transformation, Information Technology, Life, Smart & New Technology, Technology

The need to replace a broken light switch this week made the Badger think about how the march of digital technology produces a world of complication for the average person. Visiting a local electrical store for a new switch, one that simply turns the lights on or off when you press its rocker, led to a discussion with the store owner, a friend of a friend. They asked if the Badger wanted a ‘normal’ switch or a ‘smart ‘one. The Badger said the former. The shop was quiet, so we chatted.

Knowing the Badger’s IT background, the owner expressed surprise that he didn’t want a ‘smart’ switch that controlled lights using a smartphone app. The owner isn’t actually a fan of ‘smart’ lighting products for the home, but they sell them because they are a highly profitable product line with Millennials apparently the main customers, although sales had dropped recently. The Badger said a conventional switch served his need because it was simple, performed its primary function well (turning a light on or off), and devoid of complications like having a smartphone, an app, a Wi-Fi network or worrying about data security. The owner chuckled and called the Badger a dinosaur! ‘You won’t be buying one of my ‘smart’ fridges or washing machines then?’ they asked waving towards models in the store. They knew the answer.

A discussion on the pros and cons of ‘smart’ fridges and washing machines ensued. The owner believes that most customers for these items never used their digital and network features to the full. Most, they asserted, just used the standard functions that are found on more traditional, cheaper, models. We agreed that competition between manufacturers to add more ‘smart home’ capabilities to their products meant they’ve  become packed with features that make the units more complicated for the average person to use. What’s wrong with a simple to use fridge or washing machine that just concentrates on its fundamental purpose at a sensible price? Nothing, we concluded as the conversation drew to an end with an influx of new customers.

Since the 1980s, when the information technology landscape we have today didn’t exist, a host of technological and societal changes have occurred. Computational power, the internet, the digitisation of data, systems that interact independently, and new business models have had a massive impact, and many people still struggle with the changes and complications to their daily lives. Technology will complicate daily life for the foreseeable future, but people are beginning to shun technology for the simplicity of  traditional and familiar things that work and have done so for years. Do you really need to be able to talk to your fridge and washing machine? Just because modern technology means you can, doesn’t mean you should….

The Law of Unintended Consequences…

Posted on by The Information Badger in AI & Robotics, Digital Transformation, Information Technology, Life, Online Safety, Online Services, Privacy and Surveillance, social media, Technology

If you’ve a couple of minutes spare then read the item here. It was published in 2013 and what’s striking is that the exact same words could be used if it had been written today! A 2010 item, ‘Technology: The law of unintended consequences’, by the same author also stands the test of time. Reading both has caused the Badger to muse on unintended consequences, especially those that have emerged from the digital and online world over the last few decades.

The ‘Law of Unintended Consequences’ is real and is, in essence, quite simple. It declares that every action by a person, company, or government can have positive or negative consequences that are unforeseen. An amusing manifestation of the law in action happened in 2016 when a UK Government agency conducted an online poll for the public to name the agency’s latest polar research ship. The public’s choice, Boaty McBoatface, wasn’t the kind of name the agency anticipated!

One characteristic of unintended consequences is that they tend to emerge over a long period. The internet and social media illustrate this neatly. Both have changed the behaviour of people (especially the young), companies, and governments, and both have challenged safety, security, and privacy like never before. Indeed, the Australian government’s recent decision to ban those under 16 years old from social media demonstrates just how long it’s taken to address some of social media’s unintended consequences since its advent a couple of decades ago.

During his IT career, the Badger participated in delivering the many benefits of digital and online technology to society, but now, more mindful of unintended consequences, he wonders if a future dominated by virtuality, AI, and colossal tech corporations is a good thing for his grandson’s generation. After all, the online and digital world is not where real, biological, life takes place, and there’s more to life than being a slave to our devices.

The ‘Law of Unintended Consequences’ can never be ignored. Although a professional and disciplined approach to progress always reduces the scope for unintended consequences, the fact is these will happen. This means, for example, that there’ll be unintended consequences from the likes of AI, driverless vehicles, and robots at home, and that, in practice, it will take years for these unintended consequences to emerge properly. But emerge they will!

Looking back over recent decades, it’s clear that digital and online technology has delivered benefits. It’s also clear that it’s brought complication, downsides, and unintended consequences to the lives of people in all age groups. The Badger’s concluded that we need a law that captures the relationship between progress, unintended consequences, and real life. So, here’s Badger’s Law: ‘Progress always produces unintended consequences that complicate and compromise the real life of people’. Gosh, it’s astonishing where articles penned over a decade ago can take your thoughts…

‘The Magic Roundabout’ and the tech industry…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Diversity, Human Resources, Information Technology, Leadership & Management, Life, Online Services, Technology

The  Magic Roundabout was a beloved children’s programme on UK television between 1965 and 1977. It was produced using stop-motion animation, and it achieved cult status with children and adults alike. Its human characters were Florence, a young girl, and Mr Rusty, the elderly operator of the roundabout. The other main characters were Zebedee the talking jack-in-the box with magical powers, Brian the snail, Ermintrude the cow, and Dylan the hippy-like, guitar-playing, dopey rabbit! It was essential tea-time viewing at the time, and it’s use of stop-motion animation was groundbreaking.

Children’s television programmes, and the technology creating them, have changed vastly since the last episode aired in 1977, and the Badger recently found himself unexpectedly engaged in a conversation comparing ‘The Magic Roundabout’ with today’s tech/IT industry! The conversation happened while visiting a local shop that buys and sells vintage vinyl music records. It’s a lively, friendly establishment, where browsing is encouraged while the owner plays vintage records on turntables behind the till. The Badger’s visit was ostensibly to enquire if any of the vinyl he still has from his youth is of interest to collectors. Before asking, the Badger browsed the shops offerings and a disc from 1975, ‘Funky Moped’ by Jasper Carrot with ‘Magic Roundabout’ on the B-side, caught his eye. It was hard to supress a grin!

Enquiring about the Badger’s own vintage records ultimately led to two things. Firstly, a realisation that some of them are rare and have notable value. One, for example, is his mono Rolling Stones ‘Let it Bleed’ LP in pristine original condition with its original poster. Secondly, it started a discussion with the shop’s owner that ended up not only comparing ‘The Magic Roundabout’ with the tech industry, but also agreeing that Jasper Carrot’s irreverent ‘Magic Roundabout’ routine was, let’s say, of its time!   

It felt surreal comparing ‘The Magic Roundabout’ with the tech industry in a vintage record shop, especially when more similarities emerged than expected. The television programme, for example, featured diverse characters with unique traits and perspectives, and it’s whimsical scripts led to surprising outcomes. The tech industry also features diverse characters with unique traits, skills, and perspectives, and the industry produces surprising outcomes. Both employ advanced techniques embodying creativity, innovation, adaptability, and cross-generation interconnectedness. Both also evoke nostalgia. Who, for example, doesn’t fondly recall their early tech devices and their first forays accessing the internet?

The Badger eventually left the shop reminded that a face-to-face conversation with another person is always an interesting and thought-provoking experience, regardless of what you talk about. Face-to-face conversations are something we should all do more of in today’s world. Walking home, the Badger had the phrase ‘Boing, said Zebedee’ rattling in his head. Hmm, perhaps ‘Boing, said Elon’ might be more apt for today’s world…