This week on Trial & Error & Error, we’re diving into cancel culture: what it actually means, where it came from, and why “accountability” online can sometimes turn into a full-blown pile-on. ⚠️ Trigger warning: This episode includes mention/discussion of rape/sexual violence. Please take care while listening. 🔊 Quick audio note: The sound quality in this episode isn’t the best in parts (sorry!) — thank you for bearing with us. 📅 New episode out Wednesday — listen wherever you get your podcasts 🎙️ 💬 Question of the week: Have you ever deleted an old post out of fear? 😬 🎧 Episode Overview We talk about digital footprints, screenshots being forever, and the very real anxiety of feeling like one old post could resurface and define you. We explore the gray areas: Does time passed matter? Does intent matter? Are apologies ever “enough”? And should different public figures (politicians vs. reality TV stars vs. comedians) be judged by different standards? Plus, we get into the psychology behind ostracism, outrage algorithms, group polarization, and what all of this does to creativity, growth, and the way Gen Z shows up online. 📚 Resources & References Research Articles & Studies: Ng, E. (2020). No grand pronouncements here…: Reflections on cancel culture and digital media participation. Television & New Media, 21(6), 621–627. Clark, M. D. (2020). DRAG THEM: A brief etymology of “cancel culture.” Communication and the Public, 5(3–4), 88–92. Ronson, J. (2015). So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. Riverhead Books. Williams, K. D. (2007). Ostracism. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 425–452. Williams, K. D., & Nida, S. A. (2011). Ostracism: Consequences and coping. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(2), 71–75. Brady, W. J., Wills, J. A., Jost, J. T., Tucker, J. A., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2017). Emotion shapes the diffusion of moralized content in social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 114(28), 7313–7318. Crockett, M. J. (2017). Moral outrage in the digital age. Nature Human Behaviour, 1, 769–771. Sunstein, C. R. (2002). The law of group polarization. Journal of Political Philosophy, 10(2), 175–195. Myers, D. G., & Lamm, H. (1976). The group polarization phenomenon. Psychological Bulletin, 83(4), 602–627. Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. Haimovitz, K., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). What predicts children’s fixed and growth intelligence mind-sets? Not their parents’ views of intelligence but their parents’ views of failure. Psychological Science, 27(6), 859–869. boyd, d. (2011). Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances, dynamics, and implications. In A Networked Self (pp. 39–58). Routledge. Marwick, A. E., & boyd, d. (2011). I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience. New Media & Society, 13(1), 114–133. American Psychological Association (2022–2023). Stress in America Reports. Twenge, J. M., Joiner, T. E., Rogers, M. L., & Martin, G. N. (2018). Increases in depressive symptoms, suicide-related outcomes, and suicide rates among U.S. adolescents after 2010. Clinical Psychological Science, 6(1), 3–17. Nesi, J. (2020). The impact of social media on youth mental health. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31, 125–129. Massanari, A. (2017). #Gamergate and The Fappening: How Reddit’s algorithm, governance, and culture support toxic technocultures. New Media & Society, 19(3), 329–346. Gillespie, T. (2018). Custodians of the Internet. Yale University Press. CareerBuilder (2018, 2021). Social Media Screening Studies. Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Reports on social media screening in hiring.
