Ben Darlow
@kapowaz.net
Designer/Engineer. Maker of things. Emoji artisan. Keyboard enthusiast (@kapowaz.industries). Coventry City fan. Invented @-replies. Not John Green. Non-American. He/Him.
Pinned
Reposted by Ben Darlow
Reposted by Ben Darlow
If children were more politically active they would be quite pissed to be told that their screen time is “the most urgent public health issue” while the largest measles outbreak since the vaccine sweeps their schools because of conspiracies that the adults in their life believed from social media.
‘It’s the most urgent public health issue’: Dr Rangan Chatterjee on screen time, mental health – and banning social media until 18
‘It’s the most urgent public health issue’: Dr Rangan Chatterjee on screen time, mental health – and banning social media until 18
The hit podcaster, author and former GP says a failure to regulate big tech is ‘failing a generation of children’. He explains why he quit the NHS and why he wants a ban on screen-based homework
www.theguardian.com
February 16, 2026 at 7:52 AM
If children were more politically active they would be quite pissed to be told that their screen time is “the most urgent public health issue” while the largest measles outbreak since the vaccine sweeps their schools because of conspiracies that the adults in their life believed from social media.
Reposted by Ben Darlow
![[Scene is a domestic kitchen. Night time. The room is all blue apart from warm orange-pink light streaming in from a streetlight outside. In the center of the room stands a woman named BRANDI, standing in pyjamas looking contemplative, the light cast dramatically on her face. At the doorway, leaning against the frame, her partner JOEL stands has woken up and found her in the kitchen.]
JOEL:
Honey… what are you doing?
BRANDI:
Can’t sleep
Guess I just like standing in the kitchen at 3am thinking about the supernatural threat we temporarily defeated last year.
While saying that out loud in a manner which sounds casually ironic but is actually just blatant exposition.
JOEL:
Brandi… you're talking strange...
BRANDI:
Dammit Joel.
It’s time you knew.
You're a Netflix character.
[Joel looks shocked]
BRANDI:
Everybody you know has been forced to speak to you in second screen dialogue.
Second screen dialogue helps the people scrolling their phones in front of the TV to follow the -
JOEL:
Stop explaining, Brandi!
[Hands on head, emotional expression, warm pink light cast on his face against the cool blue darkness of the room].
JOEL:
So that's why my entire life has looked so glossy and...
BRANDI:
Yep...
Warm/cool colour graded.
[Cut to a TV show TITLE SCREEN]:
SECOND SCREEN
- A Netflix original -
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiaqlx75zejhvxpgq3f3k6mg2glczck3ooqjrgzzgfsf2xxo6fccwm@jpeg)
Never heard this before and it doesn’t really align with my experience in the early days either. Where has it come from?
Bluesky was literally meant to be a cryptobro social network for grifters, LinkedIn sludge, and libertarians who know way too much about age of consent laws.
Jack Dorsey *left* when instead of weird and off-putting cryptonerds, trans people started hanging out here.
Jack Dorsey *left* when instead of weird and off-putting cryptonerds, trans people started hanging out here.
Can you think of examples where people use technologies differently from what the developers intended, whether unintentionally or as an act of resistance?
February 16, 2026 at 7:56 AM
Never heard this before and it doesn’t really align with my experience in the early days either. Where has it come from?
Reposted by Ben Darlow
the Black Panthers were right
February 15, 2026 at 5:47 PM
the Black Panthers were right
One of the big reasons why this is such a shot of nostalgia is Football Italia came at a time when there was no free, live football in the UK. A whole generation hungry for live games and this was your feast.
Imagine if the Beeb actually secured full rights? Did a Gazzetta magazine show?
Imagine if the Beeb actually secured full rights? Did a Gazzetta magazine show?
This is how BBC Alba introduced Serie A 🥹
February 15, 2026 at 8:57 PM
One of the big reasons why this is such a shot of nostalgia is Football Italia came at a time when there was no free, live football in the UK. A whole generation hungry for live games and this was your feast.
Imagine if the Beeb actually secured full rights? Did a Gazzetta magazine show?
Imagine if the Beeb actually secured full rights? Did a Gazzetta magazine show?
This is how BBC Alba introduced Serie A 🥹
February 15, 2026 at 7:27 PM
This is how BBC Alba introduced Serie A 🥹
Reposted by Ben Darlow
1906. Yep. Wise. Not pissed.
February 14, 2026 at 3:25 PM
1906. Yep. Wise. Not pissed.
Amazingly, the referee got even worse after this.
Villa fans chanting ”you’re not fit to referee” when they should be down to 9-men and their goal shouldn’t have stood is hilarious levels of delusional
February 14, 2026 at 7:54 PM
Amazingly, the referee got even worse after this.
Reposted by Ben Darlow
Villa fans chanting ”you’re not fit to referee” when they should be down to 9-men and their goal shouldn’t have stood is hilarious levels of delusional
February 14, 2026 at 6:55 PM
Villa fans chanting ”you’re not fit to referee” when they should be down to 9-men and their goal shouldn’t have stood is hilarious levels of delusional
No further questions your honour.
February 14, 2026 at 5:55 PM
No further questions your honour.
Is Quentin Tarantino the guest editor of the Northern Echo now
February 13, 2026 at 11:42 PM
Is Quentin Tarantino the guest editor of the Northern Echo now
“My life hack is crippling ennui which I have decided to frame as a virtue!”
Not liking spectator sport is one of the best life hacks going. Over a lifetime you'll end up with literally years of time to dedicate to whatever you want, compared to spending it being pointlessly obsessed with other people playing a game
February 13, 2026 at 5:43 PM
“My life hack is crippling ennui which I have decided to frame as a virtue!”
More bad news for Yannick Bertrand
February 13, 2026 at 5:39 PM
More bad news for Yannick Bertrand
Peter Gabriel is 76 today! Then I realised my dad would be 76 this year too if he was still with us. The inexorable march of time.
February 13, 2026 at 8:16 AM
Peter Gabriel is 76 today! Then I realised my dad would be 76 this year too if he was still with us. The inexorable march of time.
Reposted by Ben Darlow
A non-dom billionaire has about as much right to comment on anything happening in this country as I do about any other country in which I don’t live or pay taxes. Which is to say: zero. Nothing. Shut up Jim Ratcliffe, you’re a citizen of Moneyland and nowhere else.
February 12, 2026 at 2:23 PM
A non-dom billionaire has about as much right to comment on anything happening in this country as I do about any other country in which I don’t live or pay taxes. Which is to say: zero. Nothing. Shut up Jim Ratcliffe, you’re a citizen of Moneyland and nowhere else.
The wheels might have come off our promotion charge but honestly it’s somewhat refreshing not being even close to the most basket case football club in England. #pusb
February 12, 2026 at 8:11 AM
The wheels might have come off our promotion charge but honestly it’s somewhat refreshing not being even close to the most basket case football club in England. #pusb
This is what is so exhausting about the mainstream parties. Rejoining is the goal, the destination. But even saying *that* invokes their tutting eye-rolling cynicism, because they are bereft of ambition or purpose. They just want to be stewards of the status quo.
“Are you firmly in favour of rejoining the European Union?" - Robert Peston
“Firmly very much in favour. Brexit has been a disaster under any criteria, under any measure" - Zack Polanski
“Firmly very much in favour. Brexit has been a disaster under any criteria, under any measure" - Zack Polanski
February 12, 2026 at 8:09 AM
This is what is so exhausting about the mainstream parties. Rejoining is the goal, the destination. But even saying *that* invokes their tutting eye-rolling cynicism, because they are bereft of ambition or purpose. They just want to be stewards of the status quo.
Thomas Frank invited in for a quick chat this morning
February 11, 2026 at 10:38 AM
Thomas Frank invited in for a quick chat this morning
Reposted by Ben Darlow
ONE DOWN
February 11, 2026 at 10:06 AM
ONE DOWN
Why did every website and app suddenly decide to change the icon for ‘share’ to look like an upside down reply icon?
February 11, 2026 at 10:15 AM
Why did every website and app suddenly decide to change the icon for ‘share’ to look like an upside down reply icon?
