Is the internet really ruining everything, or are we just looking at it wrong?
Ruined By The Internet? uses technology as a lens to investigate its effects on society, culture, and modern life.
Not products. Not industry news. The human costs of the digital world we all inhabit - whether we wanted them or not.
Through conversations with psychologists, musicians, political scientists, FBI investigators, anthropologists, economists, researchers, and experts from every field technology has touched, each episode takes a social or cultural focal point and examines it from every angle.
How is social media changing us? Is AI reshaping human behaviour? And what are the real consequences of our very online lives?
Ruined By The Internet? is created, hosted and produced by Gareth King.
New investigations drop regularly - follow or subscribe wherever you listen.
Visit us: https://www.ruinedbytheinternet.com/
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The Human Identity: Authenticity or Algorithmic Performance? | Social Media, Digital Identity & Online Personas
Saturday, October 18, 2025 • Duration 41:34
The internet promised a world of self-expression and genuine connection. But has it instead encouraged us to build performative versions of ourselves - curated by algorithms and validated by likes - until we've lost track of who we actually are?
Welcome to Ruined By The Internet? - the show where we examine how technology is shaping modern life - whether we want it to or not.
We're joined by Colin Corby - Digital Detox Coach, Technologist, and CEO of Technology Wellbeing - who helps people reclaim their identity from the platforms designed to reshape it, and understands better than most the psychological cost of living online.
In this episode we investigate how social media has separated our online and offline selves, examine the psychological toll of performing an identity for algorithmic approval, explore the role of influencers in reshaping how we measure our own self-worth, and ask whether AI is accelerating the identity crisis - or offering a way out of it.
(00:00) The internet's impact on human identity
(02:49) Curating online versus offline selves, and the gap between them
(05:46) The psychological effects of social media on who we think we are
(08:51) The role of influencers in shaping identity and self-worth
(11:57) The stress of maintaining an online performance indefinitely
(14:44) AI and the future of human identity: help or accelerant?
(17:46) The case for digital detox and what it actually achieves
(21:00) The psychological toll of a permanent online record
(24:05) Empathy in the digital age: is it surviving?
(27:00) AI's role in the workplace and what it means for professional identity
(30:07) The future of human identity in a technology-driven world
(36:19) Cyborgs and the evolution of human identity
Key takeaways:
• Curated Online Personas: Because our digital footprints create an unerasable, lifelong record, users routinely self-censor and curate flat, two-dimensional versions of themselves online.
• Migration of Primal Social Instincts: Human biological needs for safety and group status have migrated onto social media platforms. Digital currency such as likes and shares exploits these instincts, causing profound mental health issues and inadequacy.
• Illusion of Easy Success: Influencer culture propagates the false appearance that everything in life is effortless. In reality, maintaining this endless content treadmill induces severe stress and burnout, forcing a growing number of influencers to temporarily step away from their online identities.
• Outsourcing and the AI Detox: As corporate tech pushes for agentic AI to automate tasks and mirror human behaviours online, humanity risks outsourcing critical thinking and problem-solving skills – defaulting to the "new average" generated by technology
Human Resources: The Era of Digital Reductionism? | AI Hiring, Workplace Surveillance & HR Technology
Saturday, October 11, 2025 • Duration 33:11
The internet promised to make human resources more efficient, objective, and data-driven. But has it instead turned a human-centric discipline into an automated, impersonal system - introducing new ethical concerns, workplace surveillance, and privacy risks that nobody signed up for?
Welcome to Ruined By The Internet? - the show where we examine how technology is shaping modern life - whether we want it to or not.
We're joined by Dr Justine Ferrer - Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management at the Deakin Business School - whose research sits at the intersection of people, technology, and the ethics of how organisations treat the humans inside them.
In this episode we investigate how automation and AI have reshaped HR practices, examine the tension between efficiency and the human touch in people management, explore the surveillance and data privacy risks that digital HR systems have introduced, and ask whether AI can ever be genuinely unbiased in hiring - or whether it simply encodes existing inequalities at scale.
(00:00) The internet's impact on human resources and people management
(02:57) The shift toward strategic HR, and what got left behind
(06:00) Balancing automation and the human touch in a digital workplace
(08:47) Workplace surveillance and the erosion of employee trust
(11:53) Data privacy and security challenges in modern HR systems
(14:48) How small businesses are navigating HR technology without the resources
(17:57) AI, algorithmic bias, and the future of hiring
(20:55) The skills HR professionals need to survive the automation wave
(23:43) Building an ethical framework for AI in human resources
Ruined By The Internet? - Trailer
Saturday, July 12, 2025 • Duration 00:49
The internet promised to connect us, inform us, and set us free.
But what if the reality's been something else entirely?
Ruined By The Internet? investigates technology's effects on society, culture, and modern life.
Not products. Not industry news. The human costs of the digital world we all inhabit — whether we wanted them or not.
Through conversations with leading experts from every field the internet has touched, each episode takes a single human question and examines it from every angle, seeking the reality beyond technology’s endless hype.
Has social media rewired how we connect? Is AI displacing not just jobs but judgement? And what are the real world consequences of our very online lives?
Video Games: From Finished Art to Perpetual Product? | Gaming Industry, Microtransactions, Esports & Game Development
Tuesday, September 30, 2025 • Duration 48:31
Through predatory monetisation, rushed development, and profits placed firmly over player enjoyment, has the internet turned one of the world's great creative mediums into a subscription-driven, microtransaction-riddled shadow of what it once promised to be?
Welcome to Ruined By The Internet? - the show where we examine how technology is shaping modern life - whether we want it to or not.
We're joined by Steve Wright - owner and Editor-in-Chief of Stevivor.com, Australia's leading independent video games outlet - who has covered the gaming industry's digital transformation from the inside, and understands better than most what's been gained, what's been lost, and what the industry refuses to admit.
In this episode we investigate how games-as-a-service transformed player relationships with the medium, examine the rise of microtransactions and subscription models and who they really serve, explore the democratisation of development through indie games and what it's produced, and ask whether the internet's connectivity has saved gaming culture or simply created new ways to exploit it.
(00:00) Introduction and Steve's journey to video game journalism
(02:22) The internet's impact on gaming: the good, the bad, and the predatory
(04:31) Games as a service: how consumer behaviour changed and why
(07:19) From local to online: how connectivity changed the community experience
(11:49) The evolution of game design and storytelling in a connected world
(15:38) Quality control in the age of day-one patches and rushed releases
(17:59) Community feedback and developer response: does it actually work?
(21:27) Indie games, nostalgia, and the democratisation of game development
Journalism & News: From Fact-Checking to Attention-Seeking? | Media Trust, Misinformation & Citizen Journalism
Saturday, September 20, 2025 • Duration 48:33
The internet promised unlimited reach, direct engagement, and a more informed world. But has it instead devalued expertise - creating a clicks and outrage economy where speed reigns over accuracy, and trust in journalism has never been lower?
Welcome to Ruined By The Internet? - the show where we examine how technology is shaping modern life - whether we want it to or not.
We're joined by John DeDakis - award-winning novelist, writing coach, public speaker, and former CNN Senior Copy Editor - who spent his career at the sharp end of broadcast journalism and understands better than most what the internet did to the craft, the industry, and the public's ability to tell truth from noise.
In this episode we investigate how the internet transformed journalism from a trusted institution into a clicks-driven economy, examine the rise of citizen journalism and what it costs when everyone is a reporter, explore AI's role in accelerating both the misinformation crisis and potential solutions, and ask whether media literacy is enough to save an informed society - or whether the damage is already done.
(00:00) John's journey through journalism and what it taught him
(02:16) How the internet fundamentally changed what journalism is
(03:52) Scepticism, trust, and why digital news is so hard to believe
(06:25) The challenges facing editors in a speed-over-accuracy culture
(08:48) The shift toward clickbait and what happened to investigative journalism
(11:35) The rise of citizen journalism: democratisation or dangerous free-for-all?
(13:55) The role of AI in journalism: tool, threat, or both?
(16:37) The future of content creation in a world of infinite noise
(19:14) The ethics of AI in journalism: where are the lines?
Broadcast Television: The Digital Dismantling of an Entire Industry? | Streaming, Netflix & On-Demand Viewing
Monday, September 8, 2025 • Duration 47:56
By replacing linear, scheduled programming with vast libraries of on-demand content, has the internet toppled the business models and power structures of traditional television for good - or just created a new set of gatekeepers in different packaging?
Welcome to Ruined By The Internet? - the show where we examine how technology is shaping modern life - whether we want it to or not.
We're joined by Amanda Lotz - award-winning author, professor, and research leader at Queensland University of Technology's Digital Media Research Centre - whose work on the post-network era makes her one of the world's leading authorities on what the internet did to television, and where it's heading next.
In this episode we investigate how on-demand viewing dismantled the traditional broadcast model, examine Netflix's role in reshaping audience expectations and industry metrics, explore what the fragmentation of television means for local content and public broadcasting, and ask whether we're living through a golden age of television - or just an age of overwhelming choice.
(00:00) The evolution of television and how media studies has tried to keep up
(03:02) The internet's impact on traditional broadcast television
(05:34) The post-network era explained: what it means and why it matters
(08:12) How audience behaviour and viewing habits have fundamentally changed
(10:34) The role of technology in reshaping the viewing experience itself
(13:21) Why on-demand viewing was always inevitable, and what that tells us
(15:45) Netflix's influence on the streaming landscape and viewer expectations
(18:14) The Australian broadcasting landscape in a global streaming world
(20:41) How success is measured in a fragmented, algorithm-driven market
The Job Hunt: Built to Harvest Data, not People? | AI Recruitment, Job Applications & Hiring Technology
Saturday, August 30, 2025 • Duration 43:43
It was once a very human-centric process. But has the internet transformed looking for work into an automated, opaque, and intensely competitive digital gauntlet - where algorithms screen you out before a human ever reads your name?
Welcome to Ruined By The Internet? - the show where we examine how technology is shaping modern life - whether we want it to or not.
We're joined by Edan Haddock - Global Head of Talent and People Experience at Movember - who works at the meeting point of human connection and hiring technology, and is exactly the right person to ask about what happens if recruitment becomes a purely digital process.
In this episode we investigate how AI and automation have reshaped the recruitment process from both sides, examine the ethical implications of algorithmic hiring and the biases it encodes, explore what it takes to maintain genuine human connection in a virtualised hiring environment, and ask whether the future of recruitment will be more human than ever - or less.
(00:00) Introduction to Movember and Edan's role in talent and people experience
(03:07) The evolution of talent acquisition: how technology changed everything
(05:20) The impact of digital communication on interviews and what gets lost
(08:12) Building genuine human connections in a digitalised hiring process
(10:55) The application process: quality versus quantity and who wins
(13:21) The biggest misconceptions in talent acquisition today
(15:49) The role of AI in recruitment: where it helps and where it doesn't
(18:34) The AI arms race in hiring: candidates versus algorithms
(22:47) Addressing bias in AI recruitment: can it ever be truly fair?
Dating & Relationships: A Dehumanising Paradox of Infinite Choice? | Dating Apps, Online Dating & Digital Relationships
Sunday, August 24, 2025 • Duration 46:00
The internet promised unprecedented connection. But has it instead damaged the quality and authenticity of dating - offering endless choice, a shopping mentality, and a reduced emphasis on the kind of genuine, in-person connection that actually leads somewhere?
Welcome to Ruined By The Internet? - the show where we examine how technology is shaping modern life - whether we want it to or not.
We're joined by Elly Klein - professional dating mentor, author, and founder of Your Dating Bestie - whose career is built on helping people navigate a dating landscape the internet fundamentally broke, and who has seen every way the apps fail the people using them.
In this episode we investigate how online dating transformed romance into a numbers game, examine the pitfalls that trap even the most well-intentioned daters, explore how generational attitudes toward dating have shifted in a swipe-driven world, and ask whether the perfect dating profile is the solution, or part of the problem.
(00:00) The internet's impact on dating and what it fundamentally changed
(03:09) The most common pitfalls of online dating and how to avoid them
(06:10) The numbers game: why online dating feels like a full time job
(09:01) The shopping mentality in dating and what it's doing to genuine connection
(12:01) Crafting a dating profile that actually represents who you are
(15:07) Understanding preferences and filters: helpful boundaries or missed opportunities?
(22:35) Navigating preferences in dating: where to hold firm and where to stay open
(29:01) How technology is changing the nature of relationships themselves
(35:03) Practical strategies for success in the online dating landscape
Magic & Illusion: Secrets Killed 60 Seconds at a Time? | Illusion, Social Media & Magic Performance
Thursday, August 14, 2025 • Duration 46:31
By demystifying the craft, exposing its secrets, and reducing complex tricks to bite-sized content, has the internet eroded the very foundation of magic - mystery itself?
Welcome to Ruined By The Internet? - the show where we examine how technology is shaping modern life - whether we want it to or not.
We're joined by Cosentino - Australia's most successful magician, illusionist, and escape artist, known to audiences around the world as The Grand Illusionist - who has built a career on creating wonder in a world that wants to know how everything works, and has more to say about the internet's impact on his craft than you might expect.
In this episode we investigate how social media and digital exposure have changed the relationship between magicians and their audiences, examine the tension between transparency and mystery in a world that can Google anything, explore how technology has simultaneously threatened and enhanced the art of illusion, and ask whether wonder can survive in an age of instant answers.
(00:00) The journey to becoming The Grand Illusionist
(04:07) How technology changed the art and business of magic
(07:37) The evolution of performance styles in a digital age
(12:05) Navigating fame and social media as a performing artist
(17:06) The tension between keeping secrets and the internet's hunger for exposure
(22:47) How magic has evolved to survive - and thrive - in the digital age
(27:45) The impact of technology on live magic performance
(31:46) The art of creating genuine wonder when audiences have seen everything
(37:13) How Cosentino leverages technology to enhance rather than diminish the craft
(41:20) Advice for aspiring magicians trying to build a career in a demystified world
Child Safety: Public Platforms Full of Private Predators? | Online Safety, Cyberbullying, Social Media & Digital Parenting
Monday, July 28, 2025 • Duration 52:11
Many people - especially parents - feel that the internet has seriously compromised the safety, wellbeing, and innocence of young people, exposing them to risks the offline world struggles to contain. But is that really the case, and if so, what can actually be done about it?
Welcome to Ruined By The Internet? - the show where we examine how technology is shaping modern life - whether we want it to or not.
We're joined by Brett Lee - Cyber Safety Advocate, Author, and Founder of Internet Safe Education - who has spent his career on the frontline of this issue, working directly with young people, parents, and schools, and has seen the full spectrum of what the internet does to children when adults aren't paying attention.
In this episode we investigate how online risks to young people have evolved as the internet has changed, examine the platform features specifically harmful to younger users and why they exist, explore the role parents can realistically play in protecting children in a digital world, and ask whether legislation and community action can ever keep pace with the risks the internet keeps creating.
(00:00) Introduction to cyber safety education and why it matters
(03:08) How internet dangers have evolved as the technology has changed
(05:56) Online predators: who they are, how they operate, and why young people are vulnerable
(09:38) How technology shapes young people's perception of the world
(11:52) The platform features most harmful to young users and why they exist
(17:07) Age restrictions on social media: do they actually work?
(19:30) Cyberbullying and anonymity: the dangers of a world where school never ends
(25:53) The role parents can realistically play, and how technology also enables creativity
(26:50) The future of human resources in a technology-driven world
Key takeaways:
• Strategic Shift vs. Wellbeing: Historically focused on employee welfare, modern HR has transformed into a strategic corporate function that increasingly leverages technology to drive efficiency over traditional human-centric care.
• Automation as Liberation or Reductionism: While systems can automate menial administrative tasks to free up staff for more meaningful work, the total automation of processes risks reducing unique, complex human beings to mere commodity data points.
• Care vs. Coercion: While marketed under the guise of employee care and health monitoring, invasive employer surveillance tech solutions often manifest as a coercive cultural force that breeds deep worker cynicism and distrust.
• Demands of the Analytical Skill Set: Rather than completely replacing the workforce, the rise of autonomous programs and generative AI demands a massive upskilling in human data interpretation. HR professionals must possess critical thinking, analytical skills, and prompt engineering expertise to actively audit algorithms for data errors and inherent biases.
If this episode got you thinking, check out:
Brand Trust: The Era of Algorithmic Enshittification?
(27:02) Navigating healthy versus toxic gaming communities
(29:03) Esports, competitive gaming, and how it affects the casual player experience
(34:18) Finding your place in a modern gaming landscape designed to monetise you
(36:46) The financialisaton of gaming: microtransactions, early access, and subscriptions
(41:00) The future of gaming: subscription models, ownership, and AI-driven experiences
(46:10) The positive impact of connectivity on gaming culture
Key takeaways:
• The Rise of Games as a Service (GaaS): The industry has heavily shifted toward free-to-play models (like Fortnite and Destiny) that rely on microtransactions and season passes to encourage continuous spending.
• The Decline of Local Co-op: "Couch co-op" and split-screen gaming have largely faded as developers prioritise utilising full hardware processing power for high-fidelity, individual online experiences.
• Rushed Releases and Patch Culture: Driven by late-stage capitalism and rigid quarterly goals, publishers frequently rush unfinished games to market, relying on the internet to deploy post-launch patches for bugs found by the public.
• Subscription Models vs. Ownership: Services like Xbox Game Pass operate like a "Netflix for gaming", offering massive convenience and a way for indie games to find an audience, but at the cost of players losing true digital ownership of their games.
(21:19) Substack and the future of individual journalism: salvation or fragmentation?
(24:08) How journalism has evolved in the digital age - for better and worse
(30:15) Media literacy and education: is it enough to save us?
(37:08) The role of public broadcasting in a fractured media landscape
(42:50) Is there genuine hope for the future of journalism?
(45:18) Curiosity as the most important skill a writer - or reader - can have
Key takeaways:
• Scepticism and Fact-Checking in the Digital Age: The fundamental shift brought by the internet is global connectivity, but digital information can easily be a pipeline for state-level misinformation, deepfakes, and conspiracy theories.
• Erosion of Trust and Rise of "New Media": Public trust in traditional institutions is breaking down as lines blur between rigorous journalism and unverified "citizen journalism" by content creators who focus on maximum reach rather than editorial accuracy.
• Financial Strain on Investigative Journalism: Because the public initially expected news to be free online, many newspapers were slow to establish paywalls, damaging their business models.
• Threat of Generative AI to Human Writing: While AI can serve as a basic research tool, it currently lacks genuine human creativity and often relies on copyright infringement by scraping authors' published works without permission or compensation.
If this episode got you thinking, check out:
Trust In Information: The End of Believing Our Own Eyes?
(25:02) Understanding Netflix's viewing patterns and what they reveal
(27:17) Traditional broadcasters versus streaming disruption: who survives?
(30:59) Are we really living through a new golden age of television?
(33:22) Local content quotas in Australia: protection or futile resistance?
(37:05) The future of traditional broadcasting: slow decline or reinvention?
(42:50) The evolution of video consumption and where it ends up
Key takeaways:
• Technology Affordances Shifted TV Models: The transition from broadcasting (a one-to-many, non-excludable signal) to internet distribution broke the historical constraints of spectrum scarcity. This shifted the industry from a rigid, linear programming schedule to an on-demand library model.
• Delayed Disruption in Australia: Unlike the US, which experienced a massive multi-channel shift via cable in the 1980s, Australia had very low cable adoption. Local networks didn't face severe financial destabilisation until 2009, when digital free-to-air multi-channels diluted advertising revenue across higher programming costs.
• Illusion of Streaming "Hits": Being number one on a streaming platform today is numerically incomparable to a top-rated broadcast hit from the pre-digital era. Streaming data is heavily aggregated globally and cumulatively over time, and a daily "Top 10" list only accounts for roughly 2% to 3% of a platform's total viewing.
• Rise of Personal Media Streams: Instead of pushing audiences toward completely atomised, AI-generated custom content, the internet has shifted behaviour toward short-form social video feeds. These personalised streams maximize efficiency during limited modern leisure windows, acting as a supplement to traditional movies and series.
If this episode got you thinking, check out:
Rental Markets: A Frantic Fight for Shelter As A Service?
(26:56) How AI can enhance rather than replace the candidate experience
(32:36) Practical strategies for candidates trying to stand out in a digital pile
(35:09) Creative approaches in recruitment that cut through the noise
(37:16) The future of job searching and recruitment: more human or less?
Key takeaways:
• AI Replaces Gatekeeping, Not Connection: Rather than using technology to rank and filter candidates out via rigid skills-matching keywords, Movember uses tools to summarise dense CVs. This frees up time to focus on candidate authenticity, such as embedded Spotify tracks and custom trivia questions.
• Intimacy Shift of Remote Interviews: Transitioning from formal, intimidating corporate panel interviews to video calls has flipped the power dynamic. By entering a candidate's home environment, the interaction becomes a safe space that encourages genuine warmth, unique talking points, and less performative "acting".
• Hyper-Personalisation Crushes "Spray and Pray": High-volume, low-effort tactics like using automated AI tools to blast hundreds of generic resumes overnight, are highly ineffective. The recruiters who care about cultural values want deliberate, tailored applications that highlight a deep personal connection to the organisation's core mission.
• Agentic Screening Multiplies Opportunity: Movember implemented a conversational AI agent named ‘Joel’ to conduct initial 20-minute phone screens. Instead of rejecting hundreds of applicants at the resume phase due to human time constraints, this allows every single applicant an equal, unbiased opportunity to pitch their potential on an opt-in basis.
(39:23) Recognising and overcoming burnout in the digital dating world
(43:12) The power of perseverance and positivity when dating feels impossible
Key takeaways:
• The Funnel Trap: People treat dating apps like a shopping catalogue and get overly picky at the top of the "dating funnel". Casting a narrow net initially eliminates the chance to be pleasantly surprised by someone who doesn't check every superficial box.
• Cliché Problem: Instead of fabricating their lives, many successful people completely undersell themselves on apps. By using generic phrases like "I love travel and the beach", they turn their profiles into boring, identical ads.
• Screen to Avoid Burnout: To beat coffee-date fatigue, implement a quick, structured vetting process. Text briefly, then schedule a short phone call within the first week to filter out low-effort matches before meeting offline.
• Cynicism Echo Chamber: Social media has turned dating complaints into a toxic "misery loves company" echo chamber. Magnifying a few bad experiences creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of negativity, causing people to give up on love entirely.
If this episode got you thinking, check out:
Social Interaction: The Digital Erasure of Presence?
• Death of Presentation: Short-form platforms like TikTok force a focus on just the trick, erasing the theatrical build-up, narrative suspense, and emotional connection unique to traditional stage illusion.
• Copycat Loop: Learning strictly from video creates "recorded magicians" who mimic identical styles; Cosentino urges learning from books to force self-analysis, original storytelling, and authentic performance style.
• Clout Exposure Trap: While online tools lower entry barriers for pitching and filming, exposing secrets purely for social media likes oversimplifies the craft and shifts focus from showmanship to cheap engagement.
• Tech-Enhanced Wonder: Instead of diluting magic, modern tech like roving cameras, LED screens, and pre-filmed packages allow performers to prove props are real, boosting live audience immersion.
(27:55) Practical strategies for safer technology use that actually work
(31:37) Peer pressure, legislation, and who is ultimately responsible for keeping kids safe
(35:10) The positive online spaces that exist for young people
(38:04) Navigating social media risks without demonising the technology entirely
(41:25) Communication, grassroots efforts, and final advice for concerned parents
Key takeaways:
• Psychology of the Screen: Cybercriminals and predators leverage the human mind's "seeing is believing" vulnerability, exploitation of personal needs, and the illusion of anonymity to manipulate victims and drive dangerous behavioural choices.
• Australian Social Media Ban: Australia's under-16 social media ban targeting open, unmoderated platforms (like TikTok and Instagram) aims to reverse a documented drop in life satisfaction among vulnerable, developing adolescent brains.
• Global Regulation Hurdles: Enforcing child safety online is uniquely difficult because law enforcement remains tied to geographical borders, while digital stakeholders have competing motivations across differing international jurisdictions.
• Parent-Led Defence: Technology is essential for a child's future, but the ultimate defence against online harm is grassroots family intervention through filtering tools, healthy boundaries, and constant, open conversation.
If this episode got you thinking, check out:
The Internet: A Corporate Hijacking of Digital Freedom?
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