Perils of the Internet, Pt. 2 of 45 Nowhere St and Ruby's Talking Tale

Greetings to all our fans! In this episode, we present the second episode of our brand-new spooky soap opera, 45 Nowhere Street. We discuss the impact the internet has had on our lives, both good and bad.

We also listen to the third of our Talking Tales –written and performed by Ruby.

Project Managers: Andrea Rai & Phil Powell.

Editor: Phil Powell

Huge thanks to the National Lottery Reaching Communities Fund for supporting our Dis-labled podcast. Learn more about their amazing work: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk

All enquiries: podcast@communityfocus.co.uk
Website: https://www.communityfocus.co.uk/

Theme Music: Rastko Rasic & the students of Community FocusOther Music: Jazzy Frenchy by ⁠⁠⁠Benjamin Tissot

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:06

Community focus. Come on, keep open. We're here for you. With me and you.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

I want to do.

SPEAKER_12 0:22

At our talk. Your dumb. The footcast food.

SPEAKER_13 0:29

A week in with you. We're here for you. Yay! Hooray!

SPEAKER_05 0:37

Hooray!

Gila 0:47

Community focus is an art stamp for children and adults with disabilities. We are based in Fabower Farnett, North London, and offer selection of creative and well-being activities for all ages.

Jonathan 1:08

Amiga.

Gila 1:12

Carol Jonathan and Gila.

Carol 1:23

In this episode, we present the second episode of our brand new spooky soap opera 45 Nowhere Street. We discuss the impact the internet has had on our lives, both good and bad. We also listened to the third of our Talking Tales written and performed by Ruby.

Jonathan 1:51

So guys, what have you all been up to this week?

Carol 1:55

So at home, I got bored. I decided to go through my attic and I found something incredible. It was a magic carpet. And I used the magic carpet to fly to fly to college and fly back home so I don't have to waste it on transport. And it was the best it's the best thing I've ever had in my life. Amia, what did you do during your week? I went to Poi Karaoke, yes.

Jonathan 2:29

And what did you sing?

Carol 2:31

Mamma Mia.

Phillip R 2:38

What are you doing the weekend for you? Um Well, um this this weekend, I'm looking forward to this weekend. My partner's coming over and see me. And we're going out for a meal. I'm taking her out for a meal. Wow. Just the two of us. So I'm looking forward to it in Orphans League. Where are you going? That's me to know you to find out.

SPEAKER_09 3:01

Oh is that a new restaurant? I haven't heard of that.

Phillip R 3:06

So I'm looking forward to it, you know. Uh Jonathan, what what what have you been up to since that this since last week?

Jonathan 3:16

I went to the gym this week as I normally do. Tell us about it. I have one of the most boring lives one could possibly imagine. In your opinion. How many things are you doing? No, trust me. I have no clue. I try not to measure how much I'm on the machine for in terms of time or whatever.

SPEAKER_12 3:34

It's the hardest, it's the hardest one.

SPEAKER_11 3:36

Do you think you're walking to somewhere?

Jonathan 3:39

I try to just not even remotely think about where I am. I just have my music in my ears and just ignore how long I've been on there, and hopefully it'll get to 30 minutes as quickly as possible. Um anything that can reasonably distract me from the fact that I'm on this machine that is gonna wear me out soon. So, Gila, how was your week?

Gila 4:08

My week has been stressful and also really fun. Stressful because I had an infection in my middle finger and I had to go to Vince Memo Hospital um to get it all whatever out. So hopefully it's all better now. Um so that was part of my week just trying to figure out what I need to do to make it better. Um so yesterday I went to um the rave hub in Marswell Hill and it was a Chris night and it was really fun. We did a lot of eating, drinking um um Chris things, um music Chris, general knowledge Chris, basically a lot of things, and I'm just tired.

SPEAKER_13 5:19

Um the shops are closed, it looks like a ghost town.

Phillip R 5:59

A ghost town? Everyone has their heads down, they're looking away from us.

SPEAKER_13 6:07

The town seems to make dolls heads. Oh how weird this town is! Why don't we go somewhere else? I want to go on a cruise or a beauty salon.

Phillip R 6:19

I want to go on a cruise and be free. I've got a free. We have to find Margaret.

SPEAKER_13 6:24

Where's Margaret? We lost our friend Margaret. Maybe this woman could help us.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

Or maybe this woman can help us. Maybe.

SPEAKER_13 6:31

I'm Lauren! I'm a witch! Witch? Witch? I don't know well. Do you believe in witches? I don't believe in witches, they're they're they're cuckoos, aren't they woman?

SPEAKER_03 6:44

They're b actually cuckoos there. They're witches, no way. Witches witch.

SPEAKER_13 6:49

No way on the highway. Don't be shelling! I'm gonna put a spell on you! Oh what?

Phillip R 6:55

Oh, what a pull on you.

SPEAKER_13 6:59

Let's just say that I don't believe in witchcraft, and no spell would turn on me.

Phillip R 7:04

No way.

SPEAKER_13 7:07

I'll be scared.

Phillip R 7:08

No.

SPEAKER_13 7:12

You know what witches hate? They hate water.

SPEAKER_14 7:15

Oh yes, they hate water. We're gonna lift you up. I can put you in nice cold water.

SPEAKER_12 7:22

Oh no no no no! Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh no no no no! Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Let me help you. What are you doing here?

SPEAKER_13 7:34

We wanna find ourselves our friend Margaret.

SPEAKER_03 7:38

Where is she? Where is she up? Where is she? Have you seen her?

SPEAKER_13 7:41

No, did the quicksand's got her?

SPEAKER_03 7:44

The quicksand?

SPEAKER_13 7:45

What quick sand? Oh, she's gonna walk. No quicksand! No quicksand! What did you say then? Oh, it might be bonkers, but there's nobody else to help us.

Phillip R 7:58

Oh madam, we We lost we lost a friend. Do you know where she is?

SPEAKER_14 8:05

It's a sinking soul. The sinking soul?

SPEAKER_13 8:10

What is that? We don't know where that is. It's a pup! A pop? A pop. Why don't we go for a drink?

SPEAKER_14 8:18

What's the address? Ah Noah Street! No street.

Carol 8:27

45 A Street stars Phil, Corey, Nadine, and Callie.

Jonathan 8:51

Hello everyone. Today Carol and I will be hosting the topic How does the internet affect our lives? First we will be talking about what is the internet and then we'll discuss it with the whole group.

Carol 9:07

What is the internet? A worldwide system of interconnected computer networks and electronic devices that communicate with each other using an established set of protocols. What a worldwide place to connect with others and do all sorts of things. Connecting with people, online buying, social media, watching videos, taking pictures, influence others, go live, post your own content.

Jonathan 9:42

When was the internet made public? Originally it was January first, nineteen eighty-three. Publicly it was April thirtieth, nineteen ninety-three.

Carol 9:54

What difference has it made from our daily lives? The internet has made the world a smaller place, enabling instant communication with people across the globe. How does the internet affect our lives?

Jonathan 10:09

Does the internet make us addicted? Did you know that 35% of the population of Earth has internet addiction and 60% of teens have cell phone addiction?

Carol 10:31

Social media plays a huge role in communication and connection in modern relationships. It provides an easy way to stay in touch with someone without actually talking to them. Social media allows us to share our thoughts, feelings and experiences with others, even when we can't be physically present. Do you think the internet has made people more or less connected with their communities? Compared to pre-internet times, we are now more connected than ever before.

Jonathan 11:10

What are the positives and negatives of social media in our society? For some, social media is an excellent way to communicate with others, manage social anxiety and access valuable support and reassurance. However, for others, scrolling feeds can become compulsive addiction, fueling unhealthy comparisons and exposing young people to inappropriate content.

Carol 11:36

What do you guys think?

Phillip R 11:39

Before I left home, I never had a computer. I never used the internet before until I left home. I went to college, you know. But I really enjoy it, you know, I love it.

SPEAKER_11 11:49

How's it helped you film?

Phillip R 11:52

With the emails and everything, you know? With and I got an iPad as well, and it's very handy. I do um a social on there. I do I play my games on there. I do my I do um uh word search. I do work search on there. And I play games on it as well. And and emails as well. It's very handy. And I don't know what I do about that internet, you know. It's very handy.

SPEAKER_11 12:22

And what you know, what about your the social that you do on a Friday?

Phillip R 12:25

Oh, that's what I mean, yeah. And the social I do on a Friday. Um I really I love it on a Friday, you know, doing the social on on Friday on Zoom. Zoom. I can't say anything bad i in the in in the internet. I wish it was more it was it was interview invented early on.

Gila 12:48

So I always be around for internet, my phone, my laptop. So now I stop using my iPad because it wasn't beneficial for me. It was, but now I just don't use anymore. Um but I use my phone and my laptop. Both of them are really helpful. My phone I always own my phone. I don't know if that is a beneficial or a not beneficial, but when I'm at work, I work in kindergarten, so I have to put my phone away. And when I'm at work, I don't feel oh I need to go on my phone, I need to check social media or check my messages, but then after work I'm I always think what after Ranford Children leaves, I always think what messages what do I have of my phone that I need to check? And when I get my phone, it's like yes, I can check what I can bother people, I can see if I need to do things. But I just feel like it's maybe like the fun thing, maybe a good thing and also a bad thing. Um also with my laptop which I just go on TikTok and play games, but I don't do any more on my laptop um and email people, but really I do that on my phone if I'm out or something like that. Um matches people. When I get my phone and I see messages from my friends, um I always think, oh, I need to respond now, I need to do this, I need to do that, I need to but actually those things can write because you are not a computer. You can people are just people. People don't need to respond to things immediately. I keep telling mys telling myself this and I still do it.

Carol 15:45

Um so I grew up with the internet and it's developed in like new ways of new technology and I always like wanted to know what it was like for like other people before the internet. And sometimes I wish I was born in the eighties and I've I wish I experienced the internet before I wish I experienced life in the eighties before the internet. Um so I've always like been fascinated with like uh eighties and like the olden times. So yeah.

Jonathan 16:27

I had a decent chunk of my youth without the internet, so I I think I should be able to make a decent comparison of what things were like without it, and then when it came about how things changed. Things became simultaneously easier but also more difficult. Finding information became easier, but then sifting through the stuff that is blatantly false had to become something we had to get good at. And of course when social media came about, that made things even more complicated. Like yeah, like communicating with people became easier, but then I think things became a bit more superficial. And people were able to rehearse what they could say. So I never really thought that I was adequately communicating with the friends that I had back in the day. I I always felt the need to communicate with them off the internet, but many of them just wanted to stay on the internet. And so sooner or later I would cut them loose. The generational gap has caused it's caused a change in how a lot of the world still perceives how young people are communicating. A lot a lot older a lot of the older people around the world, they look at Facebook or Twitter, or X as it's now called they are baffled by it. It's like a whole new world to them. And I've I've seen older people fall victim to things that I remember experiencing when I went on Facebook for the very first time. And looking back on it, seeing what they were like and what I was like, and seeing how similar they were. It's just amazing when you can see someone who's 70 can end up making the same mistakes that someone who's about fifteen would make. Recently my mum, see, she came to the kitchen about three or four days ago saying that uh apparently they're gonna be bringing back the X files again. And I was like, really? Because Gillian Anderson who plays Scully was like, no, I'm not doing it I'll never do that again. And she she looked all over her Facebook feed and eventually she found it. And I said, look at the comments, because she hadn't, and all the comments are saying this is fake, this is fake, but my mum she didn't notice that they said that in the comments, so I had to tell her to you know see what everyone in the comments is saying. Like this is something that's been going around for ages, and she needs to pay more attention to when something's been going around and everyone is saying that it's just fake.

Carol 19:38

Well, if you like go to a website online and you click on it and there's like a virus, then I think you would know that's fake. Because like um once I clicked on a link um um to something I was searching up, and I have like this um Bidfinder, which is like a safety for my computer and it like tracks any viruses, and I clicked on it and it said it was unsafe and I should go back.

Gila 20:14

I went on something and I didn't know it had like it was bad until my um Merabytes, I think that what you called it in for my day. Um but it popped up saying you you've been spammed or you've been h I can't remember for actual what it was. Um and I remember like scanning my computer every single day just to think what have I been spammed again because of what I just did. But some elderly people might be caught caught out by um not knowing what they've clicked on. Um and that is actually really like terrifies me that if people don't know what they clicked on, how would how would they be? And also they will need need some other people to help them to figure out what they've clicked on and then what do they do afterwards and it's like it's really really hard for for all ad or order people to find ways of not clicking on for stuff.

Jonathan 22:08

What do you think about uh fake news? Well the idea of news is purposely misleading you know isn't isn't a new thing, but the internet has made it it's made it just uh everywhere now. You've always got to be on the alert. It can be for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes the fake news that you can find can be there to just either get your attention so they can get ad you know thrown into your face so they can collect some of that money or they might want to affect your next vote or maybe just you know give you a little nasty on your computer, you know What do you think about the internet? So what are our conclusions?

Phillip R 23:12

Just be careful Just be careful and don't let anyone push you into it.

Gila 23:21

Just be careful and think before you click on anything.

Carol 23:27

There are negatives and positives to social media and the internet um so don't be pressured into anything that you don't want to do and always be safe.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

A lot of the time the internet is about trying to get a reaction out of you or get your attention and it's best if you just simply approached it from a position of caution and distance but not too much distance just try to keep it on at an even balance thank you for listening from Carol and Jonathan Talking Tales is a group of creative storytelling students from community focused sharing their monologues, poems, stories, songs and characters today in Talking titles introduced Ruby where she talks about her character Mary Cossack for Mrs.

SPEAKER_10 24:50

Mary Cossett is um a person whose I really love the musical so much and I can't wait to see it. It's on my first day.

SPEAKER_09 25:02

Nah I got a song I am scared of the tick in the battle crowd in the fill of the mountain cleft in the bountic in a corn in sea and in cushion of great in the cards of unique points and this is mat of four in famous the musica is caught the mountain mountain tops in the clouds in the mount and it's so amazing in the dreams come dwell so tell us a bit more about this character then um she's from um the musical Lame's the musical that um is basically happening in Fresh Revolution and it's a bit scary but I I just getting happier and happier again.

SPEAKER_10 27:15

Amazing Ruby what inspired your song um the song I'm inspired about Cosette who found his love her love in in Marius and what else it would happen to Cosette after this song after this song Cosette makes her feel happy and so excited final thoughts final thoughts guys my final thought is let all your silliness out my final my final thought is this week is don't give up don't be invisible be seen community focus community focus we're here for you with me and you on the hour for you at five the footcast food a week in with you we're here for you hooray hour