September 16, 2025 • 18 mins
After many, many questions on just how Australia's word-first social media ban for under-16s will work, the Albanese Government has released new guidelines for how tech companies will need to comply.
Plus, from birth charts to Etsy witches for hire, have we all gone a little woo woo? Or is this how we're now dealing with everything 2025 has to throw at us?
And in headlines today, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the defence treaty with Papua New Guinea will bring the relationship with Australia's closest neighbour even closer; US President Donald Trump has indicated he is set to meet Prime Minister Anthony Albanese while scolding an Australian journalist at the White House; Former Australian radio host Alan Jones has been charged with nine more counts of indecent assault bringing the total number of charges the 84 year old now faces to 44; A New York judge has dismissed terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione over the December 2024 killing of health insurance executive Brian Thompson; Legendary Hollywood actor and director Robert Redford has died at his home in Utah aged 89
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Hosts: Taylah Strano & Claire Murphy
Guest: Micah Goldwater, Associate Professor University of Sydney
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
You're listening to a Muma Mea podcast. Mumma Mea acknowledges
the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast
is recorded on.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hey, I'm Taylor Strano. This is Mumma MIA's twice daily
news podcast, The Quickie. We've been hearing about the social
media band for under sixteens for a while now, Parents
and tech giants alike told to get their affairs in
order as kids are booted from platforms like TikTok and
Snapchat come December tenth. Many questions remained about how exactly
(00:44):
this is going to work. This week we finally get
some more answers, putting the government's agenda into clearer focus. Plus,
how woo woo are you? Are you the one pulling
tarot cards in the corner at a party. Maybe you're
manifesting in your journal. Perhaps you've gone all in on
saging away the bad spirits in your apartment. There's been
(01:05):
a rise in spiritual practices, But is this just our
very twenty twenty five response to coping with everything the
year has thrown at us so far? Before we get there,
he is Claire Murphy with the latest from the Quicking
News room for Wednesday, September seventeen.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Thanks Taylor. Prime Minister Anthony Albernizi says the defense treaty
with Papua New Guinea will bring the relationship with Australia's
closest neighbor even closer. Albernizi is in Port Moresby. As
PNG marked its fiftieth anniversary of independence, Australia became the
colonial administrator of Papua, the southern half of what is
now Papua New Guinea in nineteen oh six. The western
(01:40):
part of New Guinea was controlled by the Dutch, while
the western part was fought over by Britain and the
Germans in the late eighteen hundreds. Australian troops occupied the
region during World War II to stop it being used
as a German naval base. Following the war, the UN
mandated the German New Guinea also come under Australian rule.
In nineteen forty nine, the Pupua and New Guinea Act
brought the two territories together, and by November nineteen seventy three,
(02:04):
Papua New Guinea had its own government, and on the
sixteenth of September nineteen seventy five was independence from Australia.
The anniversary is set to coincide with Australia and PNG
agreeing to the new landmark security agreement, named the Puck
Puck Treaty after the pigeon word for crocodile, elevating Papua
New Guinea to the treaty level of the United States
(02:24):
and New Zealand. It will integrate forces on either side
of the Torres Strait and could trigger mutual support in
cases of conflict. It will also enable P and G
nationals to serve in Australia's Defense force with the same
pay as other members, and start a pathway to citizenship.
Some details are yet to be revealed, including whether both
nations would be compelled to consult each other if they
(02:45):
face a security threat, similar to NATO's Article four clause,
or whether it also includes an exclusivity clause which meant
P and G could not pursue similar deals with other
countries such as China. The P and G Cabinet met
on Monday night to give final approval, but didn't have
a quorum because some ministers are back in their constituencies
for the independence celebrations. For mister Albinizi expects his counterpart,
(03:07):
James Marapy, has sorted out quickly by ushering the process
through his cabinet, virtually praising the PNG Prime Minister for
showing great leadership and moving forward with Australia, saying the
relationship upgrade took place at his suggestion.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Australia and Papua New Guinea are the best of friends.
Today fifty years since the Australian flag was lowered and
the flag of Papua New Guinea raised. This is a
wonderful celebration here of a country that has diverse more
than a thousand tribes eight hundred languages here in PNG.
(03:43):
It's been a very important and significant day.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
It's pg's first defense agreement with another nation and comes
as Australia is competing with China and other nations for
influence in the region after having difficulties over security agreements
with the Solomons and Vanuatu. Australia will also help p
ANDNG build a new ministerial wing onto its parliament as
a gift to mark fifty years of the nation's independence.
US President Donald Trump has indicated that he is set
(04:09):
to meet with Prime Minister Anthon Albanizi while scolding an
Australian journalist at the White House, Mister Trump told the
reporter for the ABC's Four Corners program, who was asking
him about whether it was appropriate for a president to
still be running so much business, Your leader is coming
over to see me very soon. Trump, not happy with
the line of questioning, told the journalist he was making
Australia look bad and that he would be telling mister
(04:31):
Albinizi when they met. Trump did not mention when that
meeting will take place. Former Australian radio host Allan Jones
has been charged with nine more counts of indecent assault,
bringing the total number of charges the eighty four year
old now faces to forty four. Jones was arrested in
twenty twenty four after police investigated allegations that Jones sexually
assaulted and touched eleven people between two thousand and one
(04:54):
and twenty nineteen. Jones telling the media waiting for him
outside court in December that he was not guilty and
would be defending all charges against him. The case is
due back in court on Thursday, and New York judge
has dismissed terrorism charges against Luigi Mangion over the December
twenty twenty four killing of health insurance executive Brian Thompson.
The twenty seven year old remains charged with murder in
(05:16):
the second degree. Justice Gregory Carrow saying that although there's
no doubt the killing was not ordinary street crime, New
York law does not consider something terrorism simply because it
was motivated by ideology. Mangioni has pleaded not guilty to
both state and federal charges of killing Thompson, the former
chief executive of United Health Group's insurance unit, United Healthcare,
(05:37):
who was gunned down while entering a hotel in New
York to attend a conference in December last year. Legendary
Hollywood actor and director Robert Redford has died at his
home in Utah, aged eighty nine. His publicist released a
statement saying he died at his home in the mountains
of Utah, the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved.
He'll be missed greatly and that the family requests privacy.
(05:59):
In a career that stretched across more than six decades,
Redford won two Academy Awards, including an Honorary prize in
two thousand and two, and three Golden Globes, including the
Cecil B. De Miller War Lifetime Achievement Honor in nineteen
ninety four. Redford was a Hollywood heart throb, acting in
romantic roles such as Out of Africa and Breaking Hearts
alongside Barbara streisand in The Way We Were. He got
(06:20):
political in The Candidate and All the President's Men and
skewered his golden boy image and roles like the alcoholic
ex rodeo champ in The Electric Horseman and the middle
aged billionaire who offers to buy Woody Harrelson's character's wife
played by Demi Moore in Indecent Proposal for One Night
for one Million dollars. But he's best known for his
nineteen sixty nine Western romp alongside Paul Newman, Butch Cassidy
(06:43):
and The Sundance Kid, the movie lending its name to
Redford Sundance Institute and Film Festival.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Thanks Claire. Next, some more clarity on the hard and
fast rules ahead of the teen social media band. We're
just eighty five days away from the World for social
Media band for kids under sixteen. After many many questions
about just how exactly this is going to work, the
(07:10):
Albanezi government has dropped its long awaited guidelines for social
media platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram ahead of December's
van So, as we know, from December ten, tech giants
will be required to detect, remove, and prevent underage accounts
on their platforms or risk up to fines of forty
nine point five million dollars. Platforms have to show they're
(07:33):
using reasonable steps to keep kids out, but there's no
hard quota on account removals, and they can choose how
they screen for eight That could be anything from AI
facial analysis to behavioral monitoring. It's really just Stella's choice.
But if you're one of the unlucky ones over sixteen
who've had their accounts suspended, companies must go out of
(07:53):
their way to allow users to review the decision and
have it a turned E Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant
has a warning for parents too. She says there's no
magic wand some kids will slip through the cracks. While
the online watchdog won't investigate every single time hip off
or complaint, it does want families to report when they
see under sixteens still using these platforms, helping refine the
(08:16):
system as it rolls out, The government says social media
platforms have had plenty of time to prepare and insists
this is putting user safety and privacy first. Globally, other
countries are following Australia's lead. France, Denmark and Spain are
all pushing for similar bands for tweens and teens, but
(08:37):
how enforcement will look and whether real safety follows remains
the big test. So the big picture of the social
media ban is coming more into focus, but both the
Communications Minister Annika Wells and E Safety Commissioner admit there's
still more work to be done. Ivan Grant is off
to Silicon Valley next week, where she'll meet with Apple, Discord,
(08:58):
OpenAI and other companies to discuss the ban rollout, while
Minister Wells is headed to the UN General Assembly in
New York, where she'll no doubt take up sideline chats
with other world leaders on the matter. In Office Taro
readings Living your Life Guided by Angel Numbers, The rise
of Etsy Witches for Hire. Oh and we have an
(09:20):
office ghost safe to say, Mamma mea as an office
collective is well pretty woo woo. Now I personally am not,
but before you hire an Etsy witch to put a
hex on me I'm also not here to yucky anyone's yum.
From daily horoscope breedings to finding meaning at the bottom
of your teacup, It's hard to ignore the meteoric rise
(09:42):
in spirituality and all its various offshoots. So is this
the new world order guided by angel numbers and celestial
beings or just a very twenty twenty five coping mechanism
for the current state of the world. According to Allied
Market Research, the global astrology industry is set to top
twenty two billion dollars by twenty thirty one, with gen
(10:06):
Z driving a huge slice of that market. Tools are
turbocharging the trend. Astrology apps like Coast and Kunley GPT
use technology like AI to combine NASA data and ancient
wisdom for daily personal predictions. Coaster reportedly racking up thirty
million users. Social media is also a wash, with things
(10:28):
like diy, moonwater tips, and horoscopes, and even big data
experts see echoes of ancient star charting in modern machine learning.
Look tarot cards, birth charts, and other spiritual practices have
existed long before the boom of things like TikTok, some
even being traced back to religious mysticism, especially when it
comes to matters of numerology. But it's because of the
(10:51):
birth of technology connecting us to each other and information
faster than ever before, that we're seeing this rise. Even
the most war verse of us have dipped our toe
in the mystic pond. Surveys show even skeptics dabble for language,
labels and social connection. It's less about literal faith and
more about meaning, personality or control in an unstable world.
(11:14):
So is twenty twenty five the year woo woo went mainstream?
To help us make sense of the spiritual shift, we
are joined by Associate Professor Michael Goldwater from Sydney University. Micah,
is it time to accept that maybe we're all just a.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Little woo woo?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Yeah, so everyone has a little bit of these elements.
A lot of people try to say all I do
is believe in science and all these other types of
things like that, but it's pretty rare. The standard thing
is something that we call explanatory coexistence, where people in
their mind at the same time have multiple kinds of
(11:52):
explanations for things like scientific and superstitious. For example, you
might think, oh, I'm a sciencey person, of course, all
I do is believe in science.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
But all of our minds are actually full of.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
A blend of folk wisdom, religious things, you've heard, stuff
you learned in school, stuff you picked up on little media.
We're all kind of blending these things, and there's nothing
that makes us really internally consistent in that way.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Are some people more prone to it, though, GC Like
there's younger people that are more inclined to use things
like astrological apps or maybe like even research their birth charts.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Some psychologists have talked about a drive for sense making,
like much we have a drive, a hunger drive, you know,
thirst is a drive, Sex is a drive. Making sense
of the world and making sense of our lives is
a fundamental drive. And we all kind of seek to
make sense of things. And a lot of organized religious
practice is sort of in decline in the younger generation,
(12:45):
so they're often looking to other types of beliefs to
sort of make sense of things.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
And astrology is a kind of is.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Particularly one because people sort of use it for particular things. Right,
So typically you use astrology, say to think about your
dating life, Right, You're like, oh, I would only ever
data Gemini or whatever people might say, Right, you know,
people aren't using astrology necessarily to make other kinds of
decisions in their lives. So, and also it's a world
(13:13):
where things that we might know from science, none of
that is really telling you how to make sense of
it your dating life. Right, something like astrology has this
role to come in and help us make sense of
other parts of our lives that these other things aren't
necessarily offering us. In addition, is kind of fun, right
If you're at a party and someone has like tarot cards,
it kind of becomes a fun game for everyone to
(13:35):
enjoy it. But also will make clear that even though
some people are more prone than others, perhaps there's no
shortage of like scientists who have these kinds of beliefs.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Right, So I've used example, Oh, he's.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Not a scientist, but someone like Steve Jobs is sort
of you think of him as like a math science
ye guy, Right, he developed all this technology. Right, he
died from cancer that he treated with homeopathy rather than
getting this sort of medical treatment that was offered to him. Right,
there's no kind of clear category of person who doesn't
think this way, even though it's certainly true that we
very in it.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So is it hurting anyone then, or should we just
leave people to their own spiritual devices.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
So someti as I say, it's kind of like, well,
what are the consequences of doing it?
Speaker 5 (14:15):
Right?
Speaker 4 (14:15):
So, if you're someone like I think the Exceive jobs
example is a great example of when it did have
this big negative effect because he passed away from.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
The cancer he to treat.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
But there's certainly lots of other cases where let's say
you're using astrology and to sort of help you think
about your dating life.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
I don't know what's the harm in that.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
I mean, if you met someone you really liked and
then just go, no, I can't date them because they
have the wrong astrological sign. I guess that would kind
of be a harm because you are rejecting some would
for not what you might think is a sound reason, right,
But as long as they're not getting in the way
of the other stuff, it's not leading you to reject
what your doctor is telling you or something like that.
(14:52):
I don't think it is necessarily a problem.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Things like terror readings, psychic readings, the coastar app they've
all been around for a long time, and a lot
of these practices have been around for as long as
some organized religions more than what just viral tiktoks would
lead you to belief. But there is something in that
they are booming now is it a matter of twenty
twenty five? This is just how we're dealing and coping
(15:17):
with the world around us.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
This sort of need for sense making does potentially increase
in times of greater uncertainty. There are times and places
where you feel less in control in your life. You
see this simple the astrology is different than this, but
you see this like the endorsement of conspiracy theories, for example,
people get more involved in conspiracy theories when there's lots
of uncertainty and people feel less in control, you know,
(15:39):
in this type of sense making helps you kind of
figure out what's happening in the world, can really help
to instill this kind of sense of control over your
life when you have a greater understanding. So some of
these other bleek systems can all play these same kinds
of roles. The world is full of horrible things, I mean,
that's always kind of been the case. So COVID kind
(15:59):
of accelerated a lot of these types of trends or
all kinds of trends in the world that were already
going one way, and then COVID really accelerated them, right,
and so people's social isolation increased, right, all these sort
of literally with less control of our lives. We were
told we couldn't leave our houses. There was this of
getting sick and dying. So those types of experiences do
(16:21):
kind of lead to an uptick in getting involved in
these other sorts of belief systems, for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I guess the other element to that is the tech
advancement and enhancement is maybe a better word, because, like
you said, we're more connected more now than ever. We
look for meaning and we look for connection in all
different places, including on the internet. The last one I
want to get your feelings on is the rise of
the itsy witch. Do you know much about these ittsy witches?
And where do you fall in that camp?
Speaker 4 (16:47):
I've seen some Instagram witches and somebot I certainly know
that any women who kind of identify which sort of
witchcraft through a certain extent now similar to astrology, I
don't think they necessarily believe in it, right. There's sort
of this notion of like it's fun to sort of
play along as if we believe in it. Even if
(17:07):
you don't really believe in the same sense, right, they're
not actually trying to do whatever witchcraft themselves. But there
are many cultures around the world right now where people
do sort of pay for spells, like I remember the
word for this in Brazil. But there's this practice of
people kind of getting these spell recipes right, and they
can do all kinds of things. You might like I
want to get rid of this wart on my head,
(17:28):
or can be like I want this person to fall
in love with me, or it can be like I'm
going to get a new job. Right, there are sort
of spells for all these different kinds of practices that
are like these products that you could purchase, and so
this is a part of cultures all over the world,
and it kind of sounds like these Etsy Whitches a
kind of like an Anglo Sphere version of some of
(17:48):
these things that exist everywhere. There's also a kind of
very feminine identity with the witch thing. So I feel like,
given how many women historically we're kind of accused of
being witches that executed for that or you know, less
extreme things, right, there's a sort of like retaking power
back from in that term, right where It's about our
collective feminine energy.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
And things like that.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Thanks for taking some time to feed your mind with
us today. The quickie is produced by me, Taylor Strano,
and Claire Murphy, with audio production by Lou Hill
You're listening to a Muma Mea podcast. Mumma Mea acknowledges
the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast
is recorded on.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hey, I'm Taylor Strano. This is Mumma MIA's twice daily
news podcast, The Quickie. We've been hearing about the social
media band for under sixteens for a while now, Parents
and tech giants alike told to get their affairs in
order as kids are booted from platforms like TikTok and
Snapchat come December tenth. Many questions remained about how exactly
(00:44):
this is going to work. This week we finally get
some more answers, putting the government's agenda into clearer focus. Plus,
how woo woo are you? Are you the one pulling
tarot cards in the corner at a party. Maybe you're
manifesting in your journal. Perhaps you've gone all in on
saging away the bad spirits in your apartment. There's been
(01:05):
a rise in spiritual practices, But is this just our
very twenty twenty five response to coping with everything the
year has thrown at us so far? Before we get there,
he is Claire Murphy with the latest from the Quicking
News room for Wednesday, September seventeen.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Thanks Taylor. Prime Minister Anthony Albernizi says the defense treaty
with Papua New Guinea will bring the relationship with Australia's
closest neighbor even closer. Albernizi is in Port Moresby. As
PNG marked its fiftieth anniversary of independence, Australia became the
colonial administrator of Papua, the southern half of what is
now Papua New Guinea in nineteen oh six. The western
(01:40):
part of New Guinea was controlled by the Dutch, while
the western part was fought over by Britain and the
Germans in the late eighteen hundreds. Australian troops occupied the
region during World War II to stop it being used
as a German naval base. Following the war, the UN
mandated the German New Guinea also come under Australian rule.
In nineteen forty nine, the Pupua and New Guinea Act
brought the two territories together, and by November nineteen seventy three,
(02:04):
Papua New Guinea had its own government, and on the
sixteenth of September nineteen seventy five was independence from Australia.
The anniversary is set to coincide with Australia and PNG
agreeing to the new landmark security agreement, named the Puck
Puck Treaty after the pigeon word for crocodile, elevating Papua
New Guinea to the treaty level of the United States
(02:24):
and New Zealand. It will integrate forces on either side
of the Torres Strait and could trigger mutual support in
cases of conflict. It will also enable P and G
nationals to serve in Australia's Defense force with the same
pay as other members, and start a pathway to citizenship.
Some details are yet to be revealed, including whether both
nations would be compelled to consult each other if they
(02:45):
face a security threat, similar to NATO's Article four clause,
or whether it also includes an exclusivity clause which meant
P and G could not pursue similar deals with other
countries such as China. The P and G Cabinet met
on Monday night to give final approval, but didn't have
a quorum because some ministers are back in their constituencies
for the independence celebrations. For mister Albinizi expects his counterpart,
(03:07):
James Marapy, has sorted out quickly by ushering the process
through his cabinet, virtually praising the PNG Prime Minister for
showing great leadership and moving forward with Australia, saying the
relationship upgrade took place at his suggestion.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Australia and Papua New Guinea are the best of friends.
Today fifty years since the Australian flag was lowered and
the flag of Papua New Guinea raised. This is a
wonderful celebration here of a country that has diverse more
than a thousand tribes eight hundred languages here in PNG.
(03:43):
It's been a very important and significant day.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
It's pg's first defense agreement with another nation and comes
as Australia is competing with China and other nations for
influence in the region after having difficulties over security agreements
with the Solomons and Vanuatu. Australia will also help p
ANDNG build a new ministerial wing onto its parliament as
a gift to mark fifty years of the nation's independence.
US President Donald Trump has indicated that he is set
(04:09):
to meet with Prime Minister Anthon Albanizi while scolding an
Australian journalist at the White House, Mister Trump told the
reporter for the ABC's Four Corners program, who was asking
him about whether it was appropriate for a president to
still be running so much business, Your leader is coming
over to see me very soon. Trump, not happy with
the line of questioning, told the journalist he was making
Australia look bad and that he would be telling mister
(04:31):
Albinizi when they met. Trump did not mention when that
meeting will take place. Former Australian radio host Allan Jones
has been charged with nine more counts of indecent assault,
bringing the total number of charges the eighty four year
old now faces to forty four. Jones was arrested in
twenty twenty four after police investigated allegations that Jones sexually
assaulted and touched eleven people between two thousand and one
(04:54):
and twenty nineteen. Jones telling the media waiting for him
outside court in December that he was not guilty and
would be defending all charges against him. The case is
due back in court on Thursday, and New York judge
has dismissed terrorism charges against Luigi Mangion over the December
twenty twenty four killing of health insurance executive Brian Thompson.
The twenty seven year old remains charged with murder in
(05:16):
the second degree. Justice Gregory Carrow saying that although there's
no doubt the killing was not ordinary street crime, New
York law does not consider something terrorism simply because it
was motivated by ideology. Mangioni has pleaded not guilty to
both state and federal charges of killing Thompson, the former
chief executive of United Health Group's insurance unit, United Healthcare,
(05:37):
who was gunned down while entering a hotel in New
York to attend a conference in December last year. Legendary
Hollywood actor and director Robert Redford has died at his
home in Utah, aged eighty nine. His publicist released a
statement saying he died at his home in the mountains
of Utah, the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved.
He'll be missed greatly and that the family requests privacy.
(05:59):
In a career that stretched across more than six decades,
Redford won two Academy Awards, including an Honorary prize in
two thousand and two, and three Golden Globes, including the
Cecil B. De Miller War Lifetime Achievement Honor in nineteen
ninety four. Redford was a Hollywood heart throb, acting in
romantic roles such as Out of Africa and Breaking Hearts
alongside Barbara streisand in The Way We Were. He got
(06:20):
political in The Candidate and All the President's Men and
skewered his golden boy image and roles like the alcoholic
ex rodeo champ in The Electric Horseman and the middle
aged billionaire who offers to buy Woody Harrelson's character's wife
played by Demi Moore in Indecent Proposal for One Night
for one Million dollars. But he's best known for his
nineteen sixty nine Western romp alongside Paul Newman, Butch Cassidy
(06:43):
and The Sundance Kid, the movie lending its name to
Redford Sundance Institute and Film Festival.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Thanks Claire. Next, some more clarity on the hard and
fast rules ahead of the teen social media band. We're
just eighty five days away from the World for social
Media band for kids under sixteen. After many many questions
about just how exactly this is going to work, the
(07:10):
Albanezi government has dropped its long awaited guidelines for social
media platforms like TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram ahead of December's
van So, as we know, from December ten, tech giants
will be required to detect, remove, and prevent underage accounts
on their platforms or risk up to fines of forty
nine point five million dollars. Platforms have to show they're
(07:33):
using reasonable steps to keep kids out, but there's no
hard quota on account removals, and they can choose how
they screen for eight That could be anything from AI
facial analysis to behavioral monitoring. It's really just Stella's choice.
But if you're one of the unlucky ones over sixteen
who've had their accounts suspended, companies must go out of
(07:53):
their way to allow users to review the decision and
have it a turned E Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant
has a warning for parents too. She says there's no
magic wand some kids will slip through the cracks. While
the online watchdog won't investigate every single time hip off
or complaint, it does want families to report when they
see under sixteens still using these platforms, helping refine the
(08:16):
system as it rolls out, The government says social media
platforms have had plenty of time to prepare and insists
this is putting user safety and privacy first. Globally, other
countries are following Australia's lead. France, Denmark and Spain are
all pushing for similar bands for tweens and teens, but
(08:37):
how enforcement will look and whether real safety follows remains
the big test. So the big picture of the social
media ban is coming more into focus, but both the
Communications Minister Annika Wells and E Safety Commissioner admit there's
still more work to be done. Ivan Grant is off
to Silicon Valley next week, where she'll meet with Apple, Discord,
(08:58):
OpenAI and other companies to discuss the ban rollout, while
Minister Wells is headed to the UN General Assembly in
New York, where she'll no doubt take up sideline chats
with other world leaders on the matter. In Office Taro
readings Living your Life Guided by Angel Numbers, The rise
of Etsy Witches for Hire. Oh and we have an
(09:20):
office ghost safe to say, Mamma mea as an office
collective is well pretty woo woo. Now I personally am not,
but before you hire an Etsy witch to put a
hex on me I'm also not here to yucky anyone's yum.
From daily horoscope breedings to finding meaning at the bottom
of your teacup, It's hard to ignore the meteoric rise
(09:42):
in spirituality and all its various offshoots. So is this
the new world order guided by angel numbers and celestial
beings or just a very twenty twenty five coping mechanism
for the current state of the world. According to Allied
Market Research, the global astrology industry is set to top
twenty two billion dollars by twenty thirty one, with gen
(10:06):
Z driving a huge slice of that market. Tools are
turbocharging the trend. Astrology apps like Coast and Kunley GPT
use technology like AI to combine NASA data and ancient
wisdom for daily personal predictions. Coaster reportedly racking up thirty
million users. Social media is also a wash, with things
(10:28):
like diy, moonwater tips, and horoscopes, and even big data
experts see echoes of ancient star charting in modern machine learning.
Look tarot cards, birth charts, and other spiritual practices have
existed long before the boom of things like TikTok, some
even being traced back to religious mysticism, especially when it
comes to matters of numerology. But it's because of the
(10:51):
birth of technology connecting us to each other and information
faster than ever before, that we're seeing this rise. Even
the most war verse of us have dipped our toe
in the mystic pond. Surveys show even skeptics dabble for language,
labels and social connection. It's less about literal faith and
more about meaning, personality or control in an unstable world.
(11:14):
So is twenty twenty five the year woo woo went mainstream?
To help us make sense of the spiritual shift, we
are joined by Associate Professor Michael Goldwater from Sydney University. Micah,
is it time to accept that maybe we're all just a.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Little woo woo?
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Yeah, so everyone has a little bit of these elements.
A lot of people try to say all I do
is believe in science and all these other types of
things like that, but it's pretty rare. The standard thing
is something that we call explanatory coexistence, where people in
their mind at the same time have multiple kinds of
(11:52):
explanations for things like scientific and superstitious. For example, you
might think, oh, I'm a sciencey person, of course, all
I do is believe in science.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
But all of our minds are actually full of.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
A blend of folk wisdom, religious things, you've heard, stuff
you learned in school, stuff you picked up on little media.
We're all kind of blending these things, and there's nothing
that makes us really internally consistent in that way.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Are some people more prone to it, though, GC Like
there's younger people that are more inclined to use things
like astrological apps or maybe like even research their birth charts.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Some psychologists have talked about a drive for sense making,
like much we have a drive, a hunger drive, you know,
thirst is a drive, Sex is a drive. Making sense
of the world and making sense of our lives is
a fundamental drive. And we all kind of seek to
make sense of things. And a lot of organized religious
practice is sort of in decline in the younger generation,
(12:45):
so they're often looking to other types of beliefs to
sort of make sense of things.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
And astrology is a kind of is.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Particularly one because people sort of use it for particular things. Right,
So typically you use astrology, say to think about your
dating life, Right, You're like, oh, I would only ever
data Gemini or whatever people might say, Right, you know,
people aren't using astrology necessarily to make other kinds of
decisions in their lives. So, and also it's a world
(13:13):
where things that we might know from science, none of
that is really telling you how to make sense of
it your dating life. Right, something like astrology has this
role to come in and help us make sense of
other parts of our lives that these other things aren't
necessarily offering us. In addition, is kind of fun, right
If you're at a party and someone has like tarot cards,
it kind of becomes a fun game for everyone to
(13:35):
enjoy it. But also will make clear that even though
some people are more prone than others, perhaps there's no
shortage of like scientists who have these kinds of beliefs.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Right, So I've used example, Oh, he's.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Not a scientist, but someone like Steve Jobs is sort
of you think of him as like a math science
ye guy, Right, he developed all this technology. Right, he
died from cancer that he treated with homeopathy rather than
getting this sort of medical treatment that was offered to him. Right,
there's no kind of clear category of person who doesn't
think this way, even though it's certainly true that we
very in it.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So is it hurting anyone then, or should we just
leave people to their own spiritual devices.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
So someti as I say, it's kind of like, well,
what are the consequences of doing it?
Speaker 5 (14:15):
Right?
Speaker 4 (14:15):
So, if you're someone like I think the Exceive jobs
example is a great example of when it did have
this big negative effect because he passed away from.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
The cancer he to treat.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
But there's certainly lots of other cases where let's say
you're using astrology and to sort of help you think
about your dating life.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
I don't know what's the harm in that.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
I mean, if you met someone you really liked and
then just go, no, I can't date them because they
have the wrong astrological sign. I guess that would kind
of be a harm because you are rejecting some would
for not what you might think is a sound reason, right,
But as long as they're not getting in the way
of the other stuff, it's not leading you to reject
what your doctor is telling you or something like that.
(14:52):
I don't think it is necessarily a problem.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Things like terror readings, psychic readings, the coastar app they've
all been around for a long time, and a lot
of these practices have been around for as long as
some organized religions more than what just viral tiktoks would
lead you to belief. But there is something in that
they are booming now is it a matter of twenty
twenty five? This is just how we're dealing and coping
(15:17):
with the world around us.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
This sort of need for sense making does potentially increase
in times of greater uncertainty. There are times and places
where you feel less in control in your life. You
see this simple the astrology is different than this, but
you see this like the endorsement of conspiracy theories, for example,
people get more involved in conspiracy theories when there's lots
of uncertainty and people feel less in control, you know,
(15:39):
in this type of sense making helps you kind of
figure out what's happening in the world, can really help
to instill this kind of sense of control over your
life when you have a greater understanding. So some of
these other bleek systems can all play these same kinds
of roles. The world is full of horrible things, I mean,
that's always kind of been the case. So COVID kind
(15:59):
of accelerated a lot of these types of trends or
all kinds of trends in the world that were already
going one way, and then COVID really accelerated them, right,
and so people's social isolation increased, right, all these sort
of literally with less control of our lives. We were
told we couldn't leave our houses. There was this of
getting sick and dying. So those types of experiences do
(16:21):
kind of lead to an uptick in getting involved in
these other sorts of belief systems, for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I guess the other element to that is the tech
advancement and enhancement is maybe a better word, because, like
you said, we're more connected more now than ever. We
look for meaning and we look for connection in all
different places, including on the internet. The last one I
want to get your feelings on is the rise of
the itsy witch. Do you know much about these ittsy witches?
And where do you fall in that camp?
Speaker 4 (16:47):
I've seen some Instagram witches and somebot I certainly know
that any women who kind of identify which sort of
witchcraft through a certain extent now similar to astrology, I
don't think they necessarily believe in it, right. There's sort
of this notion of like it's fun to sort of
play along as if we believe in it. Even if
(17:07):
you don't really believe in the same sense, right, they're
not actually trying to do whatever witchcraft themselves. But there
are many cultures around the world right now where people
do sort of pay for spells, like I remember the
word for this in Brazil. But there's this practice of
people kind of getting these spell recipes right, and they
can do all kinds of things. You might like I
want to get rid of this wart on my head,
(17:28):
or can be like I want this person to fall
in love with me, or it can be like I'm
going to get a new job. Right, there are sort
of spells for all these different kinds of practices that
are like these products that you could purchase, and so
this is a part of cultures all over the world,
and it kind of sounds like these Etsy Whitches a
kind of like an Anglo Sphere version of some of
(17:48):
these things that exist everywhere. There's also a kind of
very feminine identity with the witch thing. So I feel like,
given how many women historically we're kind of accused of
being witches that executed for that or you know, less
extreme things, right, there's a sort of like retaking power
back from in that term, right where It's about our
collective feminine energy.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
And things like that.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Thanks for taking some time to feed your mind with
us today. The quickie is produced by me, Taylor Strano,
and Claire Murphy, with audio production by Lou Hill
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