TBA

What are we actually learning when stories go viral — and who decides what counts as “evidence”?

In Episode 008 of Logging In, Techie and Luna unpack a viral video by content creator Nick Shirley, who accused Somali-owned daycare centers in Minnesota of fraud, using a misspelled word on a childcare sign as a key signal of alleged illegitimacy. Rather than adjudicating guilt or innocence, the episode focuses on something more fundamental: how people are learning to interpret information online.

The conversation explores how algorithms reward confidence over context, how visual “gotchas” like spelling errors become stand-ins for truth, and how audiences are being trained — often unintentionally — to draw sweeping conclusions from incomplete data. From YouTube journalism and crowd-sourced investigations to the real-world harm caused when virality outpaces verification, the episode asks whether the internet is teaching people how to think critically, or simply how to react quickly.

At its core, this episode is about learning: what we absorb, what we miss, and how easily the tools meant to inform us can end up distorting reality instead.

Technology often presents itself as helpful — crowdsourcing answers, finding discounts, filling in gaps where systems fall short. But what happens when that help causes harm?

In Episode 007 of Logging In, Techie and Luna unpack two very different stories with the same underlying question. First, they reflect on how Reddit’s role in investigations has changed over time, comparing the Boston Marathon bombing aftermath with a recent local case in Rhode Island at Brown University and asking whether online crowds have actually learned from past mistakes — or if the risks have simply shifted.

In the second half, the conversation turns to the Honey browser extension and growing concerns about how coupon tools operate behind the scenes. From affiliate code overrides to data collection and lawsuits involving PayPal, the episode explores how “saving money” online can quietly impact creators, businesses, and users alike.

Across both topics, the episode asks a bigger question: when technology steps in to help, who is it really helping — and who pays the price?