A Podcast About Technology, Media, AI, and the Internet
Network Issues is a podcast about the systems shaping our digital lives—and what those systems are doing to our culture, careers, relationships, politics, and sense of reality.
Hosted by media scholar Jamie Cohen and marketing strategist Destinee Day, the show brings academic insight and real-world industry experience to the internet’s most urgent questions. Each episode explores how artificial intelligence, social media algorithms, online communities, digital advertising, influencer culture, misinformation, surveillance, and emerging technologies are changing the way we communicate and make decisions.
Network Issues goes beyond headlines and surface-level technology news. Jamie and Destinee examine the power structures, business models, cultural forces, and human behaviors behind the platforms we use every day. Their conversations make complex topics accessible without oversimplifying them—helping listeners better understand how the internet works, who benefits from it, and how to navigate it with greater agency.
Whether you work in media, marketing, education, technology, or simply want to understand the forces shaping life online, Network Issues offers thoughtful, candid conversations about the internet as it exists today—and where it may be taking us next.
Watch, listen, and explore every episode of Network Issues below.
What Are Frictionless Architectures and Why Nothing Feels Staged Anymore
Jamie Cohen spent the last two and a half weeks at the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change, living on the grounds of the actual palace from The Sound of Music with 50 students from 25 countries. He came back with a keynote talk and a new term he's been building toward for a decade: frictionless architectures.
Why Meta Chose Kylie Jenner to Sell AI Smart Glasses
Meta partnered with Kylie Jenner to turn its latest AI glasses into a fashion product. Jamie Cohen and Destinee Day examine why she is the ideal spokesperson, how smart glasses change recording and POV content, and what wearable cameras mean for privacy, classrooms, accessibility, and public consent.
How Student-Athletes Can Build—and Protect—an NIL Brand
NIL allows student-athletes to earn money from their names, images, voices, appearances, and audiences. Jamie Cohen and Destinee Day explain how athletes can build recognizable brands, evaluate sponsorships, protect their digital identities, prepare for media attention, and avoid legal and reputational pitfalls.
Can Social Media Companies Be Liable for Addictive Design?
A landmark jury verdict found Meta and YouTube responsible for harms linked to compulsive social-media use. Jamie Cohen and Destinee Day examine infinite scroll, autoplay, internet fame, creator-economy incentives, Section 230, youth privacy, and whether platforms, brands, or creators should bear responsibility.
Why Social Media Feels Like One Endless Advertisement
Destinee Day takes a two-week break from social media and discovers that much of what felt like entertainment was actually advertising. She and Jamie Cohen examine influencer marketing, AI slop, personalized recommendations, product placement, and why paid ad-free entertainment is losing attention to the commercial feed in our hands.
Who Is Paying Influencers to Promote AI?
A polished pro-AI video from a soccer-mom influencer leads Jamie Cohen and Destinee Day into a larger investigation of dark-money campaigns, hidden sponsors, political messaging, and why an #ad label may still leave audiences without the information they need.