Chris Sanderson
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sandersonchrisj.bsky.social
Chris Sanderson
@sandersonchrisj.bsky.social
170 followers 160 following 7 posts
PhD Linguistics Candidate at Lancaster University

Working in the ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science on the UKRI-funded Public Discourses of Dementia Project.
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sandersonchrisj.bsky.social
Chris Sanderson @sandersonchrisj.bsky.social · Jul 3
Thanks to everyone who listened to one of my talks. Glad they're are both done now! It's been so nice to meet new people and learn about their research. Having a great time and looking forward to the final panel! #CL2025
sandersonchrisj.bsky.social
"…when things were going well for you during your student experience, what was it that made it good?

After the third or fourth training session I got pretty good at predicting what they would say and 90 per cent of the time the answer was “friends.”"

But "Each cut makes forming friendships harder"
mixosaurus.bsky.social Kat Gupta @mixosaurus.bsky.social · Nov 14
Some interesting - and troubling - reading on student loneliness at university. It's important that we set students up for success - and that means building spaces to connect in our programmes, in our buildings and on our campuses
wonkhe.com/blogs/the-on...
The one where they still don't have any friends
Amid rising reports of student loneliness, Mack Marshall explores how UK universities are failing to design for connection - and why social isolation is no longer just a pastoral issue but a structura...
wonkhe.com
November 15, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
shacknews.com
LiveAI demo fails on the first prompt at Meta Connect 2025. #Meta #AI #LiveAI
September 18, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
rose.bsky.team
Millions of followers ≠ engagement. @theguardian.com has 1.4m followers on Threads with almost no engagement. On Bluesky, links can get 3–4x more clicks than likes.

The real question isn’t “how many followers do you have?” but “what kind of engagement do you get?”
Screenshot of the guardian profile on Threads Screenshot of guardian posts on threads
August 28, 2025 at 9:28 AM
sandersonchrisj.bsky.social
I'm performing at Edinburgh Fringe! 🥳

Come along and watch if you happen to be around this week! :)
August 11, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
bethsawin.bsky.social
The thing about "new normals" is that until the whole global economy gets off of fossil fuels, new normals will soon become old normals. These are snapshots on an upward climbs not a stable new resting place at the top of a hill and... www.bbc.com/news/article...
Met Office: Extreme weather the UK's new normal
The UK has a notably different climate compared with just a few decades ago, the Met Office says.
www.bbc.com
July 14, 2025 at 12:43 PM
sandersonchrisj.bsky.social
Thanks to everyone who listened to one of my talks. Glad they're are both done now! It's been so nice to meet new people and learn about their research. Having a great time and looking forward to the final panel! #CL2025
July 3, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
eliothiggins.bsky.social
🧵 THREAD: Why the Cato Institute’s new paper on “misinformation panic” is dangerously wrong, and why it completely misunderstands the real crisis we face.
www.cato.org/policy-analy...
The Misleading Panic over Misinformation
People can’t agree on how to define misinformation and its related terms, making regulation nearly impossible. Instead, free expression serves as a better tool for discovering truth.
www.cato.org
June 27, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
thesherdnerd.bsky.social
Please stop with lazy/disrespectful headlines about Archaeologists stumbling, being puzzled etc. They did not stumble, it was discovered as part of a road scheme. Most archaeology is recovered as part of planning & development process which includes monitoring for archaeology🏺 #archaeology
June 25, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
lutzfernandez.bsky.social
I put together a short document for those wary of the AI mania in schools. Four of the main arguments for teachers using AI tools and introducing kids to AI as early as kindergarten are addressed--with thoughts and rebuttals and links to sources. Hope it's helpful.

drive.google.com/file/d/1urCM...
Help Sheet: Resisting AI Mania in Schools K-12 educators are under increasing pressure to use—and have students use—a wide range of AI tools. (The term “AI” is used loosely here, just as it is by many purveyors and boosters.) Even those who envision benefits to schools of this fast-evolving category of tech should approach the well-funded AI-in-education campaign with skepticism and caution. Some of the primary arguments for teachers actively using AI tools and introducing students to AI as early as kindergarten, however, are questionable or fallacious. What follows are four of the most common arguments and rebuttals with links to sources. I have not attempted balance, in part because so much pro-AI messaging is out there and discussion of risks and costs is often minimized in favor of hope or resignation. -ALF Argument: “Schools need to prepare students for the jobs of the future.” The skills employers seek haven’t changed much over the decades—and include a lot of “soft skills” like initiative, problem-solving, communication, and critical thinking. Early research is showing that using generative AI can degrade these key skills: An MIT study showed adults using chatGPT to help write an essay “had the lowest brain engagement and ‘consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.’” Critically, “ChatGPT users got lazier with each subsequent essay, often resorting to copy-and-paste by the end of the study.” A business school found those who used AI tools often had worse critical thinking skills “mediated by increased cognitive offloading. Younger participants exhibited higher dependence on AI tools and lower critical thinking scores.” Another study revealed those using “ChatGPT engaged less in metacognitive activities…For instance, learners in the AI group frequently looped back to ChatGPT for feedback rather than reflecting independently. This dependency not only undermines critical thinking but also risks long-term skill stagnation.” … Argument: “AI is a tool, just like a calculator.” Calculators don’t provide factually wrong answers, but AI tools have. Last year, Google’s AI search returned, among other falsehoods, that cats have gone to the moon, that Barack Obama is Muslim, and that glue goes on pizza. Even though AI tools have and are expected to improve, children in schools shouldn’t be used as tech firms’ guinea pigs for undertested, unregulated products while AI firms engage elected officials in actively resisting regulation. Calculators don’t provide dangerous, even deadly feedback. In one study, a ”chatbot recommended that a user, who said they were recovering from addiction, take a ‘small hit’ of methamphetamine” because, it said, it’s “‘what makes you able to do your job to the best of your ability.’" Users have received threatening messages from chatbots. Calculators don’t pose mental health risks because they aren’t potentially addictive or designed to encourage repeated use. They don’t flatter, direct, or manipulate. Chatbots have been designed this way—and this has led to dreadful mental health outcomes for some, including users in a New York Times report. Alleging a chatbot encouraged their teen to die by suicide, parents in Florida filed a lawsuit against its maker. Calculators don’t lie. Chatbots, however, have misled users. Writer Amanda Guinzberg shared screenshots of interactions with one that she asked to describe several of her essays. It spewed out invented material, showing the chatbot hadn’t actually accessed and processed the essays. After much prodding, it “admitted” it had only acted as though it had done that requested work, spit out mea culpas—and went on to invent or “lie” again. Calculators can’t be used to spread propaganda. AI tools, though, including those meant for schools, should worry us. Law professor Eric Muller’s back-and-forth with SchoolAI’s “Anne Frank” character showed his “helluva time trying to get her to say a bad word about Nazis.” In this er… Argument: “AI won’t replace teachers, but it will save them time and improve their effectiveness.” Adding edtech does not necessarily save teachers time. A recent study found that learning management systems sold to schools over the past decade-plus as time-savers aren’t delivering on making teaching easier. Instead, they found this tech (e.g. Google Classroom, Canvas) is often burdensome and contributes to burnout. As one teacher put it, it “just adds layers to tasks.” “Extra time” is rarely returned to teachers. AI proponents argue that if teachers use AI tools to grade, prepare lessons, or differentiate materials, they’ll have more time to work with students. But there are always new initiatives, duties, or committee assignments—the unpaid work districts rely on—to suck up that time. In a culture of austerity and with a USDOE that is cutting spending, teachers are likely to be assigned more students. When class sizes grow, students get less attention, and positions can be cut. AI can’t replace what teachers do, but that doesn’t mean teachers won’t be replaced. Schools are already doing it: Arizona approved a charter school in which students spend mornings working with AI and the role of teacher is reduced to “guide.” Ed tech expert Neil Selwyn argues those in “industry and policy circles…hostile to the idea of expensively trained expert professional educators who have [tenure], pension rights and union protection… [welcome] AI replacement as a way of undermining the status of the professional teacher.” Tech firms have been selling schools on untested products for years. Technophilia has led to students being on screens for hours in school each week even when their phones are banned. Writer Jess Grose explains, “Companies never had to prove that devices or software, broadly speaking, helped students learn before those devices had wormed their way into America’s public schools.” AI products appear to be no different. Efficiency is not effectiveness. “Speed a… Argument: “Students are already using AI, so we have to teach them ethical use. If schools want ethical students, teach ethics. More students are using AI tools to cheat, an age-old problem they make much easier. This won’t be addressed by showing students how to use this minute’s AI, an argument implying students don’t know what plagiarism is (solved by teaching about plagiarism) or understand academic integrity (solved by teaching and enforcing its bounds)—or that teachers create weak assignments or don’t convey purpose. The latter aren’t solved by attempting to redirect students motivated and able to cheat. Students can be educated on the ethics of AI without encouraging use of AI tools. They can be taught, as part of media literacy and social media safety programs, about AI’s potential and applications as well as how it can enable predation, perpetuate bias, and spread disinformation. They should be taught about the risks of AI and its various social, economic, and environmental costs. Giving a nod to these issues while integrating AI throughout schools sends a strong message: the schools don’t really care and neither should students. Children can’t be expected to use AI responsibly when adults aren’t. Many pushing schools to embrace AI don’t know much about it. One example: Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who said kindergartners should be taught A1 (a steak sauce). The LA Times introduced a biased and likely politically-motivated AI feature. The Chicago Sun-Times published a summer reading list including nonexistent books—yet teachers are told to use the same tools to do similar work. Educators using AI to cut corners can strike students as hypocritical. The many costs of AI call into question the possibility of ethical AI use. These include: Energy - AI data centers need huge amounts of water as coolant as well as electricity, pulling these resources from their communities—which tend to be lower-income—straining the grid, and raising household costs. Thi…
June 24, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
chrchristensen.bsky.social
Short news reports like, "President announces ceasefire" with a screenshot of a Truth Social post and little else only serve to amplify his platform, encourage bypassing of critical questioning and allow the shaping of the message to be entirely dictated by a political leader. Citizens gain nothing.
June 24, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
eliothiggins.bsky.social
An elected official is publicly mocking a student for wearing a kufiyeh, having purple hair, and using they/them pronouns. Not because it affects governance, not because it harms anyone.
But because, in the age of culture war politics, symbolic identity is the battleground.
May 22, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
gavinbrookes.bsky.social
We now have a Bluesky account for the Public Discourses of Dementia project! Check out what we're doing, and what we've been up to, below! 👇 #dementia #appliedlinguistics #discourse #corpuslinguistics
pubdiscdementia.bsky.social Public Discourses of Dementia @pubdiscdementia.bsky.social · Mar 25
Hello!

At the Public Discourses of Dementia Project, we aim to identify and challenge stigma around #dementia by analysing how people and organisations communicate about the syndrome in public.

You can find out more on our website: wp.lancs.ac.uk/public-disco... and in this thread 😊
Challenging Stigma and Promoting Personhood – Lancaster University
wp.lancs.ac.uk
March 26, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
stopfundinghate.bsky.social
Great piece just out from @bylinetimes.bsky.social featuring the #StopFundingHate petition for M&S to drop their ads with GB News - now approaching 11,000 signatures! 👏👏👏 bylinetimes.com/2025/02/24/m...
M&S Hit by Customer Boycott Over GB News Adverts After Presenter Labels LGBTQ+ People 'Paedos'
Thousands of customers are threatening to stop using the supposedly LGBTQ+ inclusive retail giant
bylinetimes.com
February 24, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
nktpnd.bsky.social
To spare you all from Twitter, here’s @shashj.bsky.social’s great rebuttal.
February 21, 2025 at 7:57 PM
sandersonchrisj.bsky.social
Great Visualisation in this graph of how the fact clarification does not get the views, and the impact of a viral post.
kakape.bsky.social Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · Feb 8
Here is just one example of how misinfo about USAID circulates widely on X…

„The facts failed to reach a significant audience online, but the misinformation was elevated by prominent podcasters, politicians and Trump allies within hours.“
February 8, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
baal-health-sig.bsky.social
We are delighted to confirm our #2025 Workshop series: Inequalities, inclusion and innovation. In person @lancslinguistics.bsky.social on 21/03/25 and online on 25/03/25. Plenaries @elenasemino.bsky.social & @fmfederici.bsky.social All welcome: register via website - baalhealthsci.wordpress.com
Programme for HSC SIG event March 2025
February 7, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
stopfundinghate.bsky.social
Now GB News has started pushing a toxic suggestion that the NHS has a "diversity obsession" which is "killing patients".

This is what Sky, Trailfinders and Trivago are enabling by supporting GB News

It will only add to concerns about efforts by GB News to bring Trump's playbook to the UK.
Screenshot from GB News. The image shows a presenter wearing a suit and tie, with union jack colours in the background. To the right is an image of an NHS logo over rainbow flag colours. Above that logo is the text "NHS DIVERSITY OBSESSION KILLING PATIENTS".
February 2, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
drlindseyfitz.bsky.social
With science falling under increasing attack, this medical historian is here to remind people of the power of #vaccines. THREAD🧵

Hard-hitting polio advert from 1958. In the first half of the 20th century, polio was the leading cause of death in children and young adults. 1/7
An advertisement for the polio vaccine which reads: "they all got vaccine except dad...don't take a chance...take your polio shots!" It depicts a photo of a family gathered around a father who is in an iron lung.
February 1, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
hopenothate.org.uk
Reform UK is a far-right party, but that doesn’t mean their voters are. Reform are bringing together a coalition united by two things: a distrust of mainstream politics and pessimism about the state of the country.
February 2, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
stopfundinghate.bsky.social
Linking LGBTQ+ inclusion to paedophilia is a toxic and dangerous trope.

Please take action to urge Sky to pull their ads from GB News: actionstorm.org/petitions/cu...
January 30, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
ibogost.com
That time when I wrote this seven and one half years ago
Cryptocurrency Might be a Path to Authoritarianism
Extreme libertarians built blockchain to decentralize government and corporate power. It could consolidate their control instead.
www.theatlantic.com
January 23, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
donmoyn.bsky.social
Meta's policy is that group-based harassment is generally bad and forbidden *except for this one particular group*
esqueer.net Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · Jan 8
Meta literally created a LGBTQ exception for calling someone mentally ill as an insult. You can't do it for any other group except LGBTQ people.
The image is from a "Transparency Center" document and lists guidelines regarding acceptable and prohibited content for insults. It mentions: 1. Insults about: Character, such as cowardice, dishonesty, criminality, and sexual promiscuity or immorality. Mental characteristics, including but not limited to accusations of stupidity, intellectual capacity, and mental illness, as well as unsupported comparisons among politically correct (PC) groups based on inherent intellectual traits. 2. Highlighted section: The document allows allegations of mental illness or abnormality when tied to gender or sexual orientation, referencing political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality. It also acknowledges the non-serious use of terms like "weird."
January 8, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
realbenbloch.bsky.social
“A line has been crossed”: PM Keir Starmer has responded after days of attacks from Elon Musk on himself and Jess Phillips.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Starmer speak in this way before - such so that it’s worth posting his comments in full.

🧵with the PM’s response to Sky’s @bethrigby.bsky.social.
January 6, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Reposted by Chris Sanderson
touretteshero.bsky.social
If you want an authentic & joyful presentation of #SocialCare then check out our
Channel4, BAFTA nominated short #Biscuitland m.youtube.com/watch?v=hLsW... like my life social care’s at the centre. A lot less holding hands than in traditional depictions. Also check out @socialcarefuture.bsky.social
Biscuitland | Comedy Blap | Channel 4 Comedy
YouTube video by Channel 4 Comedy
m.youtube.com
January 3, 2025 at 12:54 PM