Few films capture the imagination quite like Back to the Future. In this Throwback Thursday special, cultural historian Ed Conroy joins Shane Hewitt to explore how the movie redefined time travel for a generation and sparked an enduring fascination with technology and what the future could hold. The discussion uncovers how its optimistic view of tomorrow contrasts with today’s digital reality — and why teenage dreams, social pressures, and cultural identity haven’t changed as much as we think. Discover how one film became both a mirror and a time capsule for the way we see ourselves.

GUEST:
Ed Conroy
@‌retrontario
http://retrontario.com

Originally aired on 2025-10-16

Few films capture the imagination quite like Back to the Future. In this Throwback Thursday special, cultural historian Ed Conroy joins Shane Hewitt to explore how the movie redefined time travel for a generation and sparked an enduring fascination with technology and what the future could hold. The discussion uncovers how its optimistic view of tomorrow contrasts with today&rsquo;s digital reality &mdash; and why teenage dreams, social pressures, and cultural identity haven&rsquo;t changed as much as we think. Discover how one film became both a mirror and a time capsule for the way we see ourselves.
GUEST: Ed Conroy @&zwnj;retrontario <a href="http://retrontario.com">http://retrontario.com</a>
Originally aired on&nbsp;2025-10-16

Shane Hewitt & The Nightshift is your late-night companion for real talk, bold ideas, and unfiltered conversations that matter. Hosted by Canadian radio veteran Shane Hewitt, each episode dives into the headlines, human stories, and hidden truths shaping our world—always with curiosity, compassion, and a sharp edge.

From politics and pop culture to mental health, technology, and everyday life, this podcast is where night owls, deep thinkers, and curious minds come to connect. Featuring expert guests, passionate callers, and Shane’s signature style—thoughtful, fearless, and refreshingly real.

If you crave meaningful dialogue, smart perspectives, and late-night radio energy in podcast form, subscribe now and join The Nightshift.

Shane Hewitt &amp; The Nightshift is your late-night companion for real talk, bold ideas, and unfiltered conversations that matter. Hosted by Canadian radio veteran Shane Hewitt, each episode dives into the headlines, human stories, and hidden truths shaping our world&mdash;always with curiosity, compassion, and a sharp edge.
From politics and pop culture to mental health, technology, and everyday life, this podcast is where night owls, deep thinkers, and curious minds come to connect. Featuring expert guests, passionate callers, and Shane&rsquo;s signature style&mdash;thoughtful, fearless, and refreshingly real.
If you crave meaningful dialogue, smart perspectives, and late-night radio energy in podcast form, subscribe now and join The Nightshift.

Shane Hewitt and The Nightshift

Shane Hewitt is known for his engaging and relatable on-air personality, which captivates listeners. His ability to blend insightful commentary with humour and empathy creates a genuine connection with listeners.  Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift provides relatable content, informative discussions and expert insights – along with a balance of anecdotes and entertainment.

Shane Hewitt is known for his engaging and relatable on-air personality, which captivates listeners. His ability to blend insightful commentary with humour and empathy creates a genuine connection with listeners.  Shane Hewitt and the Night Shift provides relatable content, informative discussions and expert insights – along with a balance of anecdotes and entertainment.

Back to the Future: How 80s Nostalgia Still Shapes Us

Cyberbullying follows your kid home now. You gave them the phone in grade five. Seemed fine that first year. Summer hits. They're scrolling. Someone filmed themselves committing suicide and posted it in a feed your kid follows. Your fifth grader sees it. Nightmares start. You find out weeks later. What else did they see that you don't know about?

Victoria Talwar's research documented that exact case. Not a kid seeking harmful content. Just scrolling. The nightmares lasted months. The bullying you experienced stopped when you got home from school. Your kid's doesn't. Group chats at midnight. Gaming voice channels during homework. Posted photos they can't delete. Comments they can't escape. One parent Talwar interviewed called it the guinea pig generation, the first to raise kids with social media when nobody knows the rules yet.

The weekend used to be the reprieve. That's gone. Your kid's identity forms while strangers post about them in spaces you can't see. But bystanders change outcomes. Research proves passive ignoring makes it worse, and intervention stops it. That's the part nobody's teaching yet.

Topics: cyberbullying, digital parenting, online safety for kids, bystander intervention, youth mental health

GUEST: Victoria Talwar | http://youthdigitalcompass.com

Originally aired on 2026-02-06

Cyberbullying follows your kid home now. You gave them the phone in grade five. Seemed fine that first year. Summer hits. They're scrolling. Someone filmed themselves committing suicide and posted it in a feed your kid follows. Your fifth grader sees it. Nightmares start. You find out weeks later. What else did they see that you don't know about?
Victoria Talwar's research documented that exact case. Not a kid seeking harmful content. Just scrolling. The nightmares lasted months. The bullying you experienced stopped when you got home from school. Your kid's doesn't. Group chats at midnight. Gaming voice channels during homework. Posted photos they can't delete. Comments they can't escape. One parent Talwar interviewed called it the guinea pig generation, the first to raise kids with social media when nobody knows the rules yet.
The weekend used to be the reprieve. That's gone. Your kid's identity forms while strangers post about them in spaces you can't see. But bystanders change outcomes. Research proves passive ignoring makes it worse, and intervention stops it. That's the part nobody's teaching yet.
Topics: cyberbullying, digital parenting, online safety for kids, bystander intervention, youth mental health
GUEST: Victoria Talwar |<a href="http://youthdigitalcompass.com"> http://youthdigitalcompass.com</a>
Originally aired on&nbsp;2026-02-06

When Did the Bullying Become 24/7?

Government UFO cover-up stories usually come from unreliable witnesses you dismiss immediately. You've heard the cable news interviews at midnight with people claiming they saw lights. This isn't that. You're watching 34 military and intelligence officials with security clearances testify that there's been an 80-year cover-up of non-human intelligent life, and the US is racing China and Russia to reverse engineer the technology. These are admirals, generals, sitting senators from both parties, and Navy pilots trusted to fly with nuclear weapons. Do you believe career officials risking their reputations, or assume they're all lying for a documentary?

Republicans and Democrats can't agree on anything right now, but they're completely aligned on this. Both parties' leadership knows about it and supports keeping certain details classified. Farah spent a year earning trust through off-the-grid conversations, cell phones away, navigating pushback from people invested in the cover-up who didn't want this film made. He interviewed the Secretary of State. The officials call it "the Manhattan Project on steroids" because the stakes involve technology that could shift global power. They only reveal what's lawfully unclassified, which means there's substantially more on the other side of that line.

The film sets the stage for more information to become public, but right now you're left with verified government testimony about non-human intelligence and a technology race with adversarial nations. One senior intelligence official says hopefully soon the full picture becomes unclassified so the public learns how it impacts us all. That "impacts us all" line isn't speculation from a conspiracy theorist. It's from someone with direct knowledge who legally can't say more yet.

Topics: government UFO cover-up, non-human intelligence, UAP disclosure, classified technology race, military testimony, bipartisan secrecy

GUEST: Dan Farah | X: @‌ageofdisclosure, TikTok: @‌ageofdisclosure, YouTube: @‌theageofdisclosure, Instagram & Facebook: @‌ageofdisclosure

Originally aired on 2026-02-06

Government UFO cover-up stories usually come from unreliable witnesses you dismiss immediately. You've heard the cable news interviews at midnight with people claiming they saw lights. This isn't that. You're watching 34 military and intelligence officials with security clearances testify that there's been an 80-year cover-up of non-human intelligent life, and the US is racing China and Russia to reverse engineer the technology. These are admirals, generals, sitting senators from both parties, and Navy pilots trusted to fly with nuclear weapons. Do you believe career officials risking their reputations, or assume they're all lying for a documentary?
Republicans and Democrats can't agree on anything right now, but they're completely aligned on this. Both parties' leadership knows about it and supports keeping certain details classified. Farah spent a year earning trust through off-the-grid conversations, cell phones away, navigating pushback from people invested in the cover-up who didn't want this film made. He interviewed the Secretary of State. The officials call it "the Manhattan Project on steroids" because the stakes involve technology that could shift global power. They only reveal what's lawfully unclassified, which means there's substantially more on the other side of that line.
The film sets the stage for more information to become public, but right now you're left with verified government testimony about non-human intelligence and a technology race with adversarial nations. One senior intelligence official says hopefully soon the full picture becomes unclassified so the public learns how it impacts us all. That "impacts us all" line isn't speculation from a conspiracy theorist. It's from someone with direct knowledge who legally can't say more yet.
Topics: government UFO cover-up, non-human intelligence, UAP disclosure, classified technology race, military testimony, bipartisan secrecy
GUEST: Dan Farah | X: @&zwnj;ageofdisclosure, TikTok: @&zwnj;ageofdisclosure, YouTube: @&zwnj;theageofdisclosure, Instagram &amp; Facebook: @&zwnj;ageofdisclosure
Originally aired on&nbsp;2026-02-06

Age Of Disclosure: The Technology Race Nobody's Talking About

Social media Olympics started in 2010 when Instagram barely existed and 16.6 million Canadians watched Sidney Crosby score on one screen. You're planning to watch this year's Olympics on your TV while scrolling TikTok. That's the official strategy now. TikTok is the second screen partner. NBC lost $233 million in 2010 trying to figure out this new world. Now you need two screens because one isn't enough to hold your attention.

The 2010 Vancouver Games were called the first social media Olympics. Instagram launched that year. No betting apps. No vertical content creators. No AI-generated fake results circulating before real ones. This year brings all of that. You'll have to verify whether Canada actually won gold or if an AI fake went viral first. The expectation is you can't watch without your phone in hand anymore. Zero attention span requires dual screens.

The next viral moment you share from the Olympics might be completely fabricated. The sacred untouchable event now gets the same AI treatment as everything else. And you're supposed to watch it all happen on two devices at once because single-screen viewing is over.

Topics: social media Olympics, 2010 Vancouver memories, TikTok second screen, AI fake results, multi-screen consumption

Originally aired on 2026-02-05

Social media Olympics started in 2010 when Instagram barely existed and 16.6 million Canadians watched Sidney Crosby score on one screen. You're planning to watch this year's Olympics on your TV while scrolling TikTok. That's the official strategy now. TikTok is the second screen partner. NBC lost $233 million in 2010 trying to figure out this new world. Now you need two screens because one isn't enough to hold your attention.
The 2010 Vancouver Games were called the first social media Olympics. Instagram launched that year. No betting apps. No vertical content creators. No AI-generated fake results circulating before real ones. This year brings all of that. You'll have to verify whether Canada actually won gold or if an AI fake went viral first. The expectation is you can't watch without your phone in hand anymore. Zero attention span requires dual screens.
The next viral moment you share from the Olympics might be completely fabricated. The sacred untouchable event now gets the same AI treatment as everything else. And you're supposed to watch it all happen on two devices at once because single-screen viewing is over.
Topics: social media Olympics, 2010 Vancouver memories, TikTok second screen, AI fake results, multi-screen consumption
Originally aired on&nbsp;2026-02-05

Back to the Future: How 80s Nostalgia Still Shapes Us

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