{"id":172335,"date":"2025-01-29T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/?p=172335"},"modified":"2025-01-29T05:43:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T10:43:16","slug":"ictp-336-social-media-and-mental-health-data-residency-and-big-tech-versus-developing-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2025\/01\/ictp-336-social-media-and-mental-health-data-residency-and-big-tech-versus-developing-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"ICTP 336: Social media and mental health, data residency, and big tech versus developing countries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In our January 2025 Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, Esmeralda Levens-Wijngaarde of Blyce in Cura\u00e7ao<\/em>, and Niko Kluyver also of Cura\u00e7ao and CyberVade, the panel discusses: the impact of social media on mental health in the Caribbean; data residency in the Caribbean; and big tech and developing countries: can there be some rebalancing of power?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/iframe><div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-673719274\" title=\"ICT Pulse Podcast\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\">ICT Pulse Podcast<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-673719274\/ictp-336-social-media-and\" title=\"ICTP 336: Social media and mental health, data residency, and big tech versus developing countries\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\">ICTP 336: Social media and mental health, data residency, and big tech versus developing countries<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\nThis episode is also available on <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-673719274\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SoundCloud<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/ict-pulse-podcast\/id1373550291\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/3d0U4ZYX80e5lenYLdzyX4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/3f727ec1-de7d-416f-8bdc-31d9a911a09e\/ict-pulse-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Amazon Music<\/a>!!<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAlthough we are just four weeks into 2025, it already seems that it will be a transformative year. However, whether the transformation will be good or bad remains to be seen. Nevertheless, at the time of writing, United States (US) stock markets had been experiencing some upheaval due to the recent launch of DeepSeek, a Chinese Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. Further, the incoming US administration has been changing several tech-related policies, the results of which are likely to be felt in the months and years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOur first Community Chat discussion covers several areas, which to some degree, reflect not only the speed at which technology is evolving but, more importantly, the need for us to adapt and to be intentional in how we manage it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Introducing our guest panellists<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"587\" height=\"512\" data-attachment-id=\"169066\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2023\/09\/ictp-271-the-future-of-finance-is-the-caribbean-a-home-for-digital-nomads-and-is-our-love-affair-with-ai-already-over\/esmeralda-levens-e-levens_cropped\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Esmeralda-Levens-E-Levens_cropped.png?fit=587%2C512&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"587,512\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}\" data-image-title=\"Esmeralda Levens (E Levens)_cropped\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"Esmeralda Levens<\/p>\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Esmeralda-Levens-E-Levens_cropped.png?fit=300%2C262&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Esmeralda-Levens-E-Levens_cropped.png?fit=587%2C512&ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Esmeralda-Levens-E-Levens_cropped.png?resize=587%2C512\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-169066\" style=\"width:300px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Esmeralda-Levens-E-Levens_cropped.png?w=587&ssl=1 587w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Esmeralda-Levens-E-Levens_cropped.png?resize=300%2C262&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 587px) 100vw, 587px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Esmeralda Levens-Wijngaarde<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/esmeralda-levens-wijngaarde-b335046\/\">Esmeralda Levens-Wijngaarde<\/strong><\/a> is a global citizen who grew up in Suriname, pursued her higher education in Mathematics and Computer Science in the USA, was subsequently employed in the Netherlands, and since 2001 has been a resident of Cura\u00e7ao. The common thread in her career has been the increase in business process efficiency mediated by technology, software, and data. She has done this by leading small and large teams in million-dollar projects in a wide range of industries and various cultural settings, varying from the airline industry, sports betting, telecommunications, emergency and disaster management, financial industry, tax administrations, and social security organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCurrently, Esmeralda is an Associate Director of Blyce, formerly known as BearingPoiint Caribbean, which specialises in the digitalisation of governments and offers online portals and other technology solutions that make public services better, faster, and smarter<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"321\" height=\"321\" data-attachment-id=\"172336\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2025\/01\/ictp-336-social-media-and-mental-health-data-residency-and-big-tech-versus-developing-countries\/niko-kluyver-n-kluyver\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Niko-Kluyver-N-Kluyver.jpeg?fit=321%2C321&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"321,321\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}\" data-image-title=\"Niko Kluyver (N Kluyver)\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"Niko Kluyver<\/p>\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Niko-Kluyver-N-Kluyver.jpeg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Niko-Kluyver-N-Kluyver.jpeg?fit=321%2C321&ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Niko-Kluyver-N-Kluyver.jpeg?resize=321%2C321\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-172336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Niko-Kluyver-N-Kluyver.jpeg?w=321&ssl=1 321w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Niko-Kluyver-N-Kluyver.jpeg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Niko-Kluyver-N-Kluyver.jpeg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 321px) 100vw, 321px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Niko Kluyver<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kluyver\/\">Niko Kluyver<\/a><\/strong> is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CyberVade, a cybersecurity, data privacy, AI and compliance services firm operating in the Caribbean, USA and Europe. Niko is also the CEO of the Caribbean Credit Bureau, operating in the Dutch Caribbean since 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNiko started his career as a Certified Public Accountant from where he moved to the banking sector for ten years, after which he continued his journey as an entrepreneur and started several companies in various sectors.  He currently assists companies with cybersecurity and data privacy, and acts as a fractional Chief Information Systems Officer. He has served on several boards, including the Cura\u00e7ao International Financial Services Association and the Cura\u00e7ao Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the International Factoring Association and Alacred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The topics discussed<\/h2>\n\n\n\nAmong our guests, self-care seems to be a key focus for 2025, especially their physical and mental health. So, to kick off the first Community Chat of the year, our first topic was The impact of social media on mental health in the Caribbean<\/em><\/strong>. In the region, mental health is still a taboo subject, but Caribbean studies are emerging on the amount of time individuals are spending on social media, which may not only have an impact on mental health but also productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe discussion then shifted to the data protection frameworks in the region, which at best could be described as uneven \u2013 with some countries having more stringent measures than others. Hence, the topic, Data residency in the Caribbean<\/em><\/strong>, highlighted some of the challenges being experienced by international companies doing business in the region but are unable to store data in the region, although we have world-class data centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFinally, cognisant that Caribbean countries appear to be at the mercy of big tech, such as Meta, Amazon, Netflix, Twitter, to name a few, with respect to access to the services they provide, are rounded off the Community Chat by discussing, Big tech and developing countries: can there be some rebalancing of power?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\nWe would love to hear your thoughts!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nDo leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ICTPulse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Facebook<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ict-pulse-consulting-limited\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a> pages, or via Twitter, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ICTPulse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@ICTPulse<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAlso, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/fgd.dfv.mybluehost.me\/.website_c81a1e61\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">do get in touch<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s make it happen!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Select links<\/h2>\n\n\n\nBelow are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/esmeralda-levens-wijngaarde-b335046\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Esmeralda Levens-Wijngaarde<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kluyver\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Niko Kluyver<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/blyce.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Blyce<\/a> (formerly BearingPoint Caribbean)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/cybervade.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">CyberVade<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ICT Pulse Podcast episode, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3B7S1MF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">ICTP 320: Strengthening the digital backbone of the Caribbean region, with Giovanni King of the Caribbean Datacenter Association<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/caricom.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/vision_and_roadmap_for_a_single_ict_space_-_final_version_updated.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Vision and Roadmap for the CARICOM Single ICT Space<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/caribbeandatacenters.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Caribbean Datacenter Association<\/a> <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ResearchGate article, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/378519114_Does_Social_Media_Influence_the_Mental_Health_Status_of_Jamaicans_International_Journal_on_Transformations_of_Media_Journalism_Mass_Communication\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Does Social Media Influence the Mental Health Status of Jamaicans? International Journal on Transformations of Media, Journalism & Mass Communication<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Blue Nap Americas article, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluenapamericas.com\/articles\/regulating-the-submarine-cable\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Regulating the submarine cable system in the Caribbean region<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\nImages credit:  E Levens-Wijngaarde;  N Kluyver;  AzamKamolov (<a href=\"http:\/\/pixabay.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Pixabay<\/a>); macrovector (<a href=\"http:\/\/freepik.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Freepik<\/a>);  Darby Browning (<a href=\"http:\/\/pixabay.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Pixabay<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nMusic credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Ch\u00e9rie), by Andy Narrell<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nPodcast editing support: Mayra Bonilla Lopez<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In our January 2025 Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, Esmeralda Levens-Wijngaarde of Blyce in Cura\u00e7ao, and Niko Kluyver also of Cura\u00e7ao and CyberVade, the panel discusses: the impact of social media on mental health in the Caribbean; data residency in the Caribbean; and big tech and developing countries: can there be some rebalancing of power?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[355],"tags":[71,299,38,266,212,12],"class_list":["post-172335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","tag-businesses","tag-data-centres","tag-data-protection","tag-healthmedical","tag-policy-2","tag-regulation","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Featured-Image-%E2%80%93-Community-Chat-No-1-of-2025.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iE1G-IPB","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172335"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172343,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172335\/revisions\/172343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}