What Is Tech & Tea?

Tech & Tea is a podcast & newsletter about how technology impacts our lives and what we’re doing about it.

Who is the host?

My name is Joe Toscano. If you haven’t heard of me, I’m a published author and recognized expert on tech safety. I’ve been featured in Netflix’s The Social Dilemma, Forbes, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and a long list of international media organizations. I made my name because I make things simple and I tell stories that bring people together.

I made my career making thing simple. I learned to do this because I always had to explain what I do for a living to my friends and family back home in Nebraska. That evolved into a TEDx Talk I intentionally did back home, where I educated everyone about what data is—turns out everything is data:

Then I took it corporate. I’ve since spoken at hundreds of events around the world, with audiences as large as 15,000. One of my favorite recent talks was at BAFTA in London with the Boardwave members in September of 2023:

And I also helped draft laws. The most recent law I helped draft and get passed was the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act, which was passed in June of 2024 after nearly half a decade of trying to fit it in some shape or form. I learned a lot and also learned how to help our government make change. You can watch the SXSW panel I was on with Senator Gounardes, AG Rob Bonta, and Zephyr Teachout:

Short to say, I’ve had an incredible time meeting all of these people and making such an impact. That’s also why I knew Tech & Tea was the mission critical next step in the evolution of my advocacy work.

Who do we talk to?

Unlike most tech podcasts, we’re not here to discuss the technical details, speak over your head with jargon, or teach you the most cutting edge recipes for success. Our mission is to facilitate a conversation about what needs to be done to make the internet both safer and financially prosperous. And we interview a range of people to make this happen–often more focused on those who are not in tech than those who are:

• We talk with every day people about things about tech that excite them and things that scare them. We talk about what that means for their job, for their family, or for their community at large.

• We talk with students and future innovators about what they’ve experienced growing up in a world embedded with tech and what they hope will be better in the future.

• We talk with leaders in tech about what they’re working on, what they are concerned about, and how they hope to see things change. Sometimes we get some early peaks at upcoming impact tech.

• We talk with government officials about what changes they’re trying to make and what hurdles are preventing them from making change.

The purpose of this podcast is to give the world a voice for how they hope the future looks. Our mission is to make sure the stories that need to be heard are heard by those who need to hear them.

Do you have a story you’d like to share?

I know you’re new to this, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a story worth telling. We’ve had everything from politicians and tech insiders to local school teachers and grandmothers on our podcast. What we care about is the story and the need for others to hear it.