24 h. ago ‘I don’t think my brain should have gone through that’: five young people on their experience of smartphones as teens

What do people who got – and one who didn’t get – internet-connected phones in their adolescence actually think about the impact they had on them?Debate and anxiety about teen and preteen access to smartphones and social media is raging. One paper has likened smartphones to a “parasite” on our brains, while another study suggests moderate use of social media does not have a harmful effect on young people. In the US more than 100,000 parents have joined an online pledge to delay giving children smartphones until at least the eighth grade and in Australia a ban on under-16s using social media will come into effect in December. Despite all this, OECD figures released in May show 70% of 10-year-olds and 98% of 15-year-olds have internet-connected smartphones.So is giving teenagers smartphones that big a deal? Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Writer of Adolescence backs call by mother of murdered trans teen for ban on smartphones in schools

Jack Thorne, writer of Netflix's Adolescence, has backed Esther Ghey's call for a ban on smartphones in schools and social media for under 16's.

Events

2 w. ago I was a Republican – the party I believed in no longer exists | Paolina Milana

I didn’t leave the Republican party lightly. I left because it left meI’m writing this not as a Democrat or an Independent, but as someone who, for most of her life, was a proud Republican.I voted for Ronald Reagan and admired his belief that “character counts”. I believed in personal responsibility, faith and country – and the Republican party seemed to reflect those values. I even rooted for George W Bush during the chaotic “hanging chads” recount in 2000, not because I thought he was perfect, but because I believed he would lead with decency and conviction.Paolina Milana is a first-generation Sicilian American with journalistic roots and the author of several books, including the memoirs The S Word and Committed, and most recently, The Caregiver Chronicles Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago If we want kids to get off screens, adults have to do the same

As a group of schools tells parents to limit their smartphone usage, Helen Coffey argues that our behaviour is just as important when it comes to helping the next generation get off their devices and into the real world

Politics

3 w. ago ‘No smartphones before 14; no social media until 16’: The Anxious Generation author on how to fight back against big tech

One year on, Jonathan Haidt talks about the way his book changed the global conversation around children and digital devices – and explains how he handles his own teenagersJonathan Haidt is a man with a mission. You’ll have to forgive the cliche, because it’s literally true. The author of The Anxious Generation, an urgent warning about the effect of digital tech on young minds, is based at New York University’s business school: “I’m around all these corporate types and we’re always talking about companies and their mission statements,” he tells me. So, he decided to make one for himself. “It was very simple: ‘My mission is to use my research in moral psychology and that of others to help people better understand each other, and to help important social institutions work well.’”This is characteristic of Haidt: there’s the risk that writing your own brand manifesto might seem a bit, well, pompous. What comes across instead is the nerd’s desire to be as effective as possible, combined ...

Culture

3 w. ago ‘Humanity deserves better’: iPhone designer on new partnership with OpenAI

Sir Jony Ive indicates unease over impact of modern technology amid tie-up with ChatGPT developerThe designer of the iPhone has promised his next artificial intelligence-enabled device will be driven by a sense that “humanity deserves better”, after admitting feeling “responsibility” for some of the negative consequences of modern technology.Sir Jony Ive said his new partnership with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, would renew his optimism about technology, amid widespread concerns about the impact of smartphones and social media. Continue reading...

Politics