Everything is easier with modern technology – except fulfilling your true potential The convenience of modern life is nothing short of astounding. As I write this, my phone is wirelessly sending some of the greatest hits from the 1700s (Bach, if you must know) to my portable speaker. I could use that same device to, within moments, get a car to pick me up, have food delivered to my house, or start chatting with someone on a dating app. To human beings from even the recent past this technology would be, to quote Arthur C Clarke’s third law, indistinguishable from magic. The fact that, as a culture, we seek out and celebrate such short cuts is understandable. They take much of the tedium out of life, make it easier to have fun, and save us time and energy. That said, most people are able to intuit that convenience has a darker side. Continue reading...

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New research reveals how app usage affects grades, adding to parents’ worries about mental health First, the good news. We middle-aged Brits are no longer condemned to the conversation- and soul-destroying monomania of debating house prices. Less good is what has displaced it – an epidemic of angst about when to allow teenagers a mobile, and what kind. I’m in the “very late and a brick” camp, but parents end up discussing the options for a smartphone-free childhood, inevitably, on WhatsApp. Continue reading...

Have a cup of tea while not looking at the news (it is all bad) * Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are published * Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...

From gamifying your to-do list to going for a regular morning walk, top tips for improving concentration from psychotherapists, health coaches and other experts Forty-seven seconds. That was the average length of time an adult could focus on a screen for in 2021, according to research by Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California. Twenty years ago, in 2004, that number stood at two-and-a-half minutes. Our attention spans – how long we’re able to concentrate without being distracted – are shrinking. Our focus – how intensely we can think about things – is suffering too. The causes: technology that’s designed to demand our attention; endless tools for procrastination at our fingertips; rising stress and anxiety disorders; and poor sleep quality. But there are solutions. From quick-fix hacks to major lifestyle changes, we asked experts for their tips on how to think harder for longer. Continue reading...

The safer phones bill could ban companies from applying algorithms for young ‘doomscrolling’ teens Social media companies could be forced to exclude young teens from algorithms to make content less addictive for under-16s, under a new bill with heavyweight backing from Labour, Conservatives and child protection experts. The safer phones bill, a private member’s bill from a Labour MP that has high priority in parliament, will be discussed by ministers this week. Continue reading...

Meta’s changes include making teen accounts private and ‘limiting sensitive content’. Many say it’s not enough Sevey Morton first got an Instagram account when she was 10 years old. She used it to keep up with friends, but also to follow pop culture trends. Now 16, the San Diego high schooler says all the airbrushed perfection and slickly edited selfies from celebrities and influencers made her hyper-focused on her appearance, causing anxiety and body image issues. “Being exposed to that at a very young age impacted the way I grew into myself,” Morton said. “There is a huge part of me that wishes social media did not exist.” Continue reading...

Offline Club’s first global event on Sunday will begin with tips on how to be phone-free for 24 hours every week Haunted by a pile of unread books? Or taunted by climbing equipment lurking in the cupboard? If you are one of the UK adults who spends on average five hours a day looking at screens rather than participating in pastimes, perhaps it’s time to join the offline revolution. Instead of spending those five hours staring at a screen, you could read about 300 pages of a book, climb Mount Snowdon, or – depending on your pace – run a marathon. Some are even choosing to turn off their devices for the day. Continue reading...

The modern world just isn’t set up for non-smartphone users, but after a few faltering steps away from mine, my life changed My 16th birthday was a big deal. Not only was I allowed to throw a party at my dad’s, I was also given a brand new mobile phone. I was giddy. Back in 2006, nothing said liberation to a teenager quite like unlimited texts and a free house. My friends and I set about creating the sort of chaos only a group of repressed teenagers yet to be fully exposed to the unadulterated excesses of the internet could. Little did we know that those heady days of pumping out noughties R&B from an iPod were to be some of the last of their kind. Just a few months later, Steve Jobs would unveil the first iPhone, altering the way we interact with ourselves and the world around us for ever. Continue reading...

Users say harmful content from accounts they do not follow appears even after requests to block it Debbie was scrolling through X in April when some unwelcome posts appeared on her feed. One showed a photo of someone who was visibly underweight asking whether they were thin enough. In another, a user wanted to compare how few calories they were eating each day. Debbie, who did not want to give her last name, is 37 years old and was first diagnosed with bulimia when she was 16. She did not ­follow either of the accounts behind the posts, which belonged to a group with more than 150,000 members on the social media site. Continue reading...