Google’s “focus mode” for Android phones is coming out of beta testing and will be rolled out to devices running Android 9 and 10. Designed to reduce digital distraction, this new focus mode is possibly the most useful and evidence...
Here’s the new Digital Addiction Scale for Children (“DASC”) which has just been published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. The DASC is a simple test made up of 25 questions based on the emerging...
Ex-googler, Tristan Harris of the Center for Humane Tech has a new article out in the New York Times proposing three solutions to help curb the harms of Big Tech Establish a new tax (a “downgrading tax”) on tech giants designed to a)...
Can you name the ‘Silicon Six?’ – the six tycoons accused of running the greatest propaganda machine in history? Mark Zuckerberg (Chairman and CEO Facebook)Sundar Pichai (CEO at Google) Larry Page (CEO at Alphabet, Google’s...
A new set of studies published in the scientific journal PloS One has concluded that the caustic and confrontational nature of social media can be partly explained by people using the medium for ‘moral grandstanding’ in order to boost...
Are you addicted to your tech? Can you be addicted to tech? You’ve no doubt seen the case for tech addiction (in these video shorts), but here’s a three-minute BBC video for the case against tech addiction – from Professor Andrew...
This week, Instagram is expanding its controversial test of hiding ‘likes’ to US accounts. Followers of some US accounts will no longer see the number of likes that the people they follow are receiving. Account owners will still be able...
It’s Blade Runner month. The original movie was set in November 2019 in LA (screenshot of the opening scene above) and includes the famous line from the story’s hero Richard Deckard – “Replicants are like any other machine...
Here’s a quick summary of the top points made at this year’s Michaelmas London lecture from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) at the University of Oxford. The full video is also posted at the bottom of the page. The lecture was...
Can’t stop checking, swiping, updating, liking or just lurking online? There’s a reason for this: All of your favourite apps were built to be addictive by activating dopamine in your brain. That’s the pitch of a new collection of eight 7...
A brand without trust is a productAdvertising without trust is noiseTechnology without trust is obsolete Do you trust your bank? Trust is key to wellbeing, especially when it comes to money. Without trust there is stress, anxiety and sometimes even...
This week Google is launching five new digital wellbeing apps for android devices designed to help people find the right balance of technology in their lives. These open source apps are available on Google Play for consumers, and on Google’s...