We have lost so much of ourselves to smartphones: can we get it back?

"It serves as her mobile phone, information portal, entertainment platform, and personal organiser. She takes this device almost everywhere and feels lost without it. Such devices, Fogg argued, would be persuasive technology systems the device can suggest, encourage, and reward. Those rewards could have a powerful effect on our relationship with these devices, akin to gamblers pumping quarters into slot machines."

"There, Fogg proved his theory to be spectacularly true: portable computers really could be used to change what we think and do. As it turns out, one of the main ways they do so is by compelling us to spend hours and hours in front of them. Today, anxiety around screen time is ubiquitous throughout the generations. Ofcom found nearly a quarter of UK five- to seven-year-olds have their own phone, with 38% using social media."

"I was shocked to find my daily average was over four hours: mostly before and after sleeping, spent on news websites and YouTube. There is huge debate in academia as to the effect smartphones, and their social media apps, are having on us. While psychologists such as Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge argue that they make children more anxious, fragile and depressed, and amplify political polarisation, others, including Pete Etchells and Amy Orben, believe the evidence for this is thin."

BJ Fogg predicted that compact electronic devices would serve as mobile phones, information portals, entertainment platforms and personal organisers, carried almost everywhere and perceived as indispensable. He described such devices as persuasive technology systems that can suggest, encourage and reward, with rewards shaping user relationships akin to gamblers pumping quarters into slot machines. The launch of the iPhone accelerated adoption, and design education embedded persuasive techniques in many products. These devices often compel prolonged use. Screen-time anxiety spans generations; nearly a quarter of UK five- to seven-year-olds have phones and 38% use social media. Evidence of harms is contested among researchers.

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