At the dawn of 2026, social media influencers at home and abroad proclaimed it the year of the "analog lifestyle," a call to reduce digital connectivity as smart tech and screen time dominate a person's attention span. Selly Tan, an influencer from California, said people are "craving something real again," and vowed to print her photos, read more books and magazines and take up hobbies that don't need Wi-Fi.
On a recent trip, my daughter and I were tossing her stuffed animal around the hotel room. The toy spun around near the ceiling and came to rest on the corner of the TV, high above our heads. My daughter pointed and tried to explain where the animal landed, on the, the, the ... she didn't have the word for "TV." Yep, we had to tell our 4-year-old what that big, black rectangle was called.
I thought: Wait a minute, I can't just start a 16-year-old on antidepressants,' says Chatterjee. He wanted to understand what was going on in the boy's life. They talked for a while, and Chatterjee asked him about his screen use, which turned out to be high. I said: I think your screen use, particularly in the evenings, might be impacting your mental wellbeing.'
Parents tell me this all the time, often with a mix of frustration and worry: My child just can't focus the way I could at their age. School feels harder. Emotions escalate faster. Distraction seems constant. But attention isn't a moral trait. It isn't a virtue some children have and others lack. Attention is a cognitive capacity-and it is deeply shaped by the conditions surrounding a child: sleep, stress, sensory overload, and the environment in which we're asking focus to happen.
Blindness is a very scary disability, says Prof Lauren Ayton, deputy director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia at the University of Melbourne. But people don't realise actually about 90% of vision loss can be prevented or treated. And like many other problems, keeping the eyes healthy so often comes down to good diet, keeping active, and regular check-ups.
Parents who shove tablets or phones in their kids' faces. Kids nowadays need to learn how to entertain themselves and regulate their emotions rather than mindlessly scroll at 2 years old. I personally think parents who do this are taking the lazy way out and are just allowing the tablet to parent for them; there is no discussion or creativity taking place. When I was a kid, I always had books, coloring books, sudoku, crosswords, and word searches with me everywhere I went as entertainment, and I think these options are a better alternative.
mobile phones were far from universal and our social lives were mostly physical and local. In the 25 years since, technology has changed how we live in profound ways. Most people check their phone within minutes of waking and return to it on average 186 times a day. Computers and the systems that sit behind them mediate every aspect of modern life, shaping how we move through the world.
Screen time spent gaming or on social media does not cause mental health problems in teenagers, according to a large-scale study. With ministers in the UK considering whether to follow Australia's example by banning social media use for under-16s, the findings challenge concerns that long periods spent gaming or scrolling TikTok or Instagram s driving an increase in teenagers' depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions.
Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
Australia's social media age restrictions, which came into effect on December 10, 2025, prohibit young people under the age of 16 from creating or holding accounts on major social media platforms (Australia eSafety Commissioner, 2025). Many American teens and young adults I speak with applaud this reform. They understand the pressure and harm of early and excessive exposure to social media. This legislation reflects the growing awareness that social media can include addictive designs, cyberbullying or abuse, and exposure to illegal and explicit content.
Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad, tap your name at the top and select Family. Tap Add Member, then Create Child Account, and follow the onscreen prompts. You'll need to provide your child's name and birth date, along with parental consent using your own Apple ID password. Once created, the account is automatically added to your Family Sharing group.
Coming of age alongside smartphones, however, has been linked to high rates of mental health concerns among Gen Z. A 2024 brief by the National Center for Health Statistics found that half of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 spent four or more hours on screens per day, and those teens were more likely to experience anxiety or depression symptoms.
The Online Nation report found on average, people in the UK spent four hours and 30 minutes online every day in 2025 - 31 minutes longer than in 2021. Psychologist Dr Aric Sigman told the BBC this was not a problem in itself, but what mattered was "what this time is displacing and how this may harm mental health". He added the "good news" was society was "beginning to question online time more critically".
The internet and advertising go together like strawberries and cream. These days, it can be tricky navigating online without running into at least a couple of ads, and sometimes they're so dominating that it can be difficult getting the information you want from a website. Even apps like Apple Maps might start showing ads by 2026. Fortunately, someone has come up with a rather unique solution for your iPhone.
I had assumed they would be aghast at the impunity of their school administrators in taking the phones away. Instead, a majority of the teens that my colleagues and I have spoken to seem to welcome the break from their phones. There is less pressure to respond to social media feeds or to constantly check their texts. They also report that their school cafeteria has become a popular spot to hang out and chat with friends.
More time using electronic devices or watching TV among children and young adults was linked with higher cardiometabolic disease risk, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and insulin resistance, based on data from more than 1,000 participants in Denmark. The association between screen time and cardiometabolic risks was strongest in youth who slept fewer hours, suggesting that screen use may harm health by "stealing" time from sleep, researchers said.
I'm pretty sure that two generations ago, they would have been more like I was: always with their nose in some volume, looking up only to cross the street or to guide a fork on their plates. But today, even in our book-crammed home, where their father is often in a cozy reading chair, their eyes are more likely to be glued to a screen.
