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That might have got me down if I’d bought full-price electronics in the past nine years (I’ve wanted to gift my partner a PS5 for ages), but I haven’t, so it didn’t.
I have relied on second-hand sites like refurbished electronics company Back Market for ages now.
Not only are they cheaper, but they’re kinder to the planet; and Back Market, my favourite since about 2022, allows you to trade in your old tech for their verified refurbished tech too.
I have previously traded in an unwanted old phone to help me cover the (already discounted) cost of a laptop, for instance.
After all, the company has rigorous rules for their Verified Refurbished products. In the case of gaming consoles, that means they’re given a full reset and data scrub, checked to make sure they’re not stolen or locked, and tested by industry pros.
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So it’s no wonder my partner (who’s a sterner judge than me on this front) wouldn’t have known the console was second-hand unless I’d told him; and if he had noticed something off, he’d have been covered by the company’s Verified Refurbished one-year warranty and free 30-day returns policy.
That’s only one impressive tech deal, though. I’ve bought phones, the aforementioned laptop, my smartwatch, and even a hot air styler and coffee machine from the site before; discounts can run as high as 50% compared to new.
I like the fact that I can choose the condition my tech’s in (I wanted an “excellent” laptop, but was more than happy with a “good” smartwatch, for which I don’t have many demands).
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As someone who’s been all over refurbished tech pretty much as soon as I started buying my own electronics, though, the thing that keeps bringing me back to Back Market is the quality. I simply haven’t found anywhere else whose refurbished products are as reliably good.
So, whether you’re after beauty or gaming tech or just fancy an upgraded phone, I reckon you can’t save much more for a professionally refurbished deal.
But if you think that the devices you use to hear them with have also become worse since you bought them, science says you might be correct on that front, too.
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In a recent paper published in the journal Advanced Materials, researchers looked at how wireless headphone battery life declines after leaving the box, by using imaging technology, infrared scanners and even X-rays.
They wanted to find out whether headphones which last for eight hours when they were new can only run for, say, six hours after a couple of years without needing a charging break.
Our suspicions aren’t unfounded, it seems ― the longer we own our battery-powered earphones, the shorter the battery life seems to get.
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Why?
The scientists found that little structures in earphones like Bluetooth antennae, microphones and circuit boards can make the battery’s environment a little taxing (for instance, it can warm up one side of the battery but not the other).
Even temperature changes in our own lives, like going for a walk in the cold with our earphones in, risk slightly damaging the battery, the researchers add.
For that reason, the study says: “Conventional battery failure analysis in controlled lab settings may not capture the complex interactions and environmental factors encountered in real-world, in-device operating conditions.”
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In other words, the batteries in your earphones weren’t tested for real-life conditions as they actually play out.
Wait ― how can you tell what’s happening inside a battery to begin with?
It’s a big ask, which is why the University of Texas at Austin team used some of the world’s most advanced X-rays for the job.
They worked with groups from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, Brookhaven National Laboratory’s National Synchrotron Light Source II, Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source, and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) to get their data, Science Direct reports.
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Physicist Xiaojing Huang, who worked in the Brookhaven lab that collaborated with these researchers, told the publication: “Most of the time, in the lab, we’re looking at either pristine and stable conditions or extremes.”
“As we discover and develop new types of batteries, we must understand the differences between lab conditions and the unpredictability of the real world and react accordingly. X-ray imaging can offer valuable insights for this.”
Long gone are the days of ‘logging on’ to the internet, now we’re all interconnected via social media, our doorbells and even our food deliveries.
While there are pros and cons of this, one thing that’s unavoidable is our children’s interest in all things Online and recent studies have shown that by the age of 11 over 90% of children in the UK have their own smartphone.
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Of course, this means that children have access to a wealth of information and education right at their fingertips, but it also means that their safety is potentially at risk from malicious users, harmful content and addictive social media apps.
Mobile phone and service provider EE said: “Being part of a healthy online community can be a really positive thing and lots of games, apps and websites have ways for users to get together and chat.
“However, these can also be used by malicious users who want to bully and manipulate others. Making your child aware of the warning signs of this type of behaviour can stop them falling victim to it or at least let them identify it and tell you if it happens.”
When children should get smartphones
Ahead of the new school year, EE, which is owned by BT, has set out guidelines which aim to improve children’s digital wellbeing after parents had requested guidance.
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The service provider has urged that children under the age of 11 should be given phones that can be used to text and make calls but without access to the internet or social media apps.
Its corporate affairs director Mat Sears said EE wanted to help parents and caregivers “make the best choices for their children”.
He told the BBC: “Under-11s we feel should not be given access to smartphones. They don’t need the usage of a smartphone and, actually, a feature phone – or a dumb phone, as some people call them – is more suitable.”
Research from Ofcom earlier this year revealed that over half of under-13s were using social media, despite most of the big platforms having rules requiring that users are over 13.
Sears recommends that while social media is appropriate for 13-16 year olds, he recommends that parents exercise caution, saying: “We think it’s absolutely fine and OK for social media to be used [by over-13s] but various parental controls and privacy settings should be put in place, as well as screen locks for the amount of time that is being placed on these various social media sites.”
According to Forbes, around a quarter of us work from home regulalrlyh and for that, we need consistently good WiFi speeds and reliable internet for our work, meetings, and availability on Slack.
However, it isn’t always that simple. In fact, I’d argue that if you haven’t found yourself aimlessly arguing with your router at least once, you haven’t hit the final boss of working from home.
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That being said, before you call your provider to complain, Trevor Cooke, the privacy expert at Earthweb, has outlined four things that may be holding your WiFi back.
The surprising things that could be slowing your WiFi down
Microwaves
I know! I know!!!
Cooke said: “Microwave ovens operate on the same 2.4 GHz frequency as many WiFi networks. When in use, they can cause significant interference, leading to slower speeds or temporary disconnections.”
Cooke recommends that the router is placed away from the kitchen and any microwaves. He also advised that if your router supports it, the 5 GHz band is less prone to microwave interference.
Bluetooth devices
Cooke said that Bluetooth devices, such as wireless headphones, speakers, and keyboards, also use the 2.4 GHz frequency, potentially causing WiFi signal disruption.
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To address this, limit the use of Bluetooth devices near your router or switch to the 5 GHz band for your WiFi network if possible.
Thick walls
Unfortunately, the structure of your home can significantly impact WiFi performance.
Cooke said: “Thick walls, especially those made of concrete or brick, can obstruct and weaken WiFi signals. ”
He recommends using WiFi extenders or mesh networkers to boost the signal in homes with thick walls.
Electronic devices
Other electronic devices, such as baby monitors, can interfere with WiFi signals by creating radio frequency interference.
Investing in newer electronic devices designed to minimise interference with WiFi signals can help to improve your connection.
We love the internet. Whether we’re placing insomnia-fuelled eBay bids on action figures from our childhoods, emailing the latest Taylor Swift conspiracy theory to our best friend, or just paying our electric bill, being online makes our lives more fun, more connected and a whole lot easier.
Unfortunately, there are countless creeps who love that we love the internet — and who would love to swipe our personal information. Last year saw a record-breaking number of data breaches, which increased 20% between 2022 and 2023, so, if we’re going to live digitally (and how can we not?), we need to be vigilant about protecting our privacy.
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We can start locking down our information by looking at how secure the internet in our own homes is.
“You will probably not be shocked to hear that we’re the problem on this one,” Alysa Hutnik, a privacy lawyer with Kelley, Drye & Warren LLP in Washington, D.C., told us — Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast. “It’s usually human error in how you set it up and how you manage your Wi-Fi.”
Listen to the full episode by pressing play, and discover tons of tips and tricks for keeping your online privacy protected:
The first thing Hutnik advised we immediately do is check our router settings.
“You get it out of the box — don’t leave yourself with the default factory settings because guess what? Those are public, right?” she warned. “It’s really easy for hackers to get into. You’re able to change those factory settings, including your password, and so setting up a really strong password and not having the default is super important.”
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Next, we want to ensure we’re using encrypted settings.
“Usually somewhere in [your settings], there’s [an option to choose] “WPA,” or Wireless Protected Access,” she said. “You can just enable that, and that’s essentially like, you’re not leaving your front door open, right? You wouldn’t do that in real life.”
Hutnik recommended that checking our settings doesn’t stop at our routers.
“Anytime you’re buying technology, go to settings,” she said. “Usually there’s a privacy option and a security option … spend 60 seconds just exploring what those options are. Companies are getting so much better — we’ve got a whole lot of new [privacy] laws — so they are offering new options. [These protective settings] may not be default, but you can certainly turn them on.”
Hutnik had loads of other potent privacy tips, including this one that takes only a second.
“[I am] paranoid as a privacy lawyer,” Hutnik told us. “I like to keep [my webcam] covered if I’m not intentionally using it. There is potential of malware where your device can be taken over [and hackers could use your camera to see into your home].”
She covers her cam with a Post-it note or a sticker when it’s not in use, and if she’s done working on her laptop, she always closes it.
“These are just things to think about — again, you’re mitigating risk. It doesn’t mean that you are going to get hacked, but I would rather somebody not see into my room if I can avoid it.”
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We also discussed how to make your passwords the strongest they can be, which setting on her phone she almost always turns off, and much more. So listen to the full episode above or wherever you get your podcasts.
Need some help with something you’ve been doing wrong? Email us at AmIDoingItWrong@HuffPost.com, and we might investigate the topic in an upcoming episode.
You have to admit, there’s been a certain shiftiness in the air recently about how artificial intelligence (AI) might change society, for good.
Whether it’s increasing the credibility of online hoaxes or potentially making whole sectors redundant by taking over people’s jobs, it does feel like the tide is changing.
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For instance, ChatGPT, chatbot software run by OpenAI, launched in November 2022. It already feels like it is everywhere, mimicking human conversations, composing music, writing student essays or job applications. Although it is not always factually accurate, it is learning all the time – which has left some fearing that there will be no end to its talents.
In fact, Italy just became the first Western country to (temporarily) ban the chatbot over privacy fears. Italy’s data-protection authority said there is no legal basis to justify how the app stores personal information to train its algorithms, while also expressing concerns that the chatbot has no age verification attached to it as yet.
Then, there’s that viral image of the Pope in a coat. An edited photo of the current head of the Roman Catholic in a huge, white, puffer jacket – looking like he’s very into grime – was lifted from a Reddit chat about AI images and posted on Twitter.
It then went viral, with pretty much everyone thinking that it was real. While this incident is seemingly innocent, anyone who fell for it then started to worry about how the boundaries between what is real and what isn’t are becoming much more fragile online.
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It’s hard to shake the feeling that AI has somehow snuck up on us – especially as most people have been pretty dismissive at even the most ambitious AI work in the past.
However, as Aidan Meller, the director behind the robot, explained at the time: “AI is coming in far quicker than anybody expected – it is no exaggeration to say that AI is going to be changing all aspects of life.”
Similarly, Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak were just two many to sign an open letter this week asking AI labs to halt development for at least the next six months.
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They claimed AI labs are “locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control”. The authors even asked: “Should we risk loss of control of our civilisation?”
“AI will probably win the battle for IQ against humans,” Chamorro-Premuzic explained, “But EQ, which is skills such as empathy, kindness, self-awareness, and self-control, will remain 100% human qualities, so we need to cultivate them.”
But, despite what all of the dystopian movies might tell us, the author emphasised that “this isn’t about us versus AI or human vs machine intelligence”.
Instead, it’s about “how we can leverage AI to augment and upgrade our intellectual capabilities.”
He was also realistic in noting that a small dose of worry does actually help, because it will push us to have conversations about the ups and downs of new tech.
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Chamorro-Premuzic added: “So, while concerns are warranted, we should not fear, but experiment, learn, adapt, and decide how to use and not use this tool and the next version and generation of tools.”
But, the specialist wasn’t exactly predicting mass redundancies, even if ChatGPT continue to expand.
He explained: “So far the signs are no different from what we have seen with earlier versions of AI or tech innovation.
“ChatGPT can be expected to mostly automate tasks and skills within jobs rather than entire jobs.”
And this doesn’t mean there will be fewer jobs, just different ones.
The specialist continued: “While such automations may boost productivity and performance, we aren’t very good at re-investing the time we save on more creative or intellectually enriching activities; instead, we likely waste it on other AI-fuelled digital distractions.
“In cases where jobs are indeed eliminated, many more new ones tend to be created, for example, AI whisperers, prompt writers, AI ethicist. It also creates a vast need for social proof and expert opinions to vet ChatGPT, redesign and improve it, and avoid disinformation and misinformation.”
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What about the growth of misinformation?
It all comes down to “human adaptability and ingenuity”, apparently.
He explained: “ChatGPT will give us a new era and dimension of fake news and deep fakes, but to the degree that we become aware of the problems, we can still resist trusting it blindly and seek for more reliable and robust truths.”
So, what might our future alongside AI look like?
Chamorro-Premuzic explained that he believes the rise of AI might only increase the demand for authentic, human-created content.
He said: “My own belief is that just like the rise of the fast food industry – which has made it much easier and cheaper for us to consumer unhealthy and non-nutritious but addictive processed food – has increased demand for healthy and fresh food, and given us organic and sustainable cooking, the farm to table and slow food movements, ChatGPT may well end create the intellectual equivalent of slow food.
“A healthier diet for our curiosity and hungry mind than the quick fix we may get from AI.”
I was scrolling my Facebook feed one sleepless night when a post by a fellow member of a women’s business group caught my eye. She was sharing her new headshots, and they were, well, gorgeous.
She looked healthy and radiant ― the soft natural light perfectly illuminating her glowing skin ― and she seemed both professional and approachable at the same time.
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I’d recently been comparing headshot packages from photographers in my area, and this woman’s photos were exactly what I was looking for: polished, elegant, well-composed. I decided to pin a few of her pics to my headshots board on Pinterest so I could show them as inspiration to my own photographer when I finally selected one.
But when I looked at her caption again, something else about it grabbed my attention: the price tag. Her beautiful headshots ― a gallery of 35 unique images in total ― had set her back just $25.
I definitely needed to know more.
I clicked to expand the full text of her post and took a minute to actually read what she wrote. It turned out her photo shoot wasn’t a “shoot” at all. Instead, these images were produced by artificial intelligence (AI). She explained that she uploaded 20 pictures of herself to a website and two days later received a link to a gallery of images of herself ― but not herself ― in various settings and styles of attire.
Her photos had been generated by a process in which real images of a subject are used to create a data set from which new images can be derived. Once this data has been collected and a “model” has been generated, which includes an infinite number of details about a person’s physical appearance, an endless array of artificial images can be created in that person’s likeness. The “person” spawned from this accumulation of data can then be dressed in different clothing, styled in different ways and placed in different locations. They can also have different makeup, hair colours, jewellery and other accessories… all while retaining the features of the original subject. At least in theory.
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Curious, I clicked on my Facebook contact’s profile photo to see what she typically looks like. It was kind of amazing. The AI photos did in fact look like her ― made up, well lit, well dressed and maybe retouched a little. Basically they looked like her on a good day, in a great space and with a bit of post-production magic applied.
Now I was genuinely intrigued. The $25 price was a tiny fraction of the quotes I’d received from local photographers I’d reached out to, and while I am a big advocate of shopping locally and supporting other creatives, I was launching a new venture and it wasn’t yet producing revenue. I needed stopgap photos to use on my website and social feeds until I was actually earning money and could to hire a real photographer. I decided I was willing to risk $25, and I clicked through my FB buddy’s original post to the website of the company that had created her photos.
Like her, and likely thousands of other people, I uploaded my own images to the site, carefully following the instructions to select pictures that show my face in good light and from a number of angles so that the AI could create a model that was as detailed and realistic as possible. Once I was happy that I’d given the AI all the tools it needed to re-create me, I hit the submit button. Then I waited.
The company promises delivery within 48 hours. Starting at around the 40-hour mark, I started refreshing my email compulsively, every 10 minutes or so, to see if the gallery link had arrived when I wasn’t looking. I was so anxious to see what the new and improved me would look like! Would she be wearing my style of clothing, and how do they decide what clothes to put the “model” in anyway? Would she have my laugh lines, or does the AI edit out what it sees as “imperfections”? Would she really look like me ― like, “fool-my-dad look like me”? ― or would I be disappointed and have to chalk up a $25 loss to the cost of starting a new business? So many questions!
I had momentarily forgotten that I was waiting to meet the new me when I was half-awake and clicked on my email in the middle of the night. There it was: a link to a downloadable zip file labeled “Your Gallery.” My heart sped up. I couldn’t unzip the file on my phone, so I hauled myself out of bed, into my robe and downstairs to my office to open it on my computer. There was no way I was waiting until morning.
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There, sitting at my desk at 3am, I opened up the gallery and clicked on the first thumbnail.
Courtesy of Natasha Dworkin
An AI-generated photo of the author.
It was me, sort of. I was wearing a crisp white linen blazer and tasteful jewellery. My hair was swept into a sophisticated updo. My ears were adorned with a pair of modern, geometric earrings. My smile said “Hello there. I’m kind. And professional. And also very stylish.” It was like the person who I might have become had I followed my 19-year-old self’s dream of being an interior designer.
I clicked on the second photo. In this one, I was outdoors, glancing toward the horizon with a wise, knowing look. I wore a lush floral halter dress, and my tousled hair was subtly tinted in burgundy. I was lithe and tanned. This was the me who traveled the world with only a backpack before settling in Bali as a yoga teacher.
In the third and fourth images I am a confident, driven lady boss. I appear smart and strong, yet emotionally intelligent, the CEO of a major international conglomerate that also has a social conscience ― known for its fair labor practices, sustainable product lines and generous parental leave.
It went on like this as I continued to peruse my gallery of doppelgänger Natashas, each one decidedly me but also decidedly not me. It was a me I didn’t recognise, wearing clothes I hadn’t seen before, in places I’d never been.
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In a way, she was intoxicating ― 35 little windows into alternate versions of my life, reflecting different choices, different turns taken, different worlds inhabited. She was also just a little bit better than me. I mean that in the way that we always look better in our headshots or any studio photos thanks to optimal conditions and a skilled photographer, but this person was also better better.
She didn’t just look better. She wasn’t just dressed better. She had done better in life. She’d done better keeping her waistline trim after the baby. She’d taken up a real skincare routine earlier than I had. She’d secured the book deal and been offered the promotion and she’d gotten the guy. She’d done the right things at the right times, and everything had worked out for her. She was golden. Golden Me.
Courtesy of Natasha Dworkin
An AI-generated photo of the author.
I somewhat sheepishly posted one of the photos of Golden Me — the one that, from my point of view at least, looked the most realistic, the most believable, on Facebook. I didn’t say anything about it ― I just benignly swapped out my profile pic. I wanted to see what would happen.
Within minutes my feed was blowing up. “Gorgeous!” said one friend. “Look at you!” said another. “Absolutely stunning.” “You look amazing.” “Beautiful woman!” declared friends who’d known me since childhood. My dad loved the image. They all believed Golden Me was actually me. Mission accomplished. Right?
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Not so much. I started to feel weird about this other me. On the one hand, I wanted people to think the photo was real, and it felt kind of good when they did. On the other hand, it felt dishonest.
Every one of us must wonder from time to time ― especially those of us who have arrived in life’s middle years ― what our experience might have been like, what we might have been like, if we’d taken a different road, stayed in a particular relationship, left another, taken up a certain hobby or followed another career path. We’ve all surely questioned our choices from time to time, had regrets, thought wistfully about the what-ifs and the could-have-beens.
Meeting Golden Me was like looking at the digital embodiment of the answers to all those questions. All the mes that could have been, maybe even should have been, and that certainly are not.
And putting one of those pictures out into the world where my friends and family could marvel at it felt like presenting a facade to people who already love me as I am. Why would I trade that love and acceptance for social media points and a couple of minutes of feeling like I’d somehow won the best-self lottery?
Courtesy of Natasha Dworkin
An AI-generated photo of the author.
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The fact is that all the choices I’ve made and all the roads I’ve taken may not have led me to the executive suite of a multinational company or to a tropical Balinese yoga studio, but they’ve led me to the version of myself that I am today: mama to the sweetest little boy ever, user of my gifts to help others, community builder, loving friend, loyal daughter, budding gardener, deep thinker.
And that me, with her laugh lines and her amateurish makeup and her postpartum body, is pretty darn golden, too. In our own photos ― our real photos of our real selves ― lie our stories: moments in time captured, life’s details memorialised to be looked at later and remembered.
What would I say when my son looks at an image of Golden Me and asks where I was when that photo was taken, who I was looking at or what I was smiling about? What are we left with if the pictures, the moments, the memories and the stories aren’t real?
We’re left with pixels.
I quietly changed my profile picture back to a real one, a selfie taken just weeks ago on the land where I grew up, wearing my favourite cozy poncho. When my son looks at that photo years from now, he will know without even thinking about it that it was taken in the place I love most in the world. He’ll see my smile and the cool forest breeze blowing my hair, and he’ll recognise it all. He’ll recognise me.
I resolved to chalk this experience up not as a loss but, like so many other things in life, as a lesson. And $25 to discover that I like the real me, my real life, my real story ― even with all its tarnished bits ― more than I do some gilded fantasy version of it is, in my opinion, money well spent.
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Courtesy of Natasha Dworkin
The author, naturally, with her family.
Natasha Dworkin is an agency founder and strategic storyteller. For more than 20 years she has helped her purpose-driven clients tell their stories, amplify their impact and change the world. She now leverages her professional expertise with her personal experience, becoming a first-time mom at the age of 46, to help other midlife women make transformative change in their own lives. Connect with her at midlife.mom and on Instagram at @midlife.mama.
Do you spend countless hours scrolling on your phone? We’re probably all aware by now of the potential impact on our mental health and wellbeing. But how you use your smartphone has implications for your physical health, too.
Is your phone in your hand right now? Ask yourself: how are you holding it? Is the bottom edge resting on your little finger, the back on your index and maybe your third and fourth fingers – while your thumb does all the scrolling?
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Yep, us too. But it’s not good for us. Your pinkie and thumb are the fingers that are most impacted when holding a smartphone or tablet. If you grip or clutch your phone a lot, this can also cause your thumb and fingers to cramp or become inflamed, a condition known informally as “smartphone finger.”
But your wrists and arms can also be affected by the way you use it.
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I don’t know who needs to hear this but, when you’re using your phone, stop using your pinky as an anchor. It’s destroying your wrist and aggravating your ulnar nerve.
This tweet went viral this week, forcing many of us to reconsider how we’re using our smartphones. How valid is its claim?
Sorry to have to break it to you, but Ben Lombard, a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, confirms to HuffPost UK that it’s all true.
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“We tend to hold our phones with the little finger underneath supporting the weight of the phone and our wrist turning inward to told the screen to our faces,” says Lombard. “This can cause ulnar nerve compression if sustained for long periods of time.”
The ulnar nerve is one of three main nerves in your arm – it runs from inside the elbow and along your inner forearm into your palm, pinkie side, and transmits electrical signals to muscles in both the forearm and hand.
The nerve can get trapped either by prolonged stretching – when your elbow is bent – or prolonged pressure, from leaning on the handlebars of a bike, say, or using hand tools, according to John Hopkins Medicine. Or your beloved phone.
A 2017 study found a link between the extended use of smartphones and a greater likelihood of experiencing another painful wrist and hand disorder.
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According to lead author Peter White, assistant professor in the department of health technology and informatics at Hong Kong Polytechnic University: “Caution may be warranted when using hand-held electronic devices in order to minimise the chance of developing carpal tunnel syndrome.”
Carpal tunnel syndrome can develop following repeated pressure to the point where the median nerve passes into the hand and meets the wrist – the carpal tunnel – which is surrounded by bones and ligaments, palm side of your hand.
Work conditions that call for “repetitive, forceful, or awkward hand movements, for example, when typing” are a common cause for carpal tunnel syndrome, which can result in pain, numbness, finger tingling, and weakened grip strength.
To find out if smartphone usage increased people’s chances of getting it, White and his colleagues followed up on a prior survey of 500 University of Hong Kong students, that split students into two groups: those who used portable devices for more than five hours a day and non-intensive users (who used them less than five hours a day). More than half (54%) of the intensive group reported musculoskeletal pain and/or discomfort, compared to 12% of the other group.
The new study targeted 48 students from the earlier study. Half were intensive users who spent more than nine hours a day (on average) using their device. Other students spent less than three hours a day on their devices.
Researchers found those who were part of the intensive group had significantly more and increased discomfort in their wrists and hands. The longer time a person spent using a handheld electronic device, the harder and longer their pain was.
And that’s not all. There’s also the potential for painful neck-ache. As physio Ben Lombard warns: “The position of the neck is also heavily invoked, as we tend to be stuck looking down if standing up. Or, even worse, if we are lying down using our phones, we will often be holding our neck in an extended position which can compress the nerves.”
So, other than avoiding the “pinkie anchor”, can we change the way we hold our phones to lessen any collateral damage. Not really, says Lombard, who instead recommends more mindful use of your electronics – could you be reading or watching content on a larger computer or TV screen, for instance, rather than a hand-held device?
“Ultimately, there is no ‘optimal’ way to hold your phone,” he says. “Just consider the amount of time you use it and how you use it.”
My two sons always got some screen time daily, but my husband and I tried to set relatively clear limits about what they could play and watch, and for how long. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and like so many other parents and caregivers, we leaned into screens hard. Our 6-year-old got an iPad. Our toddler grew accustomed to multihour Blippi marathons while my husband and I worked. My children have become legitimate screen monsters.
I haven’t fretted too much about any of this yet, because I do believe my sons’ screen use was a matter of necessity. Screens babysat my kids when we were locked down together in our tiny apartment and didn’t have outside childcare. They gave me a much-needed break when my stress levels were so high I felt like I was practically vibrating.
But things feel different now. For one, I am hopeful that – for the first time in more than a year – both of my children will soon actually be in school full-time.
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I don’t really want the amount of screen time my kids have got accustomed to to be what they expect moving forward. I also feel more pressure about how long this has been going on – and with the delta variant circulating and rates increasing again around the country, I’m aware that the pandemic is likely to continue for a while. In other words, the “survival use” of screen time is over – and I don’t want my kids to expect it in the same way every day.
Are you also thinking about dialling back your children’s screen time? Here are some strategies and ideas to have in mind.
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Consider the content and the costs
Every family develops their own screen time rules. Even groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry tend to be pretty vague with their recommendations for kids over the age of six. They urge parents to “encourage healthy habits” and “limit activities that include screens” – whatever that means.
What experts generally recommend is that you be deliberate about setting those limits, rather than winging it. And when devising your own family boundaries and rules, consider what kids are watching and playing, knowing they can absorb content from TV, movies and video games.
In her new book The Family Firm: A Data-Driven Guide to Better Decision Making in the Early School Years, economist and parenting guru Emily Oster recommends that parents also think about what she calls the “opportunity cost” of spending time in front of screens. Basically, there are only so many hours during the day. So if your child is spending time watching TV, they’re not using that time to play or learn or engage in an extracurricular activity of some kind. You might be totally OK with that, and Oster notes that kids really need a break sometimes. But it’s something to consider.
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In my house over the past 18 months, my kids were watching screens so they weren’t interrupting me during a meeting or driving me mad while I tried to get something done. Now that things have opened up more, though, their screen time is definitely replacing potentially more valuable pursuits, like hanging out with friends or reading.
Know that your child probably won’t be thrilled if you change your screen-related rules now that the opportunity costs are potentially more significant.
“As we come out of this, there are definitely going to be some moments where we are going to have make rules that take away privileges, and as our kids age that isn’t as common,” Oster told HuffPost. “They will be angry. And that’s just kind of what it is.”
Emphasise play
If you’re trying to cut down on screen time, it can really help to emphasise play in order to “balance out the equation,” according to experts with the Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children’s Hospital.
“Carve out time specifically dedicated to play,” experts there say. “Plan activities that incorporate different types of play, including board games, balls, blocks and role play.”
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Setting aside specific time for play can help decrease how much time your kids spend looking at screens.
You may not have had the time or energy for playing with your child – or helping them get started with play – when we were really thick in the lockdown period of the pandemic and truly in survival mode, but perhaps you have some more energy for that now. (Personally, there was a point about six months into the pandemic where I could not handle more imaginary play with my kids and placed a moratorium on hide-and-seek; now I’m starting to embrace it again, and have also really learned that I’m in my sweet spot when it comes to reading and drawing together.)
The good news is, kids seem to be getting more play in their days pretty organically right now. There is evidence that kids’ boredom is down at this point in the pandemic, while their overall feelings of happiness and enjoyment are steadily increasing, too.
Really help them with transitions
As Oster warned, kids are going to react to being told they cannot be on screens as much as they may have been over the past year-plus. You should expect that and be prepared to hold your boundary – but it’s also helpful to really work with your child through transitions from screen time to something else.
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“Help your child transition from screen time to active play time. For instance, if your child is watching a cartoon, turn off the TV and encourage your child to build on the storyline themselves with toys,” the experts with CMCH say.
Previews and countdowns are other valuable tools, the Child Mind Institute’s website points out. Children can learn to switch gears from screen time to something else without too much anger or whining, but they might need you to give them a specific time frame (like: “In 10 minutes, we’re going to turn the TV off and then do XYZ”).
And being consistent about your new routines is key. “Having a predictable structure in place can be reassuring and helpful even for older kids (and adults!),” the Child Mind Institute says.
If you’re watching a film or TV show and see a young woman dressed all in black with a grungy hairstyle and a resting bitch face, be warned – she’s probably a feminist character written by a man.
Such is the single dimension of some women characters on screen and in fiction, often written by men. And TikTokkers are exposing the lazy writing.
Female creators on the video-sharing app are acting out all the unrealistic ways women are often characterised: sexy, seductive, clumsy, and whimsical, their looks and tics a cue to their inner soul.
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Actor and content creator Caitlin Reilly was among the first to the trend, satirising how a woman in sci-fi films is often depicted: you know, the geeky scientist who probably wears glasses and keeps her hair in a tight ponytail, and is so dedicated to her work, she has no time for love or a social life.
Reilly’s breakout video, which includes such lines as “I’m a woman and a scientist, I can’t be both good at my job and nice”, has been watched more than a million times.
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She has also mocked action movies for the way they paint women; helpless, emotional, forgetful. “I forgot the box of things that are very special to me, I have to go back”, and the hysterical mum shouting “please find my daughter,” are lines that have seriously tickled her Instagram followers, too.
Over on TikTok, the trend has blown up in recent days, soundtracked by Portishead, as young women ridicule the way they’re written into fiction in the most mundane scenarios, from having breakfast to going to sleep, from putting on their makeup to taking it off, from reading to dating to chewing gum.
In one clip, a woman experiencing a break-up sits wistfully, wearing just a top – many of these portrayals are trouser-less – as she licks ice cream seductively off a spoon. Ice cream is a big thing in the land of the male gaze, it seems.
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In fact, many of these #writtenbymen clips are tagged #malegaze, spreading feminist theory about the problems with women being depicted from a masculine and heterosexual (indeed sexual) perspective to a new generation.
You’ll see what we mean when you check out others videos tagged into the trend. And while you’re watching them, please remember no woman in history has ever taken off her glasses to realise that she was beautiful all along.
She was “all that” already – without the nerd-to-hottie makeover by a man.
