Parents and teens alike are trading in their smartphones for "dumber" models to help stay offline.

Adults and teens concerned about their screen time are turning in their smartphones for “dumber” models.

Buried in the settings of many smartphones is the option to look up how much on average you are staring at your phone per day.

It can bring an uncomfortable realisation, that what was supposed to be a useful piece of technology has become an obsession.

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According to a study by Harvard University, using social networking sites lights up the same part of the brain that is also triggered when taking an addictive substance. This has raised concerns about phone habits among youth.

In the UK, research by Ofcom estimates that around a quarter of children aged five to seven years old now have their own smartphone.

Links have been shown in some studies between use of social media and a negative effect on mental health - especially in children.

  • Flying Squid
    19•21 days ago

    You mean the comments I make while sitting at a computer? The comments I make because I am seriously ill and not working and have very low energy and thus are not able to do much else?

    Sorry my wanting to have the small amount of human contact I have outside my own family on a daily basis is so offensive to you.

    • Q*Bert Reynolds
      31•21 days ago

      Didn’t say it was offensive. Just pointing out that you are, in fact, using a lot of social media.

        • Q*Bert Reynolds
          6•21 days ago

          OP absolutely thought so. Their exact words were “Sorry my wanting to have the small amount of human contact I have outside my own family on a daily basis is so offensive to you.”.

          That’s not even what I was implying. I don’t care how much someone uses social media. I saw a comment on a social media platform about not using social media and couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Then I clicked their profile and saw that they’re averaging more than 100 comments a day for almost a year.

          Was it flippant? Absolutely. Was it a gotcha moment? Maybe, but only in the sense that I was planning on pointing out the hypocrisy in implying they don’t use social media on a social media platform, and instead found the exact kind of social media addict that the article describes

      • Flying Squid
        8•21 days ago

        I never said I wasn’t. So it sounds to me more like you wanted to point it out for another reason.

      • Aniki 🌱🌿English
        2•21 days ago

        Message boards are not social media no matter what the revisionists say. They are wrong.