Try GOLD - Free
'We're wildly unhealthy slaves to the algorithm'
Daily Express
|June 02, 2025
It's not just young people who are dangerously addicted to their smartphones, it’s adults too. In fact, we're just mindless automatons where our devices are concerned, says Dr Kaitlyn Regehr, associate professor at University College London, who specialises in digital literacy and social media.
-

“Future generations will look back on our generation as wildly unhealthy tech slaves, the same way we look back at people smoking in hospital delivery rooms a few decades ago,” she says.
“The attention economy is holding our eyeballs — and our children’s eyeballs - at any cost, and this can prioritise hate, harm and disinformation because they are more attention-grabbing. That's what advertisers are paying for. It's an unethical financial structure.”
Thankfully Dr Regehr's written a new book, Smartphone Nation, to help us push back against algorithms hellbent on hijacking our attention spans and imposing unpleasant and inaccurate content on us.
CAMPAIGNING
Dr Regehr is part of a growing community campaigning for a life free from social media's death-grip, which includes Jonathan Haidt, the bestselling author of The Anxious Generation, and the grassroots movement Smartphone Free Childhood, which is persuading parents around the UK to delay giving their children devices for as long as possible.
Dr Regehr warns that social media is fundamentally changing humanity. “Social media has changed the way we think. It has changed the way we access and process information. It’s worth us all asking how much time we spent on our phones today,” she says.
This story is from the June 02, 2025 edition of Daily Express.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM Daily Express
Daily Express
Holiday park voyeur jailed
Carer took secret video of woman and kids at resort
1 min
October 22, 2025
Daily Express
Right Royal autumn
AUTUMN is the best time to plant trees, shrubs and spring bulbs for next year, while the soil is still warm - and newly available at B&Q is a highly scented floribunda rose bred by Harkness Roses in honour of the Princess of Wales.
1 min
October 22, 2025
Daily Express
US shutdown hits ice cream giant’s launch plans
UNILEVER has paused the de-merger of its ice cream arm on New York’s stock exchange because of delays at the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
1 min
October 22, 2025

Daily Express
Be ready for life's shocks
IF YOU'RE struck by serious illness, health isn’t the only concern. Money worries can quickly follow, especially if you can’t work for months at a time. And that’s where a type of insurance protection called critical illness cover can make all the difference, as one woman recently found out.
2 mins
October 22, 2025
Daily Express
I believe Putin has something on Trump
Anthony Scaramucci spent just 11 days as White House communications director before his unceremonious sacking by the US president. Now a successful political podcaster, he reveals why his former boss is ultimately heading for 'disaster'
1 min
October 22, 2025
Daily Express
Strictly Stefan: I've been missing my family back in 0z
NEIGHBOURS star Stefan Dennis has told how he missed his family in Australia while he was in the UK for Strictly Come Dancing.
1 mins
October 22, 2025
Daily Express
Lake District's bird flu alert
A NATIONAL park is under a bird flu alert and more than 10,000 poultry face being culled after an outbreak of its severe form, highly pathogenic avian influenza.
1 min
October 22, 2025

Daily Express
King told: Do right thing for Virginia
VIRGINIA Giuffre's family has called on the King and senior royals to take more action against Prince Andrew.
1 min
October 22, 2025

Daily Express
10 years of HRT may lower risk of breast cancer
WOMEN on hormone replacement therapy for at least 10 years before the menopause may have a lower risk of breast cancer, heart attacks or strokes.
2 mins
October 22, 2025
Daily Express
Phil's in superlative style
NEW ZEALAND’S BEST HOMES WITH PHIL SPENCER (Channel 4, 10pm) has always struck me as a pretty cushy programme to work on.
2 mins
October 22, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size