Prune your phone algorithm every week, says UCL expert

Switching off the colours on your phone and spending half an hour a week pruning your algorithm can help people control and improve their online diet, according to a professor-turned-"digital nutritionist".

- Sally Weale

The measures, known as "greyscaling" and "algorithmic resistance", are among recommendations by Dr Kaitlyn Regehr, an associate professor at University College London and an expert in digital literacy.

While recent debate has focused on the harms caused to children by social media, Regehr wants to address "digital illiteracy" among parents so they can better understand their children's devices and how to use them safely and effectively.

In her new book, Smartphone Nation, Regehr recommends first facing up to your own usage with a digital "walk-through" of favourite apps with a friend or partner, or keeping a "phone fed journal", noting what you opened your phone to do, where you ended up, how long you were on and how you felt at the end.