First we paid to get online. Now we're paying to log off
In the past few years, a whole industry has sprung up to sell itself as the cure to screen addiction.
There are gadgets that’ll lock you out of your mobile device — and subscriptions that’ll swap your smart phone for a flip phone.
And while some of these things can genuinely help reduce screen time, are we all just being sold a new technology to fix the problems that the old technology created.
These types of friction-inducing tools are increasingly being used by young people — who are the exact ones trying to pull away from technology in the first place.
63% of Gen Z say they are intentionally trying to disconnect from their devices.
In this episode, Katty Kay speaks with Christine Rosen — a historian and author who’s written about what we lose when we start living through our screens — and asked her whether the solution here is really buying new tech or if we all need to do something else to claw back our attention from our screens.
00:00 The Screen Addiction Industry
00:46 Paying To Disconnect
03:12 Tech Fixing Tech
04:30 The Impulse Control Problem
05:40 Advice For Gen Z
07:09 A Case For Optimism
You’re watching New Normal with Katty Kay — each week we bring you conversations with expert guests about how our world is changing and what that means for our lives.
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