In an always-on world, our phones have become lifelines – but at what cost? In Smartphone Nation, digital ‘nutritionist’ Kaitlyn Regehr explores our tangled relationship with screens and makes a case for reclaiming control through honesty, intention and digital literacy
We live in a smartphone nation. Like it or not. Hail a cab, book a flight, collect your pension, check the weather, find your soulmate: it’s all there on our phones. Yes, we could stay analogue. People do. But it’s hard. And, when a heartwarming emoji or a mood-lifting cat meme is but a swipe away, who really wants to?
But that doesn’t mean our phones should get free rein. In today’s digital age, it’s important to remember who are the citizens and who are the serfs: to be clear, that’s us (smartphone owners) first, and them (the brilliant but badgering App contraptions in our pockets) second.
So argues behavioural scientists Kaitlyn Regehr, an associate professor in digital humanities at University College London and author of a new book about ‘Why we’re all addicted to screens and what you can do about it. (Its title? You’ve guessed it: Smartphone Nation).
Managing our phone use is difficult, but essential, she says. The statistics are sobering. Children aged between five and eight in the UK spending more than 3.5 hours a day on screens (a third of which is spent gaming), for example. A fifth of two-year-olds ‘owning’ their own tablet. And “according to parents” (i.e. it’s probably much higher), three in 10 pupils regularly using AI for schoolwork.
But Regehr is no finger-wangling denialist. Like many, she appreciates the upsides that smartphones can bring: video chats with her parents in her native Canada, communities interacting and organising for common cause, buying a pinafore for her three-year-old daughter on a vintage website and receiving a note that read: “My daughter loved this, I hope yours does too.”
Instead, she’s phlegmatic. Despite the “common analogy” between electrical devices and cigarettes, the two are not the same, she insists. “We can exist without cigarettes,” she notes. “As it stands, most of us cannot exist without technology.”
Smartphone Nation covers everything from unrealistic body ideals and pornography to parental controls and the nitty gritty of the Online Safety Act
So, it’s time we took control. How exactly? That’s the question the mothers in the park (Regehr also has a second daughter, aged five) kept putting to her. Her goal for the book that subsequently emerged is unapologetically ambitious: “I want to change the culture. I want my kids … not to see parents opening up iPads to shut their kids up, [I want them] to think that would look weird.”
Smartphone Nation covers everything from unrealistic body ideals and pornography to parental controls and the nitty gritty of the Online Safety Act. Its core thesis, however, can be boiled down into three main buckets of advice: admission, moderation and education.
Regehr is involved in a digital mentorship initiative in several north London schools that sees pupils – not teachers or experts like her – lead discussions on topics like online misogyny and algorithmic literacy
As with any addiction, honesty is step one. If we’re using our phones too much (which, let’s be honest, most of us are), then fess up. Not in a beat-yourself-up way. As Regehr explains, the apps and algorithms of today’s ad-funded smartphone industry are “built to pull us all in”.
Next, set boundaries and work on developing healthy habits. Again, this isn’t about horse-hair shirts and extreme digital diets. It’s about working out what works for you (and doesn’t) and designing ways to make it happen.
Regehr’s chief advice here is to focus on quality, not quantity. Not that quantity isn’t important: too much of anything (love, fresh air and intimacy excepted) is rarely healthy. But, as with food (she calls herself a ‘digital nutritionist’), quality can make all the difference. An hour spent watching an Attenborough documentary and discussing it with your kids is, she suggests, infinitely more beneficial than 15 minutes of mindless doomscrolling.
Regehr is no finger-wangling denialist. Like many, she appreciates the upsides that smartphones can bring: video chats with her parents in her native Canada and communities interacting and organising for common cause
Prioritising quality implies intentionality. We’re wired for clickbait, just as we’re drawn to junk food. And clickbait is where we’ll end up if we fail to choose otherwise. The same goes for our children. “Every time we turn on a screen, we are making a decision,” Regehr notes. “If you turn on iPlayer and put on a Bluey marathon for your kid, that’s a decision.”
Her final point is to wise up to the tactics of the world’s social media giants. We may like their products, but they are not our friends. As she explains, their real clients are the advertisers, and our time and attention are the products they are profiting from.
Armed with this knowledge, we can begin to push back. That’s beginning to happen. The “very important” awareness-raising work of the parent-led Smartphone Free Childhood movement provides a case in point. Similarly, she praises the office of the children’s commissioner for England for flagging the link between violent pornography and rising sexual abuse among children.
Dr Kaitlyn Regehr's book offers solution-focused insights into the social impacts of our online lives
Critical as it is for parents to talk with their children about their phone use, the people they really listen to are their peers. With that in mind, Regehr is involved in a digital mentorship initiative in several north London schools that sees pupils – not teachers or experts like her – lead discussions on topics like online misogyny and algorithmic literacy.
As she notes: “If you are picking the older kids in the school to be leading sessions … you are not only fostering their leadership skills, but you are also allowing them to lead by example and change the culture of the school.”
So, yes, we may live in a smartphone nation, and, yes, the borders may be porous. But effective defences exist. We just need to build them, one mindful swipe at a time.
Less scroll, more control
Kaitlyn Regehr’s tips for dialling down the digital
1) Decide your max: Set a daily time limit for your most frequently used apps and stick to it
2) Control your space: Turn off push notifications from Apps that bug you and select ‘always’ for the people who bring you joy
3) Go greyscale: Mute the bright colours on your screen as a way to remain mindful about its addictive qualities
4) Do a spring clean: move social media apps off your main homescreen, or ditch them altogether and decide to only access them via a web browser
5) Set parental controls: Set limits at the Internet provider level, as well as for individual devices (for guidance, see: internetmatters.org and askaboutgames.co.uk)
Photography: Sam Bush
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