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How the ‘confident authority’ of Google AI Overviews is putting public health at risk

Experts say tool can give ‘completely wrong’ medical advice which could put users at risk of serious harm• AI Overviews cite YouTube more than any medical site, study suggestsDo I have the flu or Covid? Why do I wake up feeling tired? What is causing the pain in my chest? For more than two decades, […]

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How screen time affects toddlers: ‘We’re losing a big part of being human’

In the UK, 98% of two-year-olds watch screens on a typical day, on average for more than two hours – and almost 40% of three- to five-year-olds use social media. Could this lead to alarming outcomes?At Stoke primary school in Coventry, there are many four-year-olds among those starting in reception class who can’t sit still,

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The Guardian view on toddlers and screens: more reasons to be fearful of big tech | Editorial

Growing concerns about the impact of smartphones on the youngest children must be addressedThe first UK government guidance on young children’s use of tablets, smartphones and other screens, expected in April, cannot come soon enough. The laissez-faire approach to the boom in social media, handheld devices and other digital technology was arguably nowhere less suitable

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Children need protecting from social media – and generative AI | Letters

Dr Madeline G Reinecke says any policy focused on protecting children must broaden its scope beyond traditional social media platforms, while Alexandra Cocksworth says real connections are crucial. Plus a letter from Ali OliverThe government’s consultation surrounding whether to ban social media for under-16s responds to widespread concern about digital harms (UK ministers launch consultation

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Badenoch tells Starmer to ‘just get on’ with under-16s social media ban

Tory leader says delay will harm children’s mental health after No 10 said it would consult on policy by summerAs a parent – and a Conservative – I know that banning social media for under-16s is the right thing to doKemi Badenoch has called on Keir Starmer to “just get on” with a ban on

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Superstates and spheres of influence | Brief letters

Orwell’s insight | Antisocial media | AI takeover | Howff Club | Beyond the TamarInteresting article by Brendan Simms of Cambridge University on spheres of influence in the world (Has a Nazi theorist’s vision of a world divided into ‘great spaces’ found a new advocate in Trump?, 16 January). Is anyone else reminded of the three

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UK study to examine effects of restricting social media for children

Trial involving 4,000 children will explore impact on mental health, sleep and time spent with friends and familyA pioneering investigation into the impact of restricting social media access for children in the UK has been announced as politicians around the world consider action on the issue.In December, Australia became the first country to ban under-16s

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Write a card, read a poem, take fewer photos: how to feel more human in 2026

While ‘touch grass’ has become a popular prescription for a less digital life, choosing social friction over efficiency can also feel curative At the turn of the millennium daily life looked very different. The modern internet was just a decade old, mobile phones were far from universal and our social lives were mostly physical –

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More than 60 Labour MPs urge Starmer to back under-16s social media ban

Exclusive: Letter signed by figures on right and left of party says UK should follow Australia’s example by enacting banMore than 60 Labour MPs have written to Keir Starmer urging him to back a social media ban for under-16s, with peers due to vote on the issue this week.The MPs, who include select committee chairs,

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AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow

AI is asbestos in the walls of our tech society, stuffed there by monopolists run amok. A serious fight against it must strike at its rootsI am a science-fiction writer, which means that my job is to make up futuristic parables about our current techno-social arrangements to interrogate not just what a gadget does, but

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