Author Robert Wigley says we need to 'wrestle control of our attention' away from our phones
31 December 2022, 10:14
Author Robert Wigley says we need to 'wrestle control of our attention' away from our phones
With digital detox being a top New Year's resolution for 2023, author Robert Wigley says we need to "wise up" about the effects of mobile phones on our mental health.
With digital detox being at the top of the New Year's Resolutions list, author of Born Digital: The Story of a Distracted Generation Robert Wigley told Andrew Castle: "We've got to wise up about what our phones are doing to us...and be more disciplined about how we use them."
Robert Wigley urged: "The phone guides our lives...and we need to wrestle control of our attention back."
In the UK alone, 78% of those aged between 216-24 own a smartphone device in 2022, according to Uswitch.
The author explained: "If you look at the last 10 years during the time when these technologies have become ubiquitous with just about every aspect of our lives...during that same period, rates of anxiety, depression, and, even worse, self-harm and suicide are broadly speaking doubled."
"Of course you can't lay all of that at the door of technology...but I don't think it could possibly be a coincidence either," Mr Wigley claimed.
The author praised the government's Online Safety Bill: "For the first time this is going to put a statute of responsibility on tech platforms to have regard for the harm that devices might be causing their users, in particular children, and take action to mitigate those harms."
