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Technology and media

Photo of a woman with tattoos taking a selfie on a smartphone wearing an off-shoulder dress in front of glass doors.

Virtues and vices

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Social comparison is driving us to despair. It doesn’t have to

In the social media age, it seems impossible not to measure ourselves against others – but we can dodge the worst pitfalls

by Wojciech Kaftański

World map illustration showing physical geography with oceans, continents and elevation.

Ethics

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What makes a map ‘good’? On the ethics of cartography

Rendering the world in a responsible way means wrestling with what gets depicted on a map, how, and for whom

by Nat Case

Photo of a person driving at night with dashboard lights on and a road visible ahead through the car windscreen.

Technology and media

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The reason that even hands-free calls are risky for drivers

Cars are filled with ever more communication and entertainment tech, but our minds are stuck with the same limitations

by Robert Rosenberger

Photo of astronauts in spacesuits conducting moon surface activities near a lunar module in a studio setting.

Technology and media

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Why deepfakes pose less of a threat than many predict

Applying Descartes’ sceptical puzzle to deepfake videos reveals the challenge they present is one that we can rise to

by Keith Raymond Harris

Technology and media

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Why teenagers are deliberately seeking brain rot on TikTok

Talking to teens reveals a hidden sophistication to their media use. Rather than policing it, maybe we could learn from it

by Emilie Owens

Photo of a person in a red jumper with crossed arms sitting at a wooden table with a red wallet on it.

Technology and media

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A psychologist’s tips for getting a grip on your social media use

Is social media causing you problems? Here are some personal and practical ways to reap its benefits with fewer drawbacks

by Daria J Kuss

Photo of a hand using a smartphone with a city street in the background, creating a double exposure effect.

Technology and media

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What I learned from sharing my private self with an AI journal

‘Quantified self’ apps analyse our physical and behavioural data. Now, AI journals want to access our emotional lives too

by Angela Chen

Photo of a young child in a classroom sitting at a table playing with a padlock, with blurred shelves and children in the background.

Thinking and intelligence

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Innovative three-year-olds expose the limits of AI chatbots

New experiments show that very young children are better at solving creative puzzles than ChatGPT and other AI models

by Shayla Love

Photo of people sitting on a park bench looking at phones, surrounded by trees and other park visitors.

Technology and media

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The illusion of closeness: how social media redefined respect

As we share and like and post, have our notions of restraint transformed so profoundly that all dignity becomes abandoned?

by Lutif Ali Halo

Photo of a person reading on a tablet, facing left, wearing glasses and a jumper in a dimly lit environment.

Technology and media

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What does switching from paper to screens mean for how we read?

It’s well established that we absorb less well when reading on screen. But why? And can we do something to improve it?

by Lili Yu, Sixin Liao, Jan-Louis Kruger & Erik D Reichle

Photo of a man in a suit with two people, one with a mechanical face, indoors.

Technology and media

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Chatbots remind us that natural conversation is artificial too

People fret about the authenticity of AI chatbots but precisely the same issues confront everyday exchanges between humans

by Larry S McGrath

Work and vocation

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Why AI surveillance at work leads to perverse outcomes

In the name of efficiency, workplace AI technologies shift burdens long-assumed by employers onto workers

by Karen Levy