THINKING
Tanya writes regularly on digital wellbeing, digital detox, Big Tech, screen-life balance, cybersafety, persuasive tech, the attention economy and other topical issues related to the digital world.
Reviewing The Social Dilemma
New on Netflix comes The Social Dilemma, a powerful documentary on our relationship with the digital world. Through a combination of interviews with Silicon Valley innovators and a fictionalised family who experience the products created, this film highlights the...
Why is Facebook offering to pay people to log off during the US Elections?
Intriguing screenshots, posted online by a Washington Post reporter this week, revealed an in-app pop-up from Instagram asking users to choose how much they'd be willing to receive to deactivate their account ahead of the US Election. Sums suggested for consideration...
What to tell children about data privacy as they go back to school
Since the advent of the internet parents have been wary of the safety of their children online, and not without reason. However, nefarious individuals hiding in chat rooms are no longer the only threat. Advice to children must now stretch beyond "don't talk to...
Screen time tips before the big return to school
We're currently in a heatwave in the UK, the closing days of what feels like a long endless summer. But schools and colleges will be returning in a matter of weeks. Children and young people who've been in lockdown for months are gearing up to be getting back to some...
The Trouble with TikTok: internet safety spotlight
“TikTok might not meet the exact criteria to be called ‘malware,’ but it’s definitely nefarious and (IMHO) outright evil,” a whistle-blowing engineer recently wrote on Reddit. “There’s a reason governments are banning it. Don’t use the app. Don’t let your children use...
Screen time this summer: curation before clocks
Panic has been mounting in parents all across the globe over screen time in the pandemic. Research has shown links between excess screen time and poor diet and body mass outcomes, and studies have been published on the negative impact on mental health from social...
The other pandemic: cybercrime
During the Covid-19 pandemic we've all been spending far more time online than usual and so have another group: cybercriminals. According to Ofcom we're now spending on average four hours online a day. This, combined with increased anxiety and stress around the...
Digital wellbeing: limiting screens after lockdown
We’ve all been guilty of sometimes excessive tech use during lockdown. As lockdown lifts, here are some ways to limit screens and improve digital wellbeing. fro the whole family.
Online classrooms – helping or harming children’s learning?
Thanks to the global pandemic most countries are now operating in one form or another of lockdown or quarantine. Children and young people have been sent home from schools and places of higher education and lessons and exams are now entirely being delivered online....
BOOKS
Tanya is the author of three books on our complicated relationship with technology: ‘Off.’ and ‘Stop Staring at Screens’ are out now. Tanya's third book ‘My Brain Has Too Many Tabs Open’ will be published Autumn 2021.
OFF: Your Digital Detox for a Better Life
"She presents simple ideas alongside practical suggestions for how to implement them - leaving you inspired and motivated by the end."
Stop Staring at Screens!
"Perhaps the best compliment I can pay this is that as soon as I started reading this, my 13-year-old son started looking over my shoulder, and in short order said, "I want to read this as soon as you're done. And I want to do this."
My Brain Has Too Many Tabs Open
How to Untangle our Relationship with Tech - Available for Pre-Order Now.
