tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/smart-phones-9177/articlesSmart phones – The Conversation2023-10-23T12:24:57Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2101182023-10-23T12:24:57Z2023-10-23T12:24:57ZHow much time do kids spend on devices – playing games, watching videos, texting and using the phone?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544091/original/file-20230822-5267-868e99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C10%2C6699%2C4456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Today, nearly all U.S. teens have a smartphone.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teenage-boy-using-smartphone-at-home-royalty-free-image/1218225082?phrase=teen+on+social+media+looking+unhappy&adppopup=true">MoMo Productions/Digital Vision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
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<blockquote>
<p><strong>How many hours does the average American spend on devices each year? – Maxwell P., age 10</strong></p>
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<p>Think about your favorite devices – your smartphone, laptop, tablet, computer or console – the things you use to play cool games, watch hilarious videos and connect and chat with friends. </p>
<p>Many young people spend a lot of free time looking at them. Turns out that teens spend an average of <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens-2021">8½ hours on screens per day</a>, and tweens – that’s ages 8 to 12 – are not far behind, at 5½ hours daily.</p>
<p>Keep in mind those numbers are for only social media, gaming and texting. They do not include the time that kids <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/04/cover-kids-screens">used screens for schoolwork or homework</a>.</p>
<p>What’s more, much of the time taken up by social media and texting is apparently not even enjoyable, much less productive. A 2017 study of teens ages 13 to 18 suggests they spend most of those hours on the phone <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/">in their bedroom, alone and distressed</a>. </p>
<p>These lonely feelings correlate with the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407519836170">rise in the use of digital media</a>. In 2022, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/">95% of teens had smartphones</a> compared with only 23% in 2011. And 46% of today’s teens say they use the internet almost constantly, compared with 24% of teenagers who said the same in 2014 and 2015. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.med.wayne.edu/profile/aa3409">Our team of psychiatrists</a> who treat young people with digital addiction have many patients who spend over 40 hours per week on screens – and some, up to 80 hours. </p>
<p>Think about it: If you spend “just” an average of 50 hours per week on devices from ages 13 to 18 – the total time you will spend on screens equates to more than 12 years of school!</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The U.S. surgeon general says too much screen time can increase anxiety and depression in teens and tweens.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Find the right balance</h2>
<p>All this is not to say that everything about devices is bad. In this digital age, people embark on exciting journeys through the screens of their devices. Sometimes, screens are the windows to a magical adventure. </p>
<p>But too much screen time can lead to problems. As human beings, we function best when we’re in a state of balance. That happens when we eat well, exercise regularly and get enough sleep.</p>
<p>But spending too much time using digital devices can cause changes in the way you think and behave. Many teens and tweens developed the “fear of missing out” – <a href="https://saferkidsonline.eset.com/sg/article/5-tips-for-combating-fomo">known as FOMO</a>. And one study shows <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020580">some people develop nomophobia</a>, which is the fear of being without your phone, or feeling anxious when you can’t use it. </p>
<p>Moreover, digital addiction in high school may predict serious <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/children10010086">depression, anxiety and sleep disruption</a> in college. </p>
<p>Rates of depression and anxiety <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.11.015">are skyrocketing among college students</a>. The fear of missing out is pervasive, resulting in sleep disruption; too many college students <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159693">sleep with smartphones turned on</a> and near their bed – and wake up to respond to texts and notifications during the night. Sleep disruption itself is a core symptom of <a href="https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2008.10.3/dnutt">both depression and anxiety</a>. </p>
<h2>How to avoid device addiction</h2>
<p>A 2016 poll indicated that half of teens felt they were <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/press-releases/new-report-finds-teens-feel-addicted-to-their-phones-causing-tension-at-home">addicted to their mobile devices</a>. </p>
<p>Getting hooked on screens means missing out on healthy activities. To achieve a better balance, <a href="https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Children-And-Watching-TV-054.aspx">some experts recommend the following</a>: Turn off all screens during family meals and outings. Don’t complain when your parents use parental controls. And turn off all the screens in your bedroom 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime – this step will improve sleep. </p>
<p>You may be a “<a href="https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/are-video-games-and-screens-another-addiction#:%7E">screen addict</a>” if you: </p>
<ul>
<li>Feel uneasy or grumpy when you can’t use your device.</li>
<li>Don’t take breaks while spending hours on your device.</li>
<li>Ignore other fun activities you enjoy, like going outside or reading a book.</li>
<li>Have trouble sleeping, or falling asleep, because your screen time is too close to bedtime.</li>
<li>Experience eye, lower back and neck strain.</li>
<li>Struggle with weight gain or obesity because you’re inactive.</li>
<li>Have difficulty with real-life, face-to-face social interactions.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you notice these signs, do not dismiss them. But also realize you’re not alone and help is out there. You can find balance again.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A kid breaks his addiction to gaming and social media.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>A healthy approach</h2>
<p>Exercise – riding a bike, playing sports, lifting weights or going for a jog or walk – <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-exercise-pill-how-exercise-keeps-your-brain-healthy-%20and-protects-it-against-depression-and-anxiety-155848">keeps your brain healthy</a> and protects it against depression and anxiety, as well as limiting your screen time.</p>
<p>Another way to be happier and healthier is to spend time with people – face to face, not via a screen. Seeing people live and in person is the <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/">best way to bond with others</a>, and it may be even better for life span than exercise. </p>
<p>Creative hobbies are good, too. Cooking, playing an instrument, dancing, any arts and crafts, and thousands of other fun things make people happier and more creative. What’s more, hobbies make you well rounded <a href="https://fordhamram.com/2023/04/19/learn-how-to-meet-people-with-social-hobbies#:%7E">and more attractive to others</a> – which leads to more face-to-face interactions. </p>
<p>It’s also critical for parents to practice healthy screen habits. But about one-third of adults <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/03/26/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-say-they-are-almost-constantly-online/">say they use screens “constantly</a>.” This is not exactly a great example for kids; when adults take responsibility to minimize their own screen time, the whole family gets better.</p>
<p>Our research team used magnetic resonance imaging, <a href="https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/mri.html#:%7E">also known as MRI</a>, to scan the brains of teens who had digital addiction. We found impairment in the brain’s decision-making, processing and reward centers. But after a digital fast – meaning the addicted teens unplugged for two weeks – those brain abnormalities reversed, and the damage was undone. </p>
<p>Our findings also showed that kids with a desire to overcome digital addiction did better with a digital fast than those who were less willing or who denied their addiction. </p>
<p>A balanced lifestyle in the digital age is all about finding joy in screenless activities – being active, connecting with others and exploring your offline interests.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
<p><em>And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210118/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Rosenberg receives funding from the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation, Detroit, MI, and a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH59299). This work was also supported in part by the State of Michigan Lycaki Young Fund and the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalia Szura does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Up to 50% of US teens feel they are addicted to their devices. But help is out there.David Rosenberg, Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Wayne State UniversityNatalia Szura, Research Assistant in Psychiatry, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2136822023-10-16T14:10:38Z2023-10-16T14:10:38ZTraditional farming knowledge should be stored for future use: the technology to do this is available<p>Indigenous knowledge and traditional practices have played a critical <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/574381468765625385/pdf/multi0page.pdf">role</a> in development all over the world. For centuries, various disciplines ranging from medicine to biodiversity conservation have drawn on these resources. </p>
<p>On the African continent, societies have been guided by a wide range of beliefs, norms, customs and procedures in managing their ecological and social systems.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="http://repository.embuni.ac.ke/handle/123456789/4152">cultural values</a> and social practices have helped communities achieve sustainable agriculture. These include traditional practices in <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/83308">food preservation</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ldr.3395">weather monitoring and forecasting</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666049021000566">crop production</a>.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, indigenous knowledge of agricultural practices is rapidly disappearing, because it is not being <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Emmanuel-Attoh-3/publication/352197647_Indigenous_knowledge_and_climate_change_adaptation_in_Africa_a_systematic_review/links/60be743792851cb13d88b9b9/Indigenous-knowledge-and-climate-change-adaptation-in-Africa-a-systematic-review.pdf">preserved</a>. One possible solution is digitalisation. This involves using modern information and communication technologies to capture, store and share farmers’ traditional wisdom and practices.</p>
<p>I conducted a <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/ejc-jpad_v57_n4_a5">literature review</a> to explore the benefits and challenges of preserving indigenous agricultural knowledge in a digital form in Africa.</p>
<p>I found that mobile phones, computers, cameras, scanners and voice recorders were useful tools for this purpose. But the process must involve the local communities that use these practices. They are the creators, guardians and sharers of indigenous knowledge through their lived experiences and practices.</p>
<p>Their participation is critical for a number of reasons. One is that they would improve the quality and accuracy of knowledge stored in digital form. Another is that they would avoid errors or misunderstandings that might arise from <a href="https://rb.gy/vsahl">language or cultural barriers</a>.</p>
<p>Digital technologies can enable wider use of <a href="https://rb.gy/qd1q1">indigenous knowledge</a>. They can promote better management of agricultural resources and preserve traditional practices. </p>
<p>I also identified several challenges that hinder the process. Policy gaps, <a href="https://core.ac.uk/reader/188123510">network connectivity issues</a> and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-0833-5.ch010">high cost</a> of digital tools were among them.</p>
<p>The findings of this study could inform policies and interventions to record and share indigenous knowledge in Africa.</p>
<h2>Digitalisation: what’s missing?</h2>
<p>Digital technologies are already widely used in Africa, particularly among smallholder farmers. They are used in <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b180/025358c0b38123ea1b34bad11cc0761123ca.pdf">irrigation farming</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031158">precision farming</a>, drought predictions, micro-climate monitoring, and crop disease risk assessments. Efficiency, productivity and functionality are among the claimed benefits.</p>
<p>But my study found little evidence of indigenous agricultural knowledge being preserved. Some countries are making progress, however. South Africa has developed a system to document indigenous knowledge. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are also developing and using <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/574381468765625385/pdf/multi0page.pdf">knowledge management initiatives</a>. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0340035216681326">In Ghana</a>, people are recording traditional knowledge of forest food and medicine. </p>
<p>More needs to be done. </p>
<h2>How it could be done</h2>
<p>Indigenous agricultural knowledge can be collected, processed, stored and shared in various formats. <a href="https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-0833-5.ch010">Technologies</a> such as smartphones, voice recorders and video cameras can <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dennis-Ocholla/publication/329359896_Information_and_Communication_Technology_Tools_for_Managing_Indigenous_Knowledge_in_KwaZulu-Natal_Province_South_Africa/links/5c0421e092851c63cab5cb99/Information-and-Communication-Technology-Tools-for-Managing-Indigenous-Knowledge-in-KwaZulu-Natal-Province-South-Africa.pdf">capture texts, videos</a>, images and voice narrations about indigenous plants and traditional agricultural practices. </p>
<p>These could cover information on crop production systems, food preservation and livestock management. Weather and seasonal forecasting would be another area to cover. Management of resources like soil and water would also be useful to record. </p>
<p>The study found that databases of these practices and information could be a great resource for farmers. They could share their experiences of applying indigenous practices on various digital platforms. Other users could provide feedback. </p>
<p>My research also showed that the internet would be a valuable tool. Information could be shared on <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1667">platforms</a> such as Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.</p>
<h2>Hurdles to overcome</h2>
<p>The study identified several challenges facing the digitalisation of indigenous agricultural knowledge. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dennis-Ocholla/publication/329359896_Information_and_Communication_Technology_Tools_for_Managing_Indigenous_Knowledge_in_KwaZulu-Natal_Province_South_Africa/links/5c0421e092851c63cab5cb99/Information-and-Communication-Technology-Tools-for-Managing-Indigenous-Knowledge-in-KwaZulu-Natal-Province-South-Africa.pdf">Affordability</a> of smartphones is sometimes an issue for smallholder farmers. And connectivity is sometimes poor in rural or semi-urban areas. </p>
<p>Governments could make strategic investments to overcome these challenges. </p>
<p>I argue in my paper that the application of indigenous agricultural knowledge practices could help address declining agricultural productivity on the continent. </p>
<p>In addition, I argue in favour of promoting indigenous knowledge of agricultural practices to address social challenges. Indigenous knowledge has a contribution to make to sustainable agricultural productivity and food systems. It also offers insights that may be useful for conserving natural resources such as water, forests and land.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213682/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mourine Sarah Achieng does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Digitalisation offers a way to preserve indigenous knowledge of agricultural practices and connect new generations of farmers to knowledge and wisdom from the past.Mourine Sarah Achieng, Post Doctoral Fellow, University of South AfricaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2033982023-04-12T00:38:49Z2023-04-12T00:38:49ZBanning TikTok could weaken personal cybersecurity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520368/original/file-20230411-22-e2sc88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C5000%2C3315&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Banning TikTok could unintentionally pose a cybersecurity risk.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-illustration-a-crossed-out-tiktok-logo-is-news-photo/1249797505">SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>TikTok is not be the first app to be scrutinized over the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/6/21168079/grindr-sold-chinese-owner-us-cfius-security-concerns-kunlun-lgbtq">potential exposure of U.S. user data</a>, but it is the first widely used app that the U.S. government has proposed banning over privacy and security concerns. </p>
<p>So far, the discussion has focused on <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-the-us-ban-tiktok-can-it-a-cybersecurity-expert-explains-the-risks-the-app-poses-and-the-challenges-to-blocking-it-202300">whether TikTok should be banned</a>. There has been little discussion of whether TikTok could be banned, and there has been almost no discussion of the effects on cybersecurity that a TikTok ban could cause, including encouraging users to sidestep built-in security mechanisms to bypass a ban and access the app.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.rit.edu/directory/rboics-rob-olson">cybersecurity researcher</a>, I see potential risks if the U.S. attempts to ban TikTok. The type of risk depends on the type of ban.</p>
<h2>Blocking TikTok in the network</h2>
<p>Blocking access to TikTok by filtering traffic destined for addresses believed to be owned by TikTok is possible but would be difficult to accomplish. Server addresses can be changed and a TikTok ban could devolve into a game of cat and mouse. </p>
<p>Additionally, this sort of block could be bypassed using virtual private networks (VPNs), which encrypt data flowing between servers and devices. VPNs can be used to shield traffic between servers in other countries and devices in the U.S. VPNs were once widely recommended for people <a href="https://www.tomsguide.com/news/why-you-need-to-use-a-vpn-on-public-wi-fi">using public Wi-Fi</a>, and people are already using VPNs to <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-unblock-netflix-with-a-vpn">access blocked streaming services</a>. While security experts <a href="https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/are-public-wi-fi-networks-safe-what-you-need-know">no longer recommend VPNs for public Wi-Fi</a>, many people have used them and so are familiar with a tool that would help them bypass a TikTok ban.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sans.org/white-papers/33523/">DNS sinkholes</a> are another technique that could be used in TikTok bans. DNS, the Domain Name System, is a network protocol that behaves like the internet’s phone book. Computers need to know the IP address of a server in order to communicate with it. DNS allows a computer to look up that address using a name convenient for humans to remember, such as www.google.com.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">How the Domain Name System works.</span></figcaption>
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<p>DNS sinkholes stop that lookup. DNS sinkholes don’t directly block access to a server. Rather, they stop other computers from being able to look up the server’s address. It’s fair to think of a DNS sinkhole as removing someone’s name from a phone book.</p>
<p>DNS sinkholes are often used to <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/08/the-wannacry-sinkhole/">stop malware</a> and <a href="https://docs.pi-hole.net/">advertisements</a>. They could be used in a TikTok ban. However, DNS sinkholes only work if lookups are confined to DNS servers that are configured to be sinkholes. A ban using DNS sinkholes would likely cover most DNS servers that people’s computers use by default. </p>
<p>However, you can relatively <a href="https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using">easily change</a> DNS settings on your computer to circumvent a ban based on DNS sinkholes. There are many <a href="https://public-dns.info/">public DNS servers</a> that people could use instead of their current DNS servers, which are commonly maintained by internet service providers. Blocking TikTok with DNS sinkholes would require significant international cooperation to make it difficult for people to find DNS servers that could access TikTok.</p>
<p>People circumventing a ban by looking for an alternate DNS server would be at risk. Unless a DNS server uses an <a href="https://blog.apnic.net/2017/06/28/isnt-everyone-using-dnssec/">uncommon extension</a> named <a href="https://www.internetsociety.org/deploy360/dnssec/basics/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw27mhBhC9ARIsAIFsETE_8KhAuriFx6aNrjIeySjCnbPuuOGZt0-u8IZBhAJcZ7usGnHVZjMaArX8EALw_wcB">DNSSEC</a>, you can’t verify the integrity of a DNS response. A malicious DNS server could reply to a lookup with an IP address of a server that’s under criminal control. This opens the door for a number of different kinds of attacks that could put your data at risk. </p>
<h2>Banning TikTok from your phone</h2>
<p>Another way TikTok could be banned is by blocking the TikTok mobile app. This would not affect U.S. users’ ability to access the TikTok website, but it could change how and how often people access TikTok. Blocking the app could address the concern that TikTok could be used without the user’s knowledge to access other systems on a network that a mobile device is connected to. This has been the motivation for some <a href="https://www.pnj.com/story/news/education/2023/04/05/florida-tiktok-ban-uwf-joins-fsu-uf-in-banning-tiktok-on-campus/70086188007/">local TikTok bans</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/democratic-senator-urges-apple-google-kick-tiktok-out-app-stores-2023-02-02/">Removing TikTok from app stores</a> is unlikely to succeed by itself. Both Android and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchmobilecomputing/opinion/Did-you-know-how-easy-it-is-to-sideload-iOS-apps-to-your-iPhone">iOS devices</a> have the ability to install apps from alternative sources, a technique known as <a href="https://www.lifewire.com/sideloading-4158932">sideloading</a>. While this added step may discourage some people, sideloading tutorials are widely available online, and there is <a href="https://www.fortnite.com/mobile/android">already popular software</a> that must be sideloaded to be used on a phone.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">How to sideload Android apps.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mobile devices assume that mobile apps are coming from a trusted source. Both Google and <a href="https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/">Apple</a> audit mobile apps prior to the app being available for download. While these reviews <a href="https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/malicious-apps-millions-downloads-apple-google-app-stores">aren’t perfect</a>, they help ensure apps don’t contain vulnerabilities or malware. When app stores aren’t involved, security responsibilities change. Sideloading <a href="https://www.apple.com/privacy/docs/Building_a_Trusted_Ecosystem_for_Millions_of_Apps_A_Threat_Analysis_of_Sideloading.pdf">makes users responsible for verifying an app’s legitimacy</a>, and criminals could trick users into <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-android-trojan-malware-is-using-fake-apps-to-infect-smartphones-steal-bank-details/">installing malicious apps from third-party sources</a>.</p>
<p>But what about the millions of people who already have TikTok installed on their phones? Enforcing a TikTok app ban would likely require that it be removed from mobile devices. Apple has long had the ability to <a href="https://www.macworld.com/article/191897/iphone_killswitch.html">remove software from iPhones</a>, and Google could remove apps using <a href="https://developers.google.com/android/play-protect">Google Play Protect</a>. These tools are important security controls that, at least on Android devices, can remove malware even if it was sideloaded. Enforcing a ban using security controls could motivate users to disable these controls, which would weaken the security of their devices. </p>
<p>Users might even be motivated to “<a href="https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-jailbreaking-an-iphone-577591">jailbreak</a>” their iOS devices or “<a href="https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/android-rooting">root</a>” their Android devices to prevent Apple or Google from removing the TikTok app, which would further weaken security. Jailbreaking an iOS device allows users to bypass security restrictions in the operating system. Rooting an Android device means gaining the highest level security access, which allows users to make changes to the operating system. Jailbreaking and rooting are prohibited by Apple and Google. Both actions void the user’s warranty and undermine the security controls that limit criminals’ access to mobile devices.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bjq4WYs4Emw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Why you should not ‘root’ your phone.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Security tradeoffs</h2>
<p>I find it unlikely that a TikTok ban would be technologically enforceable. Even China <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/3920214-how-could-a-tiktok-ban-be-enforced/">struggles with content filtering</a>. These difficulties may be why proposed <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686/text">legislation</a> includes significant punishments for bypassing the ban.</p>
<p>Even if the punishments are not <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/does-tiktok-ban-allow-20-year-prison-sentence-1790932">aimed at the average TikTok user</a>, this proposed legislation – aimed at improving cybersecurity – could motivate users to engage in riskier digital behavior.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203398/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Olson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Legislation meant to improve cybersecurity could be difficult to implement and might create incentives for riskier digital behavior.Robert Olson, Senior Lecturer of Computing Security, Rochester Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1931922022-10-25T20:22:51Z2022-10-25T20:22:51ZDevelopment of vision in early childhood: No screens before age two<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491691/original/file-20221025-22-wx4aqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C7%2C979%2C655&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Electronic devices are not, in and of themselves, a source of visual problems. Using these devices inappropriately can interfere with the natural development of the eye, as well as reading and learning skills. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Things are busy on a rainy Saturday afternoon when I make a trip to the mall to finalize some back-to-school shopping. I pass by a lot of people, including several parents with young children under two years old, in strollers, and am struck by the fact that all of the children have a tablet or phone in their hands. Has technology become the ultimate tool for keeping children calm?</p>
<p>As an optometrist and eye health expert, this observation saddens me every time I see it, since I know all the harmful effects such exposure to electronic tools can have on children.</p>
<p>These effects are all the more critical during the first years of life, both on the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34625399/">visual level</a> and on the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36190219/">cognitive and social development of children</a>.</p>
<h2>Visual development of children</h2>
<p>The human eye develops <a href="https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/health-wellness-and-safety-resources/helping-hands/infant-vision-birth-to-one-year">through stimulation</a>. The quality of the optical stimulus influences the growth of the eyeball via a complex and balanced mechanism. At birth, the eye is hyperopic, that is to say, its power is not perfectly adjusted to its size. A child sees at short distances and is barely able to distinguish a shadow when grandpa comes to the bedroom door.</p>
<p>In the first few weeks, the eye grows, the retina matures and a balance is established between the growth of the eyeball and the power of the inner lens. At six months of age, each of the toddler’s two eyes has the vision of an adult eye. From this moment on, the eyes will develop their coordination, in order to generate vision in three dimensions. It’s also starting at the age of six months that the communication between the eyes develops in the visual brain as well.</p>
<p>Billions of neurological connections will have to be made during the <a href="https://opto.umontreal.ca/clinique/pdf/EFFETS%20DES%20ECRANS%20SUR%20LE%20D%C3%89VELOPPEMENT%20VISUEL%20DES%20ENFANTS.pdf">first eight years of life</a>. This maturation time is long, but necessary, considering that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763413001917">more than a third of the brain’s neurons are dedicated to vision</a>.</p>
<h2>A question of distance</h2>
<p>Electronic devices are not, in themselves, a source of visual problems. Rather, the inappropriate use of these devices can interfere with the natural development of the eye, as well as reading and learning skills.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two small children with glasses sitting on white chairs : a boy with a tablet computer, a girl with a cell phone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489407/original/file-20221012-17-g43eu3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For normal visual development, it is recommended that exposure to electronic devices be avoided between the ages of zero and two years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first thing to consider is viewing distance. The eye is designed to look at a near distance that is about equal to the length of the forearm (distance from the elbow to the fingertips of the hand). That means about <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042698913000795">30 cm for a young child, and 40 cm for an adult</a>. However, tablets and phones are held on average 20-30 cm from the eye, and this distance <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cxo.12453">becomes shorter with prolonged exposure</a>. The visual effort required to maintain a clear image at this distance is therefore doubled.</p>
<p>A distance that is too short influences the quality of the retinal image (and therefore visual development) and causes <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=fr&lr=&id=jGGROHBFYt8C">excessive eye fatigue</a>. It is also important to understand that when eyes must accommodate short distances, they automatically converge towards the nose in order to focus at the normal reading distance. Too much effort spent accommodating the short distance is therefore accompanied by a greater than normal convergence. As the eye cannot maintain this prolonged effort over a long period of time, it will relax its effort and the perceived image will become blurred for a while, a sensory penalty that we want to avoid. After a period of rest, the eye will resume its effort, and this alternation between the clearness and the blur will continue as long as attention to the close image is required. So, ideally, the tablet or phone should always be kept at the distance of the forearm.</p>
<h2>Constant stimulation is not recommended</h2>
<p>The use of electronic tools, with games or videos, requires a constant attention span, without breaks. This is the second factor to consider. When a child draws in a notebook or reads a paper book, he or she will instinctively stop at some point, look elsewhere, far away, and become interested in something else around them. These pauses and breaks are beneficial <a href="https://www.aoa.org/healthy-eyes/eye-and-vision-conditions/computer-vision-syndrome?sso=y">for the visual system to recover from its effort</a>. Focusing on targets at a distance is also beneficial to the child’s visual development. With electronic tablets, it is not uncommon to see children doing sessions of more than two to three hours continuously, without looking up from the screen.</p>
<p>The visual apparatus of children from zero to two years old is simply not sufficiently developed and robust to undergo such stress from constant stimulation in front of the screen. In particular, the structural elements of the sclera (the deep layer of the eye), which give the eye rigidity and determine its size, develop between zero and two years of age and then stabilize. The visual stimulus at these ages can interfere and therefore <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335108098_Scleral_structure_and_biomechanics">influence the development of visual defects and pathology in later life</a>.</p>
<p>It is also important to note that the screen can emit blue light. Children’s eyes do not filter these rays like those of an adult. This means that children are exposed to more blue light, which may stimulate nearsightedness and disrupt the secretion of melatonin, <a href="https://www.myopiainstitute.com/eye-care/how-blue-light-affects-your-vision-and-overall-health/">which regulates our biological clock</a>. This can disrupt the naps necessary for children of this age, as well as sleep during the night. Sleep loss can also lead to myopia.</p>
<h2>Let’s learn about electronics</h2>
<p>For normal visual development, it is therefore recommended to <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/128/5/1040/30928/Media-Use-by-Children-Younger-Than-2-Years?_ga=2.208746386.1459529850.1665228699-655911314.1665228699?autologincheck=redirected?nfToken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000">avoid all exposure to electronic devices between the ages of zero and two</a>. The exception would be occasional video conversations, under the supervision of a parent, to say hello to a grandparent who lives far away, for a few minutes.</p>
<p>From the age of two years on, an hour of exposure per day can be considered, especially to consult educational sites, always accompanied by a parent or an educator.</p>
<p>When the visual system is mature, around the age of six to eight, exposure can be increased gradually, without exceeding two to three hours per day, with 10-minute breaks every hour. Electronic device use should be avoided during meals, family activities, and at least one hour before sleep.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young mother holding her cute, crying baby daughter, looking at a tablet during a virtual video call business or family meeting at a distance" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489410/original/file-20221012-24-ip7l62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rare video conversations, with parental supervision, to wave to a grandparent from a distance, for a few minutes, can be considered.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Let’s play outside!</h2>
<p>The best advice for successful visual development is to encourage exposure to outdoor light for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6678505/#:%7E:text=Each%20additional%20hour%20of%20daily,by%2013%25%20%5B23%5D.">at least one hour per day, ideally two hours</a>. We are talking about playing, walking, and activities that are done outside. The amount of light is then much greater than indoors, which would stimulate the production of dopamine, a chemical mediator essential to regulating the growth of the eye. This is the most effective way to prevent the onset of myopia in children.</p>
<p>It is also important to make sure that a child’s visual system is normal and developing naturally. Therefore, the first examination by an optometrist should be done at six months of age (to validate that the eye has normal optics and that there are no congenital defects), and then at three years of age to evaluate eye coordination. If everything is normal, the next examination will take place at five years of age, and annually thereafter, <a href="http://nada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/BK-ChildrenAndTheirVision-2018-EN.pdf">considering that vision can change rapidly</a>.</p>
<p>In the case of an abnormality, the earlier we intervene in the process, the easier it is to restore normal oculo-visual function, either by exercise or by optical means.</p>
<p>By following these recommendations for visual hygiene, we will protect children’s visual system and ensure their normal development.</p>
<p>And let’s not forget that the most beautiful screen in the world is nature! We should offer it to our children more often.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193192/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Langis Michaud ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The impact of using electronic devices is critical during the first years of life, both visually and on the cognitive and social development of the child.Langis Michaud, Professeur Titulaire. École d'optométrie. Expertise en santé oculaire et usage des lentilles cornéennes spécialisées, Université de MontréalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1896182022-08-30T12:19:56Z2022-08-30T12:19:56ZFTC lawsuit spotlights a major privacy risk: From call records to sensors, your phone reveals more about you than you think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481648/original/file-20220829-9139-k3v5qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C25%2C5700%2C3763&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Where you've been and who you've interacted with are not difficult for governments and corporations to find out.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-woman-using-mobile-phone-against-bus-royalty-free-image/605380195">Maskot via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Federal Trade Commission <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/08/ftc-sues-kochava-selling-data-tracks-people-reproductive-health-clinics-places-worship-other">filed suit</a> against Kochava Inc. on Aug. 29, 2022, accusing the data broker of selling geolocation data from hundreds of millions of mobile devices. Consumers are often unaware that their location data is being sold and that their past movements can be tracked, according to the commission. </p>
<p>The FTC’s suit specified that Kochava’s data can be used to <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/1.%20Complaint.pdf">track consumers to sensitive locations</a>, including “to identify which consumers’ mobile devices visited reproductive health clinics.”</p>
<p>When the U.S. Supreme Court <a href="https://theconversation.com/roe-overturned-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-supreme-court-abortion-decision-184692">overturned Roe v. Wade</a> on June 24, 2022, many people seeking abortion care found themselves in legal jeopardy. Numerous state laws criminalizing abortion thrust the perilous state of personal privacy into the spotlight. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=6emSUYoAAAAJ">cybersecurity and privacy researcher</a>, I’ve seen how readily people’s movements and activities can be tracked.</p>
<p>If people want to travel incognito to an abortion clinic, according to <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/sarahemerson/abortion-digital-privacy-guide">well-meaning advice</a>, they need to plan their trip the way a CIA operative might – and get a <a href="https://www.howtogeek.com/712588/what-is-a-burner-phone-and-when-should-you-use-one/">burner phone</a>. Unfortunately, that still wouldn’t be good enough to guarantee privacy. </p>
<p>Using a maps app to plan a route, sending terms to a search engine and chatting online are ways that people actively share their personal data. But mobile devices share far more data than just what their users say or type. They share information with the network about whom people contacted, when they did so, how long the communication lasted and what type of device was used. The devices must do so in order to connect a phone call or send an email.</p>
<h2>Who’s talking to whom</h2>
<p>When NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order">disclosed</a> that the <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/">National Security Agency</a> was collecting Americans’ telephone call metadata – the <a href="https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/call-detail-record">Call Detail Records</a> – in bulk in order to track terrorists, there was a great deal of public consternation. The public was rightly concerned about loss of privacy. </p>
<p>Researchers at Stanford later showed that call detail records plus publicly available information could <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1508081113">reveal sensitive information</a>, such as whether someone had a heart problem and their arrhythmia monitoring device was malfunctioning or whether they were considering opening a marijuana dispensary. Often you don’t have to listen in to know what someone is thinking or planning. Call detail records – who called whom and when – can give it all away.</p>
<p>The transmission information in internet-based communications – <a href="https://www.thegeekstuff.com/2012/03/ip-protocol-header/">IP-packet headers</a> – can reveal even more than call detail records do. When you make an encrypted voice call over the internet – a Voice over IP call – the contents may be encrypted but information in the packet header can nonetheless sometimes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/SP.2011.34">divulge some of the words you’re speaking</a>. </p>
<h2>A pocket full of sensors</h2>
<p>That’s not the only information given away by your communications device. Smartphones are computers, and they have <a href="https://gizmodo.com/all-the-sensors-in-your-smartphone-and-how-they-work-1797121002">many sensors</a>. For your phone to properly display information, it has a gyroscope and an accelerometer; to preserve battery life, it has a power sensor; to provide directions, a magnetometer. </p>
<p>Just as communications metadata can be used to track what you’re doing, these sensors can be used for other purposes. You might shut off GPS to prevent apps from tracking your location, but <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/SP.2016.31">data from a phone’s gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer</a> can also track where you’re going.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CxC1KCoGbIM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">What the sensors in your phone do and how they add up to a lot of data about you.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This sensor data could be attractive to businesses. For example, <a href="https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=%2820160114.PD.+AND+%28Facebook.AS.+OR+Facebook.AANM.%29%29&OS=PD/1/14/2016+and+%28AN/Facebook+or+AANM/Facebook%29&RS=%28PD/">Facebook has a patent</a> that relies on the different wireless networks near a user to determine when two people might have been close together frequently – at a conference, riding a commuter bus – as a basis for providing an introduction. Creepy? You bet. As someone who rode the New York City subways as a young girl, the last thing I want is my phone introducing me to someone who has repeatedly stood too close to me in a subway car.</p>
<p>Uber knows that people <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/478266839?storyId=478266839&t=1569586261094">really want a ride when their battery power is low</a>. Is the company checking for that data and charging more? Uber claims not, but <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2019/09/27/uber-charge-battery-lower-10778303/">the possibility is there</a>.</p>
<p>And it’s not just apps that get access to this data trove. <a href="https://clearcode.cc/blog/what-is-data-broker/#what-are-data-brokers?">Data brokers</a> get this information from the apps, then compile it with other data and provide it to companies and <a href="https://cdt.org/insights/report-legal-loopholes-and-data-for-dollars-how-law-enforcement-and-intelligence-agencies-are-buying-your-data-from-brokers/">governments</a> to use for their own purposes. Doing so can circumvent legal protections that require law enforcement to go to court before they obtain this information.</p>
<h2>Beyond consent</h2>
<p>There’s not a whole lot users can do to protect themselves. Communications metadata and device telemetry – information from the phone sensors – are used to send, deliver and display content. Not including them is usually not possible. And unlike the search terms or map locations you consciously provide, metadata and telemetry are sent without you even seeing it. </p>
<p>Providing consent isn’t plausible. There’s too much of this data, and it’s too complicated to decide each case. Each application you use – video, chat, web surfing, email – uses metadata and telemetry differently. Providing truly informed consent that you know what information you’re providing and for what use is effectively impossible.</p>
<p>If you use your mobile phone for anything other than a paperweight, your visit to the cannabis dispensary and your personality – how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.08.023">extroverted you are</a> or whether <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq1433">you’re likely to be on the outs with family since the 2016 election</a> – can be learned from metadata and telemetry and shared.</p>
<p>That’s true even for a burner phone bought with cash, at least if you plan on turning the phone on. Do so while carrying your regular phone and you’ll have given away that the two phones are associated – and perhaps even that they belong to you. As few as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep01376">four location points can identify</a> a user, another way your burner phone can reveal your identity. If you’re driving with someone else, they’d have to be equally careful or their phone would identify them – and you. Metadata and telemetry information reveals a remarkable amount about you. But you don’t get to decide who gets that data, or what they do with it.</p>
<h2>The reality of technological life</h2>
<p>There are some constitutional guarantees to anonymity. For example, the Supreme Court held that the right to associate, guaranteed by the <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/">First Amendment</a>, is the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/357/449">right to associate privately</a>, without providing membership lists to the state. But with smartphones, that’s a right that’s effectively impractical to exercise. it’s nearly impossible to function without a mobile phone. Paper maps and <a href="https://www.link.nyc/">public payphones</a> have virtually disappeared. If you want to do anything – travel from here to there, make an appointment, order takeout or check the weather – you all but need a smartphone to do so.</p>
<p>It’s not just people who might be seeking abortions whose privacy is at risk from this data that phones shed. It could be your kid applying for a job: For instance, the company could check location data to see if they are participating in political protests. Or it could be you, when the gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer data gives away that you and your co-worker went to the same hotel room at night. </p>
<p>There’s a way to solve this chilling scenario, and that’s for laws or regulations to require that the data you provide to send and receive communications – TikTok, SnapChat, YouTube – is used just for that, and nothing else. That helps the people going for abortions – and all the rest of us as well.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated on Aug. 29, 2022, to indicate that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed suit against a data broker.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189618/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Landau receives funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the National Science Foundation. She is affiliated with the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the Center for Democracy and Technology,</span></em></p>Even a burner phone paid for with cash can reveal your identity and where you’ve been. A data privacy expert explains.Susan Landau, Professor of Cyber Security and Policy, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1783892022-06-06T12:50:32Z2022-06-06T12:50:32ZTherapy on the go: Mildly depressed or simply stressed, people are tapping apps for mental health care<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466424/original/file-20220531-14-xkt67t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More and more people are experimenting with mental health apps and discovering their benefits and limits.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/high-angle-shot-of-fitness-young-asian-sports-woman-royalty-free-image/1396029512?adppopup=true">d3sign/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It might be surprising to think about browsing for therapists and ordering up mental health care the way you can peruse a menu on Grubhub or summon a car on Lyft.</p>
<p>But over the last decade, digital access to therapy has become increasingly common, in some cases replacing the traditional model of in-person weekly sessions between a therapist and client.</p>
<p>Apps for mental health and wellness range from mood trackers, meditation tools and journals to therapy apps that match users to a licensed professional. My team’s research focuses on therapy apps that work by matching clients to a licensed professional.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.fordham.edu/info/24281/gss_full-time_faculty_profiles/11298/lauri_goldkind/">social work researcher</a>, I am interested in understanding how these apps <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1044389421997796">affect clients and practitioners</a>. My research team has studied the care that app users receive. We have talked to therapists who use apps to reach new clients. We’ve also analyzed app contracts that mental health professionals sign, as well as the agreements clients accept by using the apps.</p>
<p>Real questions persist about how apps are regulated, how to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196%2F23776">ensure user privacy and care quality</a> and how remote therapy can be reimbursed by insurance. While those debates continue, people are regularly using apps to connect to therapists for help with emotional and mental struggles. And through these apps, therapists are interacting with people who may never have considered therapy before. </p>
<h2>A ready-made market</h2>
<p>In the first year of the pandemic, rates of depression and anxiety <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide">increased by 25%</a> worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. In a June 2020 survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6932a1.htm">40.9% of respondents reported</a> at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition, compared to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db380.htm">only 19% in 2018</a>.</p>
<p>The old model of therapy, in which therapists and patients sat face to face, was already out of reach for many. In fact, mental health apps are a response to the demand from clients seeking more accessible therapy services. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged both trends – the growing need for mental health care and using technology to access it. For existing mental health clients, stay-at-home orders closed clinics and therapists’ offices to in-person visits, resulting in an <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-mental-health-telemedicine-was-off-to-a-slow-start-then-the-pandemic-happened-177670">unprecedented shift to online access to therapy</a>. </p>
<h2>How matching apps work</h2>
<p>Consumer mental health platforms like Better Help and TalkSpace match clients to licensed therapy providers. With advertising on television, across social media channels and on highway billboards, the apps promote flexibility, convenience and the potential to receive support with slogans like “You deserve to be happy” or “Feeling better starts with a single call.” </p>
<p>When app users enter a platform’s online space, its proprietary software offers a digital dashboard and communication tools. These platforms also promise instant access to a professional therapist, immediate responsiveness from them as well as anonymity. </p>
<p>App users choose a therapist by reviewing a list of providers accompanied by thumbnail photos, resume-like bios and consumer reviews. Users also choose how they’ll connect with therapists – phone or video calls, email, text or some combination. The apps also let clients change therapists at any time. </p>
<p>As the client and their chosen therapist connect and communicate, behind the scenes the app collects and maintains records, later calculating the chosen therapist’s payment and billing the app user.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465163/original/file-20220524-19-fx7egl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C0%2C4784%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Against a lavender background, two smartphones, held by the hands of unseen people, are turned toward each other, with brightly colors speech bubbles, like the kind in comic books, coming out of the phones" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465163/original/file-20220524-19-fx7egl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C0%2C4784%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465163/original/file-20220524-19-fx7egl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465163/original/file-20220524-19-fx7egl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465163/original/file-20220524-19-fx7egl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465163/original/file-20220524-19-fx7egl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465163/original/file-20220524-19-fx7egl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465163/original/file-20220524-19-fx7egl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For some people, entering a therapist’s office might never be an option, but they might find treatment through their smartphone more accessible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/two-women-having-a-virtual-conversation-via-royalty-free-image/1359131200">We Are/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Apps and their risks</h2>
<p>Curiously, while mental health app platforms promote themselves as providers of mental health services, they actually don’t take <a href="https://www.betterhelp.com/terms/">responsibility for the counseling services they are providing</a>. The apps consider therapists to be independent contractors, with the platform acting as a matching service. And the apps can help users find a more suitable fit if they request it.</p>
<p>But no law or precedent protects consumers or clarifies app users’ rights. This differs from face-to-face therapy, in which practitioners work under the oversight of state licensing boards and federal law. Some of the major therapy apps have been accused of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/07/technology/talkspace.html">mining client data</a> and <a href="https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/betterhelp/">being at risk for data breaches</a>. </p>
<p>Like other virtual spaces, online mental health service domains operate under ever-evolving and localized regulations.</p>
<h2>Who benefits from these apps?</h2>
<p>The social workers our team interviewed talked a lot about who can benefit from this kind of app-based therapy and – importantly – who can’t. For example, the platforms are not set up to treat people with <a href="https://smiadviser.org/about/serious-mental-illness">serious mental illness</a> or mental disorders that substantially interfere with a person’s life, activities and ability to function independently. </p>
<p>Similarly, app-based psychotherapy is not suitable for those having suicidal thoughts. The platforms screen users for <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-teens-engage-in-self-harm-clinical-psychologists-explain-how-to-help-teens-reduce-their-emotional-distress-181419">risk of self-harm</a> when they sign up. If a client ever poses harm to themselves or someone else, user anonymity on the apps makes it almost impossible for a therapist to send a crisis response team. App-based practitioners told our research team that they sometimes end up monitoring their clients for signs of crisis by contacting them through the app more frequently. It’s one reason app therapists, who also screen users, sometimes reject potential clients who may need a higher level of care.</p>
<p>For those without severe mental illness, app-based therapy may be helpful in matching clients with a professional familiar with a range of problems and stressors. This makes apps attractive to those with anxiety and mild to moderate depression. They also appeal to people who wouldn’t ordinarily seek out office-based therapy, but who want help with life issues such as marital problems and work-related stress. </p>
<p>The apps could also be practical and convenient for those who can’t or won’t get formal therapy, even remotely, from a mental health clinic or office. For instance, the anonymity of apps might appeal to people suffering from conditions like social anxiety or agoraphobia, or for those individuals who can’t or won’t appear on a video call. </p>
<p>Therapy apps have helped to normalize the idea that it’s OK to pursue mental health treatment through nontraditional routes. And with high-profile people such as <a href="https://brandingforum.org/marketing/michael-phelps-talkspace-mental-health/">Michael Phelps</a> and <a href="https://www.elle.com/beauty/a36877443/ariana-grande-better-help-free-therapy/">Ariana Grande</a> partnering with these apps, they might even be on their way to making mental health treatment cool. </p>
<p><em>Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to eliminate mention of Alma, a mental health platform that matches clients with therapists, but does not have an app for users.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauri Goldkind does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How do mental health apps compare to in-person therapy? A social worker and expert on technology and human services explains.Lauri Goldkind, Associate Professor of Social Work, Fordham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1825042022-05-23T12:24:32Z2022-05-23T12:24:32ZImpending demise of Roe v. Wade puts a spotlight on a major privacy risk: Your phone reveals more about you than you think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464565/original/file-20220520-18-i7fpgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5691%2C3780&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Where you've been and who you've interacted with are not difficult for governments and corporations to find out.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-woman-using-mobile-phone-against-bus-royalty-free-image/605380195">Maskot via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>An updated version of this article was published on Aug. 30, 2022. <a href="https://theconversation.com/ftc-lawsuit-spotlights-a-major-privacy-risk-from-call-records-to-sensors-your-phone-reveals-more-about-you-than-you-think-189618">Read it here</a>.</em></p>
<p>When Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473">published</a> Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/read-justice-alito-initial-abortion-opinion-overturn-roe-v-wade-pdf-00029504">draft opinion</a> that would undo <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/410/113">Roe v. Wade</a>, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vzjb/location-data-abortion-clinics-safegraph-planned-parenthood">a</a> <a href="https://gizmodo.com/roe-v-wade-supreme-court-abortion-overturn-ron-wyden-da-1848876732">number</a> of <a href="https://www.protocol.com/policy/abortion-tech-legal">commentators</a> observed how hard it would be for women in states that had made abortion illegal to safely travel to abortion clinics elsewhere. Their phones’ <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vzjb/location-data-abortion-clinics-safegraph-planned-parenthood">location histories</a> would give them away, or maybe their <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/04/abortion-digital-privacy/">search histories</a> would. Even <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/04/abortion-digital-privacy/">their texts</a> might do so.</p>
<p>If people want to travel incognito to an abortion clinic, according to <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/sarahemerson/abortion-digital-privacy-guide">well-meaning advice</a>, they need to plan their trip the way a CIA operative might – and get a <a href="https://www.howtogeek.com/712588/what-is-a-burner-phone-and-when-should-you-use-one/">burner phone</a>. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=6emSUYoAAAAJ">cybersecurity and privacy researcher</a>, I know that wouldn’t be good enough to guarantee privacy. </p>
<p>Using a maps app to plan a route, sending terms to a search engine and chatting online are ways that people actively share their personal data. But mobile devices share far more data than just what their users say or type. They share information with the network about whom people contacted, when they did so, how long the communication lasted and what type of device was used. The devices must do so in order to connect a phone call or send an email.</p>
<h2>Who’s talking to whom</h2>
<p>When NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order">disclosed</a> that the <a href="https://www.nsa.gov/">National Security Agency</a> was collecting Americans’ telephone call metadata – the <a href="https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/call-detail-record">Call Detail Records</a> – in bulk in order to track terrorists, there was a great deal of public consternation. The public was rightly concerned about loss of privacy. </p>
<p>Researchers at Stanford later showed that call detail records plus publicly available information could <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1508081113">reveal sensitive information</a>, such as whether someone had a heart problem and their arrhythmia monitoring device was malfunctioning or whether they were considering opening a marijuana dispensary. Often you don’t have to listen in to know what someone is thinking or planning. Call detail records – who called whom and when – can give it all away.</p>
<p>The transmission information in internet-based communications – <a href="https://www.thegeekstuff.com/2012/03/ip-protocol-header/">IP-packet headers</a> – can reveal even more than call detail records do. When you make an encrypted voice call over the internet – a Voice over IP call – the contents may be encrypted but information in the packet header can nonetheless sometimes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/SP.2011.34">divulge some of the words you’re speaking</a>. </p>
<h2>A pocket full of sensors</h2>
<p>That’s not the only information given away by your communications device. Smartphones are computers, and they have <a href="https://gizmodo.com/all-the-sensors-in-your-smartphone-and-how-they-work-1797121002">many sensors</a>. For your phone to properly display information, it has a gyroscope and an accelerometer; to preserve battery life, it has a power sensor; to provide directions, a magnetometer. </p>
<p>Just as communications metadata can be used to track what you’re doing, these sensors can be used for other purposes. You might shut off GPS to prevent apps from tracking your location, but <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/SP.2016.31">data from a phone’s gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer</a> can also track where you’re going.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CxC1KCoGbIM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">What the sensors in your phone do and how they add up to a lot of data about you.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This sensor data could be attractive to businesses. For example, <a href="https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=%2820160114.PD.+AND+%28Facebook.AS.+OR+Facebook.AANM.%29%29&OS=PD/1/14/2016+and+%28AN/Facebook+or+AANM/Facebook%29&RS=%28PD/">Facebook has a patent</a> that relies on the different wireless networks near a user to determine when two people might have been close together frequently – at a conference, riding a commuter bus – as a basis for providing an introduction. Creepy? You bet. As someone who rode the New York City subways as a young girl, the last thing I want is my phone introducing me to someone who has repeatedly stood too close to me in a subway car.</p>
<p>Uber knows that people <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/478266839?storyId=478266839&t=1569586261094">really want a ride when their battery power is low</a>. Is the company checking for that data and charging more? Uber claims not, but <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2019/09/27/uber-charge-battery-lower-10778303/">the possibility is there</a>.</p>
<p>And it’s not just apps that get access to this data trove. <a href="https://clearcode.cc/blog/what-is-data-broker/#what-are-data-brokers?">Data brokers</a> get this information from the apps, then compile it with other data and provide it to companies and <a href="https://cdt.org/insights/report-legal-loopholes-and-data-for-dollars-how-law-enforcement-and-intelligence-agencies-are-buying-your-data-from-brokers/">governments</a> to use for their own purposes. Doing so can circumvent legal protections that require law enforcement to go to court before they obtain this information.</p>
<h2>Beyond consent</h2>
<p>There’s not a whole lot users can do to protect themselves. Communications metadata and device telemetry – information from the phone sensors – are used to send, deliver and display content. Not including them is usually not possible. And unlike the search terms or map locations you consciously provide, metadata and telemetry are sent without you even seeing it. </p>
<p>Providing consent isn’t plausible. There’s too much of this data, and it’s too complicated to decide each case. Each application you use – video, chat, web surfing, email – uses metadata and telemetry differently. Providing truly informed consent that you know what information you’re providing and for what use is effectively impossible.</p>
<p>If you use your mobile phone for anything other than a paperweight, your visit to the cannabis dispensary and your personality – how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.08.023">extroverted you are</a> or whether <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq1433">you’re likely to be on the outs with family since the 2016 election</a> – can be learned from metadata and telemetry and shared.</p>
<p>That’s true even for a burner phone bought with cash, at least if you plan on turning the phone on. Do so while carrying your regular phone and you’ll have given away that the two phones are associated – and perhaps even that they belong to you. As few as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep01376">four location points can identify</a> a user, another way your burner phone can reveal your identity. If you’re driving with someone else, they’d have to be equally careful or their phone would identify them – and you. Metadata and telemetry information reveals a remarkable amount about you. But you don’t get to decide who gets that data, or what they do with it.</p>
<h2>The reality of technological life</h2>
<p>There are constitutional guarantees to anonymity. For example, the Supreme Court held that the right to associate, guaranteed by the <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/">First Amendment</a>, is the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/357/449">right to associate privately</a>, without providing membership lists to the state. But with smartphones, that’s a right that’s effectively impractical to exercise. Unless you’re working in remote parts of the nation, it’s nearly impossible to function without a mobile phone. Paper maps and <a href="https://www.link.nyc/">public payphones</a> have virtually disappeared. If you want to do anything – travel from here to there, make an appointment, order takeout or check the weather – you all but need a smartphone to do so.</p>
<p>It’s not just people who might be seeking abortions whose privacy is at risk from this data that phones shed. It could be your kid applying for a job: For instance, the company could check location data to see if they are participating in political protests. Or it could be you, when the gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer data gives away that you and your co-worker went to the same hotel room at night. </p>
<p>There’s a way to solve this chilling scenario, and that’s for laws or regulations to require that the data you provide to send and receive communications – TikTok, SnapChat, YouTube – is used just for that, and nothing else. That helps the people going for abortions – and all the rest of us as well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Landau receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Susan Landau is on the Advisory Council of the Center for Democracy and Technology.</span></em></p>Even a burner phone paid for with cash can reveal your identity and where you’ve been. A data privacy expert explains.Susan Landau, Professor of Cyber Security and Policy, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1772172022-04-07T12:26:30Z2022-04-07T12:26:30ZHow QR codes work and what makes them dangerous – a computer scientist explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456420/original/file-20220405-20-kbmv1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C5158%2C3405&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">QR codes are visual patterns that store data smartphones can read.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakHongKong/dd01c7a3521b4ab59ba48ee2bc24d09c/photo">AP Photo/Vincent Yu</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Among the many changes brought about by the pandemic is the widespread use of QR codes, graphical representations of digital data that can be printed and later scanned by a smartphone or other device, but there are some security risks. The <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/qr-code-warning-scams-identity-theft/">Federal Trade Commission warned again in December 2023</a> about the danger of scanning a code from an unknown source.</p>
<p>QR codes have a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2021/03/25/how-the-pandemic-saved-the-qr-code-from-extinction/">wide range of uses</a> that help people avoid contact with objects and close interactions with other people, including for sharing <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/21/qr-codes-have-replaced-restaurant-menus-industry-experts-say-it-isnt-a-fad.html">restaurant menus</a>, email list sign-ups, car and home sales information, and checking in and out of medical and professional appointments. </p>
<p>QR codes are a close cousin of the bar codes on product packaging that cashiers scan with infrared scanners to let the checkout computer know what products are being purchased.</p>
<p>Bar codes store information along one axis, horizontally. QR codes store information in both vertical and horizontal axes, which allows them to hold significantly more data. That extra amount of data is what makes QR codes so versatile.</p>
<h2>Anatomy of a QR code</h2>
<p>While it is easy for people to read Arabic numerals, it is hard for a computer. Bar codes encode alphanumeric data as a series of black and white lines of various widths. At the store, bar codes record the set of numbers that specify a product’s ID. Critically, data stored in bar codes is redundant. Even if part of the bar code is destroyed or obscured, it is still possible for a device to read the product ID.</p>
<p>QR codes are designed to be scanned using a camera, such as those found on your smartphone. QR code scanning is built into many camera apps for Android and iOS. QR codes are most often used to store web links; however, they can store arbitrary data, such as text or images.</p>
<p>When you scan a QR code, the QR reader in your phone’s camera deciphers the code, and the resulting information triggers an action on your phone. If the QR code holds a URL, your phone will present you with the URL. Tap it, and your phone’s default browser will open the webpage. </p>
<p>QR codes are composed of several parts: data, position markers, quiet zone and optional logos. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451140/original/file-20220309-17-1jkfl5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a black-and-white pattern with four numerical markers attached to arrows pointing to portions of the pattern" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451140/original/file-20220309-17-1jkfl5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451140/original/file-20220309-17-1jkfl5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451140/original/file-20220309-17-1jkfl5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451140/original/file-20220309-17-1jkfl5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451140/original/file-20220309-17-1jkfl5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451140/original/file-20220309-17-1jkfl5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451140/original/file-20220309-17-1jkfl5t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The QR code anatomy: data (1), position markers (2), quiet zone (3) and optional logos (4).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Scott Ruoti</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The data in a QR code is a series of dots in a square grid. Each dot represents a one and each blank a zero in binary code, and the patterns encode sets of numbers, letters or both, including URLs. At its smallest this grid is 21 rows by 21 columns, and at its largest it is 177 rows by 177 columns. In most cases, QR codes use black squares on a white background, making the dots easy to distinguish. However, this is not a strict requirement, and QR codes can use any color or shape for the dots and background.</p>
<p>Position markers are squares placed in a QR code’s top-left, top-right, and bottom-left corners. These markers let a smartphone camera or other device orient the QR code when scanning it. QR codes are surrounded by blank space, the quiet zone, to help the computer determine where the QR code begins and ends. QR codes can include an optional logo in the middle.</p>
<p>Like barcodes, QR codes are designed with data redundancy. Even if as much as 30% of the QR code is destroyed or difficult to read, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-a-qr-code?op=1">the data can still be recovered</a>. In fact, logos are not actually part of the QR code; they cover up some of the QR code’s data. However, due to the QR code’s redundancy, the data represented by these missing dots can be recovered by looking at the remaining visible dots.</p>
<h2>Are QR codes dangerous?</h2>
<p>QR codes are not inherently dangerous. They are simply a way to store data. However, just as it can be hazardous to click links in emails, visiting URLs stored in QR codes can also be risky in several ways. </p>
<p>The QR code’s URL can take you to a phishing website that tries to <a href="https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA220118">trick you</a> into entering your username or password for another website. The URL could take you to a legitimate website and trick that website into doing something harmful, such as giving an attacker access to your account. While such an attack requires a flaw in the website you are visiting, such vulnerabilities are <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Cross-site_scripting">common on the internet</a>. The URL can take you to a malicious website that tricks another website you are logged into on the same device to take an unauthorized action. </p>
<p>A malicious URL could open an application on your device and cause it to take some action. Maybe you’ve seen this behavior when you clicked a Zoom link, and the Zoom application opened and automatically joined a meeting. While such behavior is ordinarily benign, an attacker could use this to trick some apps into revealing your data.</p>
<p>It is critical that when you open a link in a QR code, you ensure that the URL is safe and comes from a trusted source. Just because the QR code has a logo you recognize doesn’t mean you should click on the URL it contains.</p>
<p>There is also a slight chance that the app used to scan the QR code could contain a vulnerability that allows <a href="https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-protect-yourself-from-malicious-qr-codes-2487772">malicious QR codes to take over your device</a>. This attack would succeed by just scanning the QR code, even if you don’t click the link stored in it. To avoid this threat, you should use trusted apps provided by the device manufacturer to scan QR codes and avoid downloading custom QR code apps.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177217/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Ruoti does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Here’s what happens when you scan one of those ubiquitous two-dimensional black-and-white patterns, and why the FTC urges you to use caution.Scott Ruoti, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1767812022-02-22T13:42:53Z2022-02-22T13:42:53ZWhat is 3G and why is it being shut down? An electrical engineer explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447377/original/file-20220218-19-1gyfpm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5887%2C3904&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The sun is setting on 3G networks.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/frted/50211584991/">Ted/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Feb. 22, 2022, AT&T <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/plan-ahead-phase-out-3g-cellular-networks-and-service">is scheduled to turn off</a> its 3G cellular network. T-Mobile is scheduled to turn its off on July 1, 2022, and Verizon is slated to follow suit on Dec. 31, 2022.</p>
<p>The vast majority of cellphones in service operate on 4G/LTE networks, and the world has begun the transition to 5G, but <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-11-05/column-5g-wireless-transition">as many as 10 million phones</a> in the U.S. still rely on 3G service. In addition, the cellular network functions of <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22912235/3g-shutting-down-att-verizon-tmobile">some older devices</a> like Kindles, iPads and Chromebooks are tied to 3G networks. Similarly, some older internet-connected systems like home security, car navigation and entertainment systems, and solar panel modems are 3G-specific. Consumers will need to <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22912235/3g-shutting-down-att-verizon-tmobile">upgrade or replace</a> these systems.</p>
<p>So why are the telecommunications carriers turning off their 3G networks? As an electrical engineer who <a href="http://www.ece.tufts.edu/%7Emaivu/">studies wireless communications</a>, I can explain. The answer begins with the difference between 3G and later technologies such as 4G/LTE and 5G.</p>
<p>Picture a family trip. Your spouse is on the phone arranging activities to do at the destination, your teenage daughter is streaming music and chatting with her friends on her phone, and her younger sibling is playing an online game with his friends. All those separate conversations and data streams are communicated over the cellular network, seemingly simultaneously. You probably take this for granted, but have you ever wondered how the cellular system can handle all those activities at the same time, from the same car?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three children in the backseat of a car use tablet devices" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447385/original/file-20220219-7720-1sa1ix3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How does it work when everyone in your car is using cellular voice and data service at the same time, and so are many of the people in the cars around you?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/siblings-using-digital-tablet-in-back-seat-of-car-royalty-free-image/1297084394">The Good Brigade/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Communicating all those messages</h2>
<p>The answer is a technological trick called <a href="https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/communications/article/21802209/electronic-design-fundamentals-of-communications-access-technologies-fdma-tdma-cdma-ofdma-and-sdma#%E2%80%9DOFDMA%E2%80%9D">multiple access</a>. Imagine using a sheet of paper to write messages to 100 different friends, one private message for each person. The multiple access technology used in 3G networks is like writing every message to each of your friends using the whole sheet of paper, so all the messages are written on top of each other. But you have a special set of pens with different colors that allows you to write each message in a unique color, and each of your friends has a special pair of glasses that reveals only the color intended for that person.</p>
<p>However, the number of colored pens is fixed, so if you want to send messages to more people than the number of colored pens you have, you will need to start mixing colors. Now when a friend applies their special lenses, they will see a little bit of the messages to other friends. They won’t see enough to read the other messages, but the overlap might be enough to blur the message intended for them, making it harder to read.</p>
<p>The multiple access technology used by 3G networks is called Code Division Multiple Access, or CDMA. It was invented by Qualcomm founder <a href="https://www.invent.org/inductees/irwin-mark-jacobs#:%7E:text=NIHF%20Inductee%20Irwin%20Mark%20Jacobs%20Invented%20CDMA%20Technology">Irwin M. Jacobs</a> with several other prominent electrical engineers. The technique is based on the concept of spread spectrum, an idea that can be <a href="https://www.americanscientist.org/article/random-paths-to-frequency-hopping">traced back to the early 20th century</a>. Jacobs’ <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/289411?casa_token=F0fopuxled0AAAAA:fRxNKBHn6n4t6jdDbfwCFJ26gXM_DxKH8QMzJMdWUwgh4_oGcEFf9Y6MgqSqmzU9Rxn_Eyzc9A">1991 paper</a> showed that CDMA can increase the cellular capacity manyfold over systems at the time.</p>
<p>CDMA lets all cellular users send and receive their signals at all times and over all frequencies. So if 100 users wish to initiate a call or use a cell service at around the same time, their 100 signals will overlap with each other over the entire cellular spectrum for the whole time they communicate.</p>
<p>The overlapping signals create interference. CDMA solves the interference problem by letting each user have a unique signature: a code sequence that can be used to recover each user’s signal. The code corresponds to the color in our paper analogy. If there are too many users on the system at the same time, the codes can overlap. This leads to interference, which gets worse as the number of users increases.</p>
<h2>Slices of time and spectrum</h2>
<p>Instead of allowing users to share the entire cellular spectrum at all times, other multiple access techniques divide access by time or frequency. Division over time creates time slots. Each connection can last over multiple time slots spread out in time, but each time slot is so short – a matter of milliseconds – that the cellphone user doesn’t perceive the interruptions from alternating time slots. The connection appears to be continuous. This time slicing technique is time-division multiple access (TDMA).</p>
<p>The division can also be done in frequency. Each connection is given its own frequency band within the cellular spectrum, and the connection is continuous for its duration. This frequency slicing technique is frequency division multiple access (FDMA).</p>
<p>In our paper analogy, FDMA and TDMA are like dividing the paper into 100 strips in either dimension and writing each private message on one strip. FDMA would be, for example, horizontal strips, and TDMA would be vertical strips. With individual strips, all messages are separated.</p>
<p>4G/LTE and 5G networks use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), a highly efficient combination of FDMA and TDMA. In the paper analogy, OFDMA is like drawing strips along both dimensions, dividing the whole paper into many squares, and assigning each user a different set of squares according to their data need.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a graph in four parts, two showing stripes, one showing layers and another showing squares" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447363/original/file-20220218-49929-6p63vs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=374&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Different techniques for sharing access to wireless network resources.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/21/3/273/htm">Entropy 2019, 21(3), 273</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>End of the line for 3G</h2>
<p>Now you have a basic understanding of the difference between 3G and the later 4G/LTE and 5G. You might still reasonably ask why 3G needs to be shut down. It turns out that because of those differences in the access technology, the two networks are built using completely different equipment and algorithms. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>3G handsets and base stations operate on a wideband system, meaning they use the whole cellular spectrum. 4G/LTE and 5G operate on narrowband or multi-carrier systems, which use slices of the spectrum. These two systems need completely different sets of hardware, from the antenna on the cell tower down to the components in your phone. </p>
<p>So if your phone is a 3G phone, it cannot connect to a 4G/LTE or 5G tower. For a long while, the cellular service providers have been keeping their 3G networks going while building a completely separate network with new tower equipment and servicing new handsets using 4G/LTE and 5G. Imagine bearing the cost of operating two separate networks at the same time for the same purpose. Eventually, one has to go. And now, as the carriers are starting to deploy 5G systems in earnest, that time has come for 3G.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176781/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mai Vu receives funding from National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>As the wireless telecommunications companies ramp up their 5G rollouts, they are beginning to pull the plug on their 3G networks. 2022 is the end of the line for the venerable cellphone service.Mai Vu, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1734592021-12-10T11:35:17Z2021-12-10T11:35:17ZHow to enjoy a digital detox over Christmas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436777/original/file-20211209-25-9gyhtu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mobile-phones-on-table-device-free-1238570224">Jacob Lund/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is not surprising that many of us have been <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563221002223?via%3Dihub">suffering from digital overload</a> during the pandemic, and taking care of our “digital wellbeing” has become a common theme. Social media, online shopping, making reservations, and even necessary chores like paying bills have meant that technology has pervaded every aspect of our lives.</p>
<p>Whether home schooling or working from home, our mobile phones have never been far from our side. We’ve even embraced video communication technology for keeping in touch with friends and loved ones, whether they live locally or thousands of miles away.</p>
<p>To be frank, it can be very hard to imagine how we can just decide to cut it off. And the constant pressure to always be available – and reply immediately – can be overwhelming.</p>
<p>But with Christmas coming, you may be planning to take a break from work and perhaps even go on holiday. So, why not take the opportunity to have a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2021.1979045">break from technology</a> and try a digital detox?</p>
<p>In our new work we investigated <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00472875211061208">different ways to reduce tech use</a> on holiday. Here’s what we discovered.</p>
<h2>1. Lock it away</h2>
<p>By far the most efficient way to get the most out of the experience is to lock your phone, laptop and tablets away. Of course, you have the option to turn on “do not disturb” mode, or selectively turn off notifications on some apps. However, it is quite a task to turn off notifications for certain groups of apps, and with your phone still in your pocket there’s always an excuse to check Facebook or Instagram, to reply to an email, or upload a photo. This approach means you could still scroll through your phone, and muscle memory means you can open apps without even realising it.</p>
<p>You could consider limiting your phone usage time. For example, one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening. But our study found that soon you would spend much longer without realising it and find more excuses to be online. </p>
<p>So, the best solution is to go cold turkey and lock your phone in a box or hide it somewhere. This removes the challenges of turning off notifications or limiting your phone time. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436776/original/file-20211209-149721-ldnen2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436776/original/file-20211209-149721-ldnen2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436776/original/file-20211209-149721-ldnen2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436776/original/file-20211209-149721-ldnen2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436776/original/file-20211209-149721-ldnen2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436776/original/file-20211209-149721-ldnen2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/436776/original/file-20211209-149721-ldnen2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Put your phone down and don’t pick it up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/millennial-girl-home-refuse-using-phone-1898016691">Troyan/shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At first it might be a bit overwhelming. But after a while you will start to feel the benefits, and will hopefully feel more liberated, freer, or <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2019.1675676">like a weight has been lifted.</a>. You may even find that you want to stay disconnected for longer. </p>
<h2>2. Don’t forget to plan</h2>
<p>It’s very difficult not to unwind in the countryside. There, you don’t need to worry about navigating city streets and the overwhelming digitalised infrastructure of cities (such as apps for booking restaurants, cinema tickets and public transport). So if you can get away, it will make the detox feel much more natural.</p>
<p>But prior planning is essential. Turn on your out-of-office message, let your colleagues, clients and boss know that you are away. Inform your loved ones and friends so you won’t be stressed about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1068/a37275">them trying to reach you</a>. </p>
<p>You should also print booking confirmations and train, plane and other travel tickets – and get a paper map so you can leave your digital devices behind. If you find the preparation too much of a fuss, you can book your experience with a digital detox holiday provider who will help with the planning and adjustment to a week or two without sensory overload.</p>
<h2>3. Find the positives</h2>
<p>As technology is considered the “default” in our lives, you might experience some difficulties disconnecting cold turkey from a world where we are connected 24 hours a day, seven days a week. </p>
<p>At first, disconnecting might throw up some considerable <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0047287519868314">emotional challenges</a> – such as feeling stressed, anxious or frustrated. </p>
<p>We suggest trying to re-frame the struggles in your mind as positive by looking at the experiences as rewards rather than punishments. For example, not being able to use digital apps or websites to navigate around and find highly-rated restaurants can be frustrating – but it can also create a sense of excitement from having the opportunity to explore the unknown, experience unexpected encounters, or master new skills in using paper maps and perhaps even a compass.</p>
<p>You might find hidden gems or more opportunities to talk to locals. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ping-read-reply-repeat-how-to-break-bad-email-habits-at-work-173349">Ping, read, reply, repeat: how to break bad email habits at work</a>
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</em>
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<p>Yes, you won’t be able to share your experience instantly on social media, but you will have more quality time with your companions rather than checking likes and replying to comments on your posts. </p>
<p>The digital detox experience opens up opportunities to reconnect with long forgotten nostalgic childhood memories, and the old times you probably haven’t thought about for a long time. Sometimes humming an old tune or simply playing some childhood games can be enough to take you back.</p>
<h2>4. Reflection</h2>
<p>The most important tip is to reflect on the digital detox experience. Everyone has their own unique relationship with technology, and you would benefit greatly from finding the best way to achieve a healthier relationship with it. Try to use the experience as an opportunity to reflect on how the digital detox makes you feel, and what would you like to do after returning to the busy connected world to help prevent digital overload from setting in again.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173459/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Feeling stressed with social media and tech? Here are some tips on how to take a break from it.Brad McKenna, Associate Professor in Information Systems, University of East AngliaWenjie Cai, Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Hospitality, University of GreenwichLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1676012021-09-14T19:08:05Z2021-09-14T19:08:05ZForceful vaccine messages backfire with holdouts – how can it be done better?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420892/original/file-20210913-21-15zd52e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C44%2C942%2C579&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters gather at Indiana University in June 2021 to demonstrate against mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for students, staff and faculty. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-holding-placards-gather-at-indiana-universitys-news-photo/1233384399?adppopup=true">SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-full-fda-approval-of-a-vaccine-do-if-its-already-authorized-for-emergency-use-165654">FDA approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine</a> and the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/08/24/covid-vaccines-mandates-masks-biden-fauci/8250548002/">continued surge of the delta variant</a>, governments across the world have renewed their push to increase the number of vaccinated individuals by persuading the holdouts. On Sept. 9, 2021, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/us/politics/biden-vaccine-mandates-transcript.html">President Joe Biden announced</a> sweeping vaccine mandates, expressing frustration at the vaccine holdouts: “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us.”</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.bellisario.psu.edu/people/individual/s.-shyam-sundar">communication scientist</a> who has studied the effects of media and health campaigns for the past 30 years, I worry that a fevered pitch in vaccine messaging may make the holdouts even more resistant. The direct, blunt messages to go get vaccinated that worked on three-quarters of Americans may not work for the remaining one-quarter. If anything, they might backfire.</p>
<p>Research has shown that some health communication techniques work more effectively than others depending on the audience. It’s a lesson that not only policymakers can apply but also members of the media, industry and even parents and relatives.</p>
<p>When it comes to embracing new ideas and practices, research has identified <a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?hl=en&publication_year=2003&author=EM+Rogers&title=Diffusion+of+innovations">five categories of people</a>: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. With COVID-19 vaccination, it’s come down to the last two, and they are the most resistant to change.</p>
<p>This group of <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/unvaccinated-america-in-5-charts/">unvaccinated people</a> is substantial in number – there are nearly <a href="https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2021/07/21/unvaccinated">80 million people</a> in the U.S. who are vaccine eligible yet remain unvaccinated – and they are the ones who could help the U.S. achieve herd immunity. But, research suggests that they are also the ones who will take offense at forceful exhortations to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/05/opinion/coronavirus-mask-vaccine-mandates.html">go get vaccinated</a>. </p>
<h2>Strong messaging can backfire</h2>
<p>Public health messaging can and does often influence people – but not always in the intended direction. Back in 1999, I <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=euwjAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA155&lpg=PA155&dq=STATEMENT+BEFORE+THE+SUBCOMMITTEE+ON+CRIMINAL+JUSTICE,+DRUG+POLICY+AND+HUMAN+RESOURCES+OF+THE+UNITED+STATES+HOUSE+OF+REPRESENTATIVES+BY+S.+SHYAM+SUNDAR,+PH.D.&source=bl&ots=QAAzWaL6o7&sig=ACfU3U2zK6uWRtXCmPnOmiU5n8XSRl3tJA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwirh66dmbvyAhUjEFkFHTziDREQ6AF6BAgCEAM#v=onepage&q&f=false">testified in the U.S. Congress</a> about how powerful anti-drug messages may be turning adolescents on to drugs rather than off of them. Likewise, the strong language of current vaccine messaging may be evoking resistance rather than compliance. </p>
<p>Consider <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/05/opinion/coronavirus-mask-vaccine-mandates.html">this headline</a> from a recent New York Times editorial: “Get Masked. Get Vaccinated. It’s the Only Way Out of This.” This follows 18 months of public-health messaging urging people to stay home, wash hands and maintain social distancing.</p>
<p>They may be well intentioned, but research in health communication shows that such directive messages can be perceived as “high threat,” meaning they threaten the free will of the message receiver by dictating what they should do. They are likely to trigger <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1967-08061-000">what psychologists call “reactance”</a>. In other words, when individuals sense a threat to their freedom of action, they become motivated to restore that freedom, often by attempting to do the very thing that is prohibited or by refusing to adhere to the recommended behavior. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2021.1927914">Recent research</a> by my communications colleagues at Penn State shows that even advertisements that include directive slogans such as “No Mask, No Ride” – from Uber – and “Socialize Responsibly to Keep Bars Open” – a Heineken message – can irritate consumers and make them less likely to engage in responsible behaviors.</p>
<p>Reactance to COVID-19 messaging is evident in the form of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/world/france-protests-covid-health-pass.html?smid=em-share">widespread protests</a> around the world. Many have gone to the streets and social media, <a href="https://www.malheurenterprise.com/posts/8849/covid-surge-malheur-county-goes-back-to-school-local-health-experts-ask-community-to-vaccinate">with slogans</a> such as “my body, my choice,” “let me call my own shots” and “coercion is not consent.” </p>
<p>These responses demonstrate not simply hesitation to get vaccinated, but rather active resistance to vaccine messaging, reflecting an effort to protect personal agency by asserting one’s freedom of action. </p>
<h2>Flipping the script</h2>
<p>Freedom is a critical concept in the anti-vaccination rhetoric. “Freedom, not force” is the battle cry of the protesters. “If we lose medical freedom, we lose all freedom,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/22/nyregion/staten-island-covid-vaccine-workers.html">reads a poster</a>. “Choose freedom,” urged Sen. Rand Paul in a <a href="https://www.paul.senate.gov/fox-news-op-ed-sen-rand-paul-mask-mandates-and-lockdowns-petty-tyrants-no-not-again-choose-freedom">recent op-ed</a> expressing his resistance to mask mandates and lockdowns. “We will make our own health choices. We will not show you a passport, we will not wear a mask, we will not be forced into random screening and testing.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Anti-vaccination protester holds a sign and a flag during a rally against COVID-19 vaccines" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420895/original/file-20210913-27-kozdbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Freedom of choice has been a constant theme throughout the pandemic, whether it be about masking, school and business closures or vaccination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-anti-vaccination-protester-holds-a-sign-and-a-flag-as-news-photo/1234951009?adppopup=true">Ringo Chiu/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One way to counter such reactance is by changing the communication strategy. Health communication researchers have found that simple changes to message wording can make a big difference. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03637750500111815">one study</a> by my Penn State colleagues who study health persuasion, the researchers tested participants’ responses to sensible health behaviors such as flossing: “If you floss already, don’t stop even for a day. And, if you haven’t been flossing, right now is the time to start. … Flossing: It’s easy. Do it because you have to!” Study participants reacted to such messages by expressing their disagreement through anger and by defying the advocated behavior.</p>
<p>But then the researchers reworded the same advocacy to be less threatening, such as: “If you floss already, keep up the good work. And if you haven’t been flossing, now might be a good time to start.” And “Flossing: It’s easy. Why not give it a try?” They found that the participants’ reactance was significantly lower and their message acceptance higher. </p>
<p>In the same way, softening the message and using less dogmatic language could be the key to persuading some of the unvaccinated. This is because suggestive, rather than directive, messages allow room for people to exercise their own free will. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00056">Studies in health communication</a> also suggest several other strategies for reducing reactance, ranging from providing choices to evoking empathy.</p>
<h2>Bandwagon effects</h2>
<p>Perhaps more important – given people’s reliance on smartphones and social networking – is to make better use of the technological features of interactive media, which includes websites, social media, mobile apps and games. Clever use of digital media can help convey strong health messages without triggering reactance.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106270">Research in our lab</a> shows that people’s responses to media messages can be influenced by the approval of anonymous others on the internet, in the same way that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/1358628.1358873">consumers rely</a> on other people’s opinions and star ratings for making purchasing decisions online. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2021.1888450">recent study</a>, we discovered that freedom-threatening health messages can be made more palatable if they are accompanied by a large number of likes on social media from other people. When a lot of others were seen as supporting the advocacy message, the forceful language did not seem any more threatening to their freedom than the gentler version. </p>
<p>In other words, we found that the number of likes has a strong “bandwagon effect” in reducing reactance. We also discovered that providing an option to comment on the health message imbues a higher sense of personal agency and greater acceptance of the message.</p>
<p>In another <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2021.1885772">recent experiment</a>, we found that customization, or the ability to tailor one’s phone or online site to one’s liking, can also aid health communication. Whether it is a phone app, dating site or social media feed, customizing a digital space allows people to reflect their personality. Seeing a health advocacy message in such a personalized space does not pose as much of a threat in such venues because people feel secure in their identity. We found that customization helps reduce negative reactions to health messages by increasing one’s sense of identity.</p>
<p>A communication strategy that is sensitive to psychological reactance could empower the holdouts to willingly get vaccinated instead of grudgingly comply with a mandate.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167601/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>S. Shyam Sundar receives funding from U. S. National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Subtly shifting the crafting and delivery of public health messaging on COVID-19 vaccines could go a long way toward persuading many of the unvaccinated to get the shot.S. Shyam Sundar, James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects & Co-Director, Media Effects Research Laboratory, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1655622021-08-18T14:41:50Z2021-08-18T14:41:50ZHow older people are mastering technology to stay connected after lockdown<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416754/original/file-20210818-15-1oayf6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4565%2C3018&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/photo-senior-man-using-smartphone-set-265218128">Tomertu/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s a well-worn stereotype: the image of an elderly person fiddling with technology that leaves them completely bamboozled. The media often depict older people struggling to use or manage digital technology. While this is often designed to be humorous, it can undermine them as users of technology. And that’s a problem if it turns older people off from trying to engage with digital devices, as it can affect their wellbeing.</p>
<p>Older adults are already at a digital disadvantage: <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2021/digital-divide-narrowed-but-around-1.5m-homes-offline">18% of over-65s</a> do not have internet access. Propelled by enforced isolation, older people increasingly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/10/computers-are-marvellous-older-people-embrace-internet-in-lockdow">turned to technology</a> during the pandemic, but not all were able to connect or communicate with friends and family via the internet. </p>
<p>Of course some older people have less experience of digital technology than others, and unsurprisingly <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ageing-and-society/article/is-it-love-or-loneliness-exploring-the-impact-of-everyday-digital-technology-use-on-the-wellbeing-of-older-adults/F391725A9584A666B1EDCEC68E03BCF3">describe mixed emotions</a> regarding the use of everyday devices such as smartphones, laptops, e-readers and tablets. They also report not having much confidence when it comes to using them. Lack of control, a sense of being overwhelmed, and poor product design can lead to feelings of being incompetent, alone and even trapped. </p>
<p>Yet for those who persevere, the rewards can be plentiful: completing tasks more easily, communicating more effectively, increased independence and a sense of achievement. These things are important if this growing part of the population is to experience ageing in a more positive and empowering way. </p>
<p>Through <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0267257X.2021.1945662?src=">our research</a> we wanted to examine these mixed emotions that older people have about using technology, and how they develop ways to combat the challenges they face. While digital technology has been shown to alleviate pressure on health and social care, until now there’s been a limited understanding of how using technology influences the way older adults live. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rSWbgNAgAE8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Attitudes towards technology</h2>
<p>While many see digital technology as a challenge to be conquered, there are different ways of overcoming or confronting the obstacles. Some may view the challenge as a personal goal, using instruction manuals or simply trial and error to prevail over software updates, unwanted viruses or junk mail.</p>
<p>Others view digital technology as a collective endeavour, asking friends and family for help. Not only is this the most successful strategy, it also fosters important interaction with others. For example, during the pandemic many <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2021/digital-divide-narrowed-but-around-1.5m-homes-offline">younger people acted</a> as IT support for older friends and relatives.</p>
<p>Not all elderly people have this kind of network, but arguably they can benefit most from greater use of the internet to feel connected and keep loneliness at bay. In these situations, there are useful schemes run by charities such as Age UK, where <a href="https://www.ageuk.org.uk/discover/2021/june/digital-champions/">digital champions</a> can help older adults master technology.</p>
<h2>Adopting strategies</h2>
<p>Understandably frustrations emerge when learning a new skill, but some older people have shown how they overcome their exasperation by developing a relationship with their devices. Naming their tablet or humanising their phone helps to bond older people to technology.</p>
<p>In our study different devices were often referred to as having a personality, gender, or even a mind of their own. This strategy brings a little levity to a situation that could otherwise be stressful.</p>
<p>Once these people become more used to digital technology, familiarity can encourage continued use. With a new device, software and apps they know and understand can be downloaded so that it feels less alien. Similarly, if a touchscreen is problematic, some older people might decide to use a keyboard and mouse instead.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An older black women on her laptop smiling and looking happy." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416759/original/file-20210818-13-dou8fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416759/original/file-20210818-13-dou8fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416759/original/file-20210818-13-dou8fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416759/original/file-20210818-13-dou8fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416759/original/file-20210818-13-dou8fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416759/original/file-20210818-13-dou8fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416759/original/file-20210818-13-dou8fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Being able to use technology keeps older people connected and reduce feelings of isolation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-asian-retired-woman-use-notebook-1681881598">M2020/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Breeding confidence</h2>
<p>Using technology at any age can have its pros and its cons, but our research reveals that older adults can offer a unique perspective. Using lifelong wisdom, they can take a step back and acknowledge that technology has its faults. If things go wrong, their judgement and experience is useful in helping to understand that the key to using technology is persistence. One participant, Christopher, 83, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There’s one sure thing: life will come to an end, and technology will always go wrong. My son’s partner sends me texts from their holiday in Tunis. When I try to reply I keep getting ‘no service’ and my message is refused … [but] I know they will be worried if they don’t get a reply. When I was a kid, Tunis was a distant desert war zone, with cinema newsreels a week later … and here’s me now, whingeing about lack of instant contact.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These findings are significant for technology development, marketing and customer services. Designing technology for older people should be based on their experiences and offer continuity. Digital devices need to include familiar commands, buttons, screens, and add-ons to previous models. This will enhance the ability to get to grips with updates and developments. And in turn this will help foster social connections as well as boost independence and confidence.</p>
<p>Stereotyping of older people also needs to stop. Experience and perspective should be acknowledged, respected and reflected in marketing campaigns. Messaging should underscore the potential benefits of mastering technology, emphasising the importance of being connected and socially involved to a person’s independence.</p>
<p>Finally, customer service should be easily accessible and well versed in issues older people face to provide the necessary support, building on schemes offered by Age UK’s digital champions. Clearly there is a crucial role for friends, family, and communities to ensure that older people remain socially active, engaged and connected through technology. Their wellbeing may depend on it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165562/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Older people are often labelled technophobic, but since lockdown the digital divide is closing as more and more use technology to connect with others.Carolyn Wilson-Nash, Lecturer, Marketing and Retail, Stirling Management School, University of StirlingJulie Tinson, Professor of Marketing, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1653822021-08-09T12:26:14Z2021-08-09T12:26:14ZWhat is Pegasus? A cybersecurity expert explains how the spyware invades phones and what it does when it gets in<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415046/original/file-20210806-90251-104b4rt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5455%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman holds a phone in front of the office of NSO Group, which makes a tool that can see and hear everything a phone is used for.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-israeli-woman-uses-her-iphone-in-front-of-the-building-news-photo/596871396">Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>End-to-end encryption is technology that scrambles messages on your phone and unscrambles them only on the recipients’ phones, which means anyone who intercepts the messages in between can’t read them. Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo are among the companies whose apps and services <a href="https://www.eff.org/encrypt-the-web-report">use end-to-end encryption</a>.</p>
<p>This kind of encryption is good for protecting your privacy, but <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/04/cybersecurity-202-fbi-renews-attack-encryption-ahead-another-possible-attack-capitol/">governments don’t like it</a> because it makes it difficult for them to spy on people, whether tracking criminals and terrorists or, as some governments have been known to do, snooping on dissidents, protesters and journalists. Enter an Israeli technology firm, <a href="https://www.nsogroup.com/">NSO Group</a>.</p>
<p>The company’s flagship product is Pegasus, <a href="https://techterms.com/definition/spyware">spyware</a> that can stealthily enter a smartphone and gain access to everything on it, including its camera and microphone. Pegasus is designed to infiltrate devices running Android, Blackberry, iOS and Symbian <a href="https://techterms.com/definition/operating_system">operating systems</a> and turn them into surveillance devices. The company says it sells Pegasus <a href="https://www.nsogroup.com/about-us/">only to governments</a> and only for the purposes of tracking criminals and terrorists.</p>
<h2>How it works</h2>
<p><a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/trendspotting/what-is-pegasus-spyware-and-how-it-works/articleshow/84607533.cms">Earlier version of Pegasus</a> were installed on smartphones through <a href="https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln">vulnerabilities</a> in commonly used apps or by <a href="https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/definition/spear-phishing">spear-phishing</a>, which involves tricking a targeted user into clicking a link or opening a document that secretly installs the software. It can also be installed over a wireless <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/transceiver">transceiver</a> located near a target, or manually if an agent can steal the target’s phone.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415050/original/file-20210806-19-17pnxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of an icon on a smartphone screen" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415050/original/file-20210806-19-17pnxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415050/original/file-20210806-19-17pnxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415050/original/file-20210806-19-17pnxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415050/original/file-20210806-19-17pnxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415050/original/file-20210806-19-17pnxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415050/original/file-20210806-19-17pnxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415050/original/file-20210806-19-17pnxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pegasus can infiltrate a smartphone via the widely used messaging app WhatsApp without the phone’s user noticing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flickr.com/photos/140988606@N08/25076398627/">Christoph Scholz/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since 2019, Pegasus users have been able to install the software on smartphones with a <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/trendspotting/what-is-pegasus-spyware-and-how-it-works/articleshow/84607533.cms">missed call on WhatsApp</a>, and can even delete the record of the missed call, making it impossible for the the phone’s owner to know anything is amiss. Another way is by simply sending a message to a user’s phone that produces no notification. </p>
<p>This means the latest version of this spyware does not require the smartphone user to do anything. All that is required for a successful spyware attack and installation is having a particular vulnerable app or operating system installed on the device. This is known as a <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/tech/explained-what-are-zero-click-hacks-and-why-are-they-such-a-menace-3988664.html">zero-click exploit</a>.</p>
<p>Once installed, Pegasus can theoretically <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4599753-NSO-Pegasus.html">harvest any data</a> from the device and transmit it back to the attacker. It can steal photos and videos, recordings, location records, communications, web searches, passwords, call logs and social media posts. It also has the capability to activate cameras and microphones for real-time surveillance without the permission or knowledge of the user. </p>
<h2>Who has been using Pegasus and why</h2>
<p>NSO Group says it builds Pegasus solely for governments to use in counterterrorism and law enforcement work. The company markets it as a targeted spying tool to track criminals and terrorists and not for mass surveillance. The company does not disclose its clients.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5444330,00.html">earliest reported use</a> of Pegasus was by the Mexican government in 2011 to track notorious drug baron Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. The tool was also reportedly used to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/jamal-khashoggi-wife-fiancee-cellphone-hack/">track people</a> close to murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.</p>
<p>It is unclear who or what types of people are being targeted and why. However, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57881364">much of the recent reporting</a> about Pegasus centers around a list of 50,000 phone numbers. The list has been attributed to NSO Group, but the list’s origins are unclear. A statement from Amnesty International in Israel stated that <a href="https://twitter.com/KimZetter/status/1418212758185648146">the list contains phone numbers</a> that were marked as “of interest” to NSO’s various clients, though it’s not known if any of the phones associated with numbers have actually been tracked. </p>
<p>A media consortium, <a href="https://forbiddenstories.org/case/the-pegasus-project/">the Pegasus Project</a>, analyzed the phone numbers on the list and identified over 1,000 people in over 50 countries. The findings included people who appear to fall outside of the NSO Group’s restriction to investigations of criminal and terrorist activity. These include politicians, government workers, journalists, human rights activists, business executives and Arab royal family members. </p>
<h2>Other ways your phone can be tracked</h2>
<p>Pegasus is breathtaking in its stealth and its seeming ability to take complete control of someone’s phone, but it’s not the only way people can be spied on through their phones. Some of the ways phones <a href="https://ssd.eff.org/en/playlist/privacy-breakdown-mobile-phones">can aid surveillance and undermine privacy</a> include location tracking, eavesdropping, <a href="https://techterms.com/definition/malware">malware</a> and collecting data from sensors. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415049/original/file-20210806-90685-1xfv372.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An electronic device with handles on either side of a front panel containing buttons and lights and a graphic representation of a stingray" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415049/original/file-20210806-90685-1xfv372.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415049/original/file-20210806-90685-1xfv372.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415049/original/file-20210806-90685-1xfv372.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415049/original/file-20210806-90685-1xfv372.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415049/original/file-20210806-90685-1xfv372.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415049/original/file-20210806-90685-1xfv372.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415049/original/file-20210806-90685-1xfv372.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Law enforcement agencies use cell site simulators like this StingRay to intercept calls from phones in the vicinity of the device.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/WashingtonSuspectedPhoneSpying/4e99d5e5bd054437abaf4ae4981894a0/photo">U.S. Patent and Trademark Office via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Governments and phone companies can track a phone’s location by tracking cell signals from cell tower transceivers and <a href="https://www.eff.org/pages/cell-site-simulatorsimsi-catchers">cell transceiver simulators</a> like the <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2015-04-08-erie-county-police-stingray-spy.html">StingRay</a> device. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals can also be <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/08/beware-of-find-my-phone-wi-fi-and-bluetooth-nsa-tells-mobile-users/">used to track phones</a>. In some cases, apps and web browsers can determine a phone’s location. </p>
<p>Eavesdropping on communications is harder to accomplish than tracking, but it is possible in situations in which encryption is weak or lacking. Some types of malware can compromise privacy by accessing data.</p>
<p>The National Security Agency has sought agreements with technology companies under which the companies would give the agency special access into their products via <a href="https://techterms.com/definition/backdoor">backdoors</a>, and has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-security-congress-insight/spy-agency-ducks-questions-about-back-doors-in-tech-products-idUSKBN27D1CS">reportedly built backdoors on its own</a>. The companies say that backdoors <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/coalition-of-tech-giants-hit-by-nsa-spying-slams-encryption-backdoors/">defeat the purpose of end-to-end encryption</a>.</p>
<p>The good news is, depending on who you are, you’re unlikely to be targeted by a government wielding Pegasus. The bad news is, that fact alone does not guarantee your privacy.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165382/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bhanukiran Gurijala does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A tool made for tracking criminals and terrorists has potentially been used against politicians, dissidents and journalists. Here’s how the spyware works.Bhanukiran Gurijala, Assistant Professor of Computer Science & Information Systems, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1596192021-06-03T12:24:30Z2021-06-03T12:24:30ZWhy getting more people with disabilities developing technology is good for everyone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403853/original/file-20210601-19-1g5cpb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C4780%2C3437&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Accessible technology is better for everyone, and accessible technology benefits when the people who rely on it most help build it.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/parapan-athlete-tiana-knight-demonstrates-blindsquare-an-news-photo/484007506?adppopup=true">Chris So/Toronto Star via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Unless you’re blind or know someone who is, you might not know that blind people use the same smartphones as sighted people. In fact, many blind people use touch-screen smartphones every day. The secret is that smartphones have a screen reader, a tool that allows blind people to use a mix of gestures and taps, along with vibrations or audio feedback, to use their apps. </p>
<p>Screen readers work on desktop computers as well as mobile devices. You can usually find the screen reader in settings under accessibility. On iPhones the screen reader is <a href="https://support.apple.com/guide/voiceover/welcome/mac">VoiceOver</a>. It provides a verbal description of what’s on the screen, including buttons to click and other actions available to the user. A well-designed website or app user interface makes the information on the website or app accessible to the screen reader, which makes it accessible to blind users. However, a badly designed website or application will be rendered invisible to a screen reader. </p>
<p>We are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=phGrIKYAAAAJ&hl=en">researchers who focus</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=It8_yJwAAAAJ&hl=en">on technology design</a> that is usable for people with all kinds of disabilities. We’ve found that more needs to be done to make technology accessible and inclusive, such as improving design tools so they are accessible to screen reader users. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403852/original/file-20210601-23-1wokzol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man holds a smartphone, his face turned away from the screen, a white cane resting against his shoulder" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403852/original/file-20210601-23-1wokzol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403852/original/file-20210601-23-1wokzol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403852/original/file-20210601-23-1wokzol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403852/original/file-20210601-23-1wokzol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403852/original/file-20210601-23-1wokzol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403852/original/file-20210601-23-1wokzol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403852/original/file-20210601-23-1wokzol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man checks Facebook on an iPhone using the screen reader VoiceOver.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chip-johnson-is-checking-facebook-with-voice-over-system-in-news-photo/161210165?adppopup=true">Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s not just a matter of fairness and inclusion. Accessible technology is generally <a href="https://modus.medium.com/why-accessibility-is-the-future-of-tech-a3f535cc4f0e">better for everyone</a>. An app or website that causes problems for a screen reader is likely to be more difficult than an accessible app or website for anyone to use because it will take more time or effort.</p>
<h2>Observing people is good; their participation is better</h2>
<p>At first, user interface designers found that the best way to create accessible technology was to study how people with different disabilities used touch screens. For example, early researchers reported that blind users sometimes found locating small icons and specific numbers on the on-screen keypad <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/1639642.1639663">difficult and time-consuming</a>.</p>
<p>To solve this, accessibility researchers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/1414471.1414487">used the whole touch screen as an input and navigation control</a>, similar to a game console controller. Instead of having to touch a particular part of the screen, users can tap anywhere in response to audio prompts. These insights would have been impossible to come by without including blind people in the evaluation and design of touch screens.</p>
<p>User interface design best practices have long <a href="https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/design-4-all">included users in the design process</a>. Including users with disabilities results in more accessible technology. Yet many technologies are still not accessible out of the box to users with disabilities. </p>
<p>One way to make apps and websites more accessible is to have people with disabilities designing the technologies. But the design process itself is not very accessible to those very people. Few tools in the user interface designer toolbox are themselves accessible. It’s a Catch-22.</p>
<h2>Accessible tech requires accessible design tools</h2>
<p>Little research has been conducted about how accessible the user interface design process is, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3178412.3178415">including for blind people</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445520">Our recent research</a> evaluated the accessibility of prototyping software, which allows user interface designers to create temporary mock-ups of user interface designs to show clients or to test with users. This software is instrumental to the field. Examples include <a href="https://balsamiq.com/">Balsamiq</a>, <a href="https://www.adobe.com/products/xd.html">Adobe XD</a> and <a href="https://www.uxpin.com/">UXPin</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403397/original/file-20210528-18-b14gps.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three panels show low-fidelity mock-up (with handwritten words) to a wireframe (with typed " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403397/original/file-20210528-18-b14gps.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403397/original/file-20210528-18-b14gps.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403397/original/file-20210528-18-b14gps.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403397/original/file-20210528-18-b14gps.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403397/original/file-20210528-18-b14gps.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403397/original/file-20210528-18-b14gps.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403397/original/file-20210528-18-b14gps.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Low- to high-fidelity mock-ups of user interfaces allow designers to play around with layouts before committing to a final design.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that most popular prototyping software is not compatible with screen readers. Therefore, the prototyping software is not accessible to blind designers who use screen readers.</p>
<p>We tested two common screen readers, VoiceOver on MacOS and Narrator on Windows, with popular prototyping software and documented when and where they provided access to the different buttons and features in the prototyping software. </p>
<p>Although we found some compatibility, such as screen readers identifying a button and indicating that the button could be selected, other aspects were less clear for screen reader users. For example, the prototyping software might not present information that the screen reader could pass on to the user to indicate what a given button does, like change the font size of text. Or it might not clearly allow the screen reader to focus on the button to select it, which is necessary for the user to be able to “click” the button.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403423/original/file-20210528-20-1iyazvq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Screen shot displays a left panel to navigate layers, a middle canvas workspace with elements on a mobile layout, a right panel for manipulating element parameters. VoiceOver's visual caption panel floats over the canvas indicating a button is selected." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403423/original/file-20210528-20-1iyazvq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403423/original/file-20210528-20-1iyazvq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403423/original/file-20210528-20-1iyazvq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403423/original/file-20210528-20-1iyazvq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403423/original/file-20210528-20-1iyazvq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403423/original/file-20210528-20-1iyazvq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403423/original/file-20210528-20-1iyazvq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A screen shot of a prototyping tool’s four major components: the canvas workspace, navigating layers of content, the individual elements that make up the design and the element parameters. VoiceOver is enabled and its visual caption panel floats on top of the canvas workspace, indicating that a button is selected.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ultimately, the limited access uncovered in our research is severe enough to conclude that a blind designer would not be able to use the software to create mock-ups of their own.</p>
<h2>A better future is accessible</h2>
<p>Accessibility is an issue that touches everyone. Providing access to technology is legally required in most cases. In the past, organizations that failed to provide adequate access <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/07/dominos-supreme-court.html">have faced lawsuits</a>. </p>
<p>But accessibility is also a hallmark of good technology. Many technologies that people take for granted today came about when innovators <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/2723869">designed for users with disabilities</a>, including optical character recognition, which allows computers to read printed text.</p>
<p>Building accessibility into the design process is crucial. And while it is useful for designers to be aware of how users with disabilities interact with technologies, the most powerful insights <a href="https://ecorner.stanford.edu/clips/the-future-is-accessible">may come from those with disabilities themselves</a>. No matter how much empathy designers glean from researching user behavior and preferences, it can’t replace the benefits of having a piece of technology <a href="https://www.bonfire.com/thefutureisaccessible/">built by people who actually use it</a>.</p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s science, health and technology editors pick their favorite stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-favorite">Weekly on Wednesdays</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159619/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristen Shinohara receives funding from The National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Garreth Tigwell has received funding from EPSRC.</span></em></p>Developers with disabilities are in the best position to build accessible technology, but they face a Catch-22 – most technology design tools themselves are not particularly accessible.Kristen Shinohara, Assistant Professor of Computing and Information Sciences, Rochester Institute of TechnologyGarreth Tigwell, Assistant Professor of Computing and Information Sciences, Rochester Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1500802020-11-24T18:58:47Z2020-11-24T18:58:47ZI studied 5,000 phone images: objects were more popular than people, but women took way more selfies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369397/original/file-20201115-17-18czst8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=55%2C0%2C6135%2C4068&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/Cenevox">T. J. Thomson</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Though we take a staggering number of photos each year (an estimated <a href="https://focus.mylio.com/tech-today/how-many-photos-will-be-taken-in-2020">1.43 trillion</a> in 2020), we share relatively few of these and are using our cameras in different ways compared to the days of film.</p>
<p>Analysing how we use our camera phones, which are responsible for <a href="https://focus.mylio.com/tech-today/how-many-photos-will-be-taken-in-2020">90.9%</a> of all photographs taken, and the images we share with them can reveal important insights about who we are and what we value.</p>
<p>I <a href="https://figshare.com/articles/journal%20contribution/Exploring_the_life_cycle_of_smartphone_images_from_camera_rolls_to_social_media_platforms/12552245/1">examined</a> the lifecycle of a pool of about 5,000 images taken by more than a dozen people living in Australia to see what they photographed, “screenshotted”, and shared in a four-week period in early 2019. </p>
<p>I also interviewed these amateur photographers about how they used their phones to make images. </p>
<h2>Women versus men</h2>
<p>On average, one in four images on our smartphones is a screenshot, of say, a social media post or recipe. </p>
<p>And out of every four images, about 1.74 are of objects, 1.07 are of humans, 1 is of the built or natural environment, and just .18 are of animals. (The missing .01 percent are indeterminate because they are either underexposed or blurry.</p>
<p>Women and men seem to use their camera rolls differently. Women in the study were much more likely to photograph themselves or have themselves photographed.</p>
<p>They took selfies 8.6 times more often than men and were photographed 3.5 times more often than men. Women documented their possessions 5.4 times more than men. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369399/original/file-20201115-19-yydu2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman takes selfie at home" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369399/original/file-20201115-19-yydu2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369399/original/file-20201115-19-yydu2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369399/original/file-20201115-19-yydu2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369399/original/file-20201115-19-yydu2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369399/original/file-20201115-19-yydu2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369399/original/file-20201115-19-yydu2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369399/original/file-20201115-19-yydu2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women in the study took selfies 8.6 times more often than men.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unsplash/Mateus Campos Felipe</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, men were more than twice as likely to photograph strangers, such as passersby on the street, tourists, or crowds at gigs, beaches or parks. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-hidden-women-to-influencers-and-individuals-putting-mothers-in-the-frame-137702">From hidden women to influencers and individuals – putting mothers in the frame</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A consistent look</h2>
<p>Only 6.5%, on average, of the overall image pool was shared by its owner on social media. Thus, the vast majority of images remained on participants’ camera rolls. </p>
<p>When they did share, nine out of 10 users shared to a single platform. Instagram was the most popular sharing platform, followed by Snapchat and then Facebook. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369396/original/file-20201115-23-1aig0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Smart phone with images displayed" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369396/original/file-20201115-23-1aig0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369396/original/file-20201115-23-1aig0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369396/original/file-20201115-23-1aig0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369396/original/file-20201115-23-1aig0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369396/original/file-20201115-23-1aig0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369396/original/file-20201115-23-1aig0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369396/original/file-20201115-23-1aig0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Study participants only shared 6.5% of the images they captured on camera phones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">T. J. Thomson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Photos of people and animals were the most shared, followed by places, and objects. </p>
<p>Participants were keen to share visual media with common reference points — presenting a consistent aesthetic motif to their followers — and images they considered flattering.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/3-2-billion-images-and-720-000-hours-of-video-are-shared-online-daily-can-you-sort-real-from-fake-148630">3.2 billion images and 720,000 hours of video are shared online daily. Can you sort real from fake?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why people take photos</h2>
<p>Interviewees told me they whipped out their camera phones for five primary reasons.</p>
<p><strong>1. Making memories</strong></p>
<p>The urge to hold onto experience is strong. As one participant put it: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m getting ready to move so I’m just trying to get as many memories of my dogs as possible. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another participant, prompted by a photo they’d taken, added: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was out with my family going bowling and I took this because I wanted to have something as a reminder of that. </p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>2. New experiences, rare treats or first times</strong> </p>
<p>These experiences included major milestones, such as the first day at university or moving into a new home, as well as more banal and everyday activities, such as when a normally busy space was uncharacteristically empty. One participant remembered: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This, I sent it [a photo of me working on my laptop in a coffee shop] to my friend and said, ‘I’m here’. It was a Polish coffee shop and no one else was there. No other customers and I thought it was kind of funny.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>3. Ideas and inspiration</strong> </p>
<p>Some users took screenshots of tattoos they wanted to get, while others captured recipes, people posing, or arrangements of objects they liked. One interviewee said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ll often screenshot photos of influencers I follow to try to copy makeup looks, outfits, how they edit their photos, that kind of thing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>4. Evidence and receipts</strong> </p>
<p>Phones were handy to document rental car damage, a builder’s progress, or dubious social media claims. One man noted: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There’s a group in my hometown called ‘[Redacted] Whispers’ and this person was telling a story and it reminded me of a video I had seen and I questioned the authenticity of it … I don’t remember if I shared it to anyone. I just remember taking the screenshot to prove, if need be, that I didn’t believe it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>5. Communication aids</strong> </p>
<p>When a contact asks, “Where are you?” or “What are you doing?”, some camera phone users reported they simply take a picture of their location or themselves and send it in response instead of typing a reply. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s just easier to send a photo than to explain. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370492/original/file-20201120-19-zstr7v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Crowd at concert holds phones up high to take photos." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370492/original/file-20201120-19-zstr7v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370492/original/file-20201120-19-zstr7v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370492/original/file-20201120-19-zstr7v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370492/original/file-20201120-19-zstr7v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370492/original/file-20201120-19-zstr7v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370492/original/file-20201120-19-zstr7v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370492/original/file-20201120-19-zstr7v.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When users do share images, Instagram is the most popular platform.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unsplash/Noiseporn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/travelgram-live-tourist-snaps-have-turned-solo-adventures-into-social-occasions-124583">#travelgram: live tourist snaps have turned solo adventures into social occasions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Our changing visual values</h2>
<p>That participants used their smartphones most often to document objects is a testament to how digital technology has changed what we visually value. </p>
<p>Where once pictures of loved ones and travel destinations filled photo albums and scrapbooks, our camera rolls are now filled primarily with mundane and quotidian objects. </p>
<p>Humans came a distant second and environments came in an even more distant third. This indicates we’re using our smartphones for more functional purposes, such as screenshotting a work roster or timetable, compared to when we used cameras for more primarily aesthetic or relational purposes.</p>
<p>But when it comes to sharing, we still value human connection and disproportionately share images of humans over things or places.</p>
<p>As the number of images taken in 2021 is expected to <a href="https://focus.mylio.com/tech-today/how-many-photos-will-be-taken-in-2020">grow again</a>, consider what you photograph and screenshot in the coming year and what this reveals about yourself, your place in society, and your values.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150080/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>TJ Thomson receives funding from Australian Research Council through Discovery project DP210100589 ‘Amplifying Voices from the Royal Commission into Aged Care’.</span></em></p>Researchers found women and men use their camera rolls differently - and our visual values have changed.T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Media, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1503522020-11-20T13:17:40Z2020-11-20T13:17:40ZWhat’s cellular about a cellphone?<p><em>Editor’s note: Daniel Bliss is a professor of electrical engineering at Arizona State University and the director of the Center for Wireless Information Systems and Computational Architecture. In this <a href="https://youtu.be/JnsyG-_YIZ0">interview</a>, he explains the ideas behind the original cellular networks and how they evolved over the years into today’s 5G (fifth generation) and even 6G (sixth generation) networks.</em></p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JnsyG-_YIZ0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Daniel Bliss provides a brief history of cellular networks.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How did wireless phones work before cellular technology?</h2>
<p>The idea of wireless communications is quite old. Famously, the Marconi system could talk all the way across the <a href="https://ewh.ieee.org/reg/7/millennium/radio/radio_differences.html">Atlantic Ocean</a>. It would have one system, which was the size of a building, talking to another system, which was the size of a building. But in essence, it just made a radio link between the two. Eventually people realized that’s a really useful capability. So they put up a radio system, say at a high point in the city, and then everybody – well, those few who had the right kind of radio system – talked to that high point. So if you like, there was only one cell – it wasn’t cellular in any sense. But because the amount of data you can send over time is a <a href="https://web.mit.edu/6.933/www/Fall2001/Shannon2.pdf">function of how far away you are</a>, you want to get these things closer together. And so that’s the the invention of the cellular system.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369929/original/file-20201118-17-e867v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The CenturyLink Building in Minneapolis with a microwave antenna on the top. It looks like a black spiky crown on the top of the building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369929/original/file-20201118-17-e867v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369929/original/file-20201118-17-e867v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369929/original/file-20201118-17-e867v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369929/original/file-20201118-17-e867v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369929/original/file-20201118-17-e867v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1216&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369929/original/file-20201118-17-e867v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1216&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369929/original/file-20201118-17-e867v5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1216&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The CenturyLink building in Minneapolis has a microwave antenna on the top which was used in early wireless phone networks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CenturyLink_Building">Mulad via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How are cellular systems different?</h2>
<p>The farther your phone and the base station are from each other, the harder it is to send a signal across. If you just have one base station and you’re too far away from it, it just doesn’t work. So you want to have many base stations and talk to the one that’s closest to you. </p>
<p>If you draw a boundary between those base stations and look down on it on a map, you see these different little cell towers which your phone is supposed to talk to. That’s where the technology gets its name. The amazing thing that happened during the development of cellular systems is that it automatically switched which base station the phone talks to as its location changed, such as while driving. It’s really remarkable that this system works as well as it does, because it’s pretty complicated and you don’t even notice. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A diagram of a cellular network" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369922/original/file-20201117-17-gmsqf4.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369922/original/file-20201117-17-gmsqf4.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369922/original/file-20201117-17-gmsqf4.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369922/original/file-20201117-17-gmsqf4.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369922/original/file-20201117-17-gmsqf4.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369922/original/file-20201117-17-gmsqf4.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369922/original/file-20201117-17-gmsqf4.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cellular technology gets its name from the diagrams of the networks which are divided into cells. This diagram shows cellular phone towers at corners of each haxagon cell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CellTowersAtCorners.gif">Greensburger via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What are the major improvements to cellular networks that have enabled faster data rates?</h2>
<p>If you go back to the first-generation cellular systems, those were primarily analog systems. It was just a way of converting your voice to an analog signal.</p>
<p>The second-generation systems focused on taking your voice, digitizing it and then sending it as a data link to improve stability and security. As an accident, it could also send data across. People found that it’s really useful to send a photo or send some other information as well. So they started using the same link to send data, but then complained that it’s not fast enough.</p>
<p>Subsequent generations of cellular networks allocated increasingly wider bandwidths using different techniques and were powered by a denser network of base stations. We tend to notice the big tall towers. But if you start looking around, particularly in a city, you’ll notice these boxes sitting on the sides of buildings all over the place. They are actually cellular base stations that are much lower down. They’re intended to reach people within just a kilometer or a half-kilometer. </p>
<p>The easiest way to achieve much higher data rates is for your phone to be close to a signal source. The other way is to have antenna systems that are pointing radio waves at your phone, which is one of the things that’s <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/wireless/5g-beamsteering-antennas-more-accurate-less-power-hungry">happening in 5G</a>.</p>
<h2>5G networks are still being rolled out around the country, but work on 6G technologies is already underway. What can we expect from that?</h2>
<p>We don’t really know which technologies that are being developed right now will be used in 6G networks, but I can talk about what I think what’s going to happen. </p>
<p>6G networks will allow a much broader set of user types. What do I mean by that? Cellular systems, from the very start, were designed for humans to communicate. So it had certain constraints on what you needed. But now, humans are now a minority of users, because we have so many machines talking to each other too, such as smart appliances, for example. These machines have varying needs. Some want to send lots of data, and some need to send almost no data and maybe send nothing for months at a time. So 6G technologies need to work well for humans as well as a broad range of devices.</p>
<p>Another piece of this is that we often think about communication systems as being the only users of the radio frequency spectrum, but it’s very much not true. Radars use spectrum too, and pretty soon you won’t be able to buy a car that doesn’t have a suite of radars on it for safety or autonomous driving. There’s also position navigation and timing, which are necessary for, say, cars to know the distance between each other. So with 6G, you’ll have these multi-function systems.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>And then there is a push to go to yet higher frequencies. These frequencies work for only very, very short links. But a lot of our problems are over very short links. You can potentially send really huge amounts of data over short distances. If we can get the prices down, then it can potentially replace your Wi-Fi. </p>
<p>We can also expect a refinement of the technologies currently used in 5G – such as improving the pointing of the antenna to your phone, as I mentioned earlier.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150352/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Bliss receives funding from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Airbus, US Air Force, and Metawave Corporation. </span></em></p>A professor of wireless communications explains the origins of cellular networks and how they evolved into today’s 5G networks.Daniel Bliss, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1457002020-09-13T19:49:26Z2020-09-13T19:49:26ZBehind the new Samsung Fold: how the quest to maximise screen size is driving major innovation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357642/original/file-20200911-22-apy4aa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C209%2C1360%2C702&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Samsung</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>To enlarge a phone, or not to enlarge a phone? That is the question. In the world of flagship smartphones, there seems to be one clear trend: bigger is better. </p>
<p>Manufacturers are trying to strip away anything that might stand in the way of the largest possible slab of screen. There is also growing demand for thinner phones with diminishing <a href="https://www.lifewire.com/bezel-4155199">bezels</a> (the area surrounding a screen). </p>
<p>This trend has now culminated in the latest innovation in smartphone design, the <a href="https://www.t3.com/au/news/best-folding-phones">foldable screen phone</a>. These devices sport thin <a href="https://www.techradar.com/au/news/what-is-oled">OLED</a> self illuminating screens that can be folded in half.</p>
<p>The newest release is the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/21427462/samsung-galaxy-z-fold-2-review">Samsung Galaxy Z fold 2</a> – a device that is almost three-quarters screen and has extravagant overtones rivalled only by a hefty <a href="https://www.samsung.com/au/smartphones/galaxy-z-fold2/buy/">A$2,999 price tag</a>.</p>
<p>But to prevent the phones themselves from growing to unwieldy size, manufacturers are having to find ways to balance size with usability and durability. This presents some interesting engineering challenges, as well as some innovative solutions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357605/original/file-20200911-22-1vlsst9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A giant, old-style phone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357605/original/file-20200911-22-1vlsst9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357605/original/file-20200911-22-1vlsst9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357605/original/file-20200911-22-1vlsst9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357605/original/file-20200911-22-1vlsst9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357605/original/file-20200911-22-1vlsst9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357605/original/file-20200911-22-1vlsst9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357605/original/file-20200911-22-1vlsst9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Why do we love large phones?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pixabay</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Internal design complexities of folding phones</h2>
<p>Modern phones still typically use a thin LCD or plastic OLED display covered by an outer glass panel. </p>
<p>Folding displays are a new category that exploit the flexibility of OLED display panels. Instead of simply fixing these panels to a rigid glass panel, they carefully engineer the panel so that it bends – but never quite tightly enough to snap or crack. </p>
<p>Internal structural support is needed to make sure the panel doesn’t crease, or isn’t stressed to the point of creating damage, discolouration or visible surface ripples. </p>
<p>Since this is a mechanical, moving system, reliability issues need to be considered. For instance, how long will the hinge last? How many times can it be <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/4/20898484/samsung-galaxy-fold-folding-test-failure-durability">folded and unfolded</a> before it malfunctions? Will dirt or dust make its way into the assembly during daily use and affect the screen?</p>
<p>Such devices need an added layer of reliability over traditional slab-like phones, which have no moving parts.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-new-iphone-se-is-the-cheapest-yet-smart-move-or-a-premium-tech-brand-losing-its-way-136507">The new iPhone SE is the cheapest yet: smart move, or a premium tech brand losing its way?</a>
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</em>
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<h2>Large screen, thin phone: a recipe for disaster?</h2>
<p>Each generation of smartphones becomes thinner and with smaller bezels, which improves the viewing experience but can make the phone harder to handle. </p>
<p>In such designs, the area of the device you can grip without touching the display screen is small. This leads to a higher chance of <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/study-19-percent-of-people-drop-phones-down-toilet/">dropping the device</a> – a blunder even the best of us have made. </p>
<p>There’s an ongoing tussle between consumers and manufacturers. Consumers want a large, viewable surface as well as an easily portable and rugged device. But from an engineering point of view, these are usually competing requirements. </p>
<p>You’ll often see people in smartphone ads holding the device with two hands. In real life, however, most people use their phone with <a href="https://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-design/research-on-mobile-interaction-behaviour-and-design/">one</a> <a href="https://alistapart.com/article/how-we-hold-our-gadgets/">hand</a>. </p>
<p>Thus, the shift towards larger, thinner phones has also given rise to a boom in demand for assistive tools attached to the back, such as <a href="https://www.androidcentral.com/best-popsockets">pop-out grips and phone rings</a>.</p>
<p>In trying to maximise screen size, smartphone developers also have to account for interruptions in the display, such as the placement of cameras, laser scanners (for face or object identification), proximity sensors and speakers. All are placed to minimise visual intrusion.</p>
<h2>Now you see it, now you don’t</h2>
<p>In the engineering world, to measure the physical world you need either cameras or sensors, such as in a fingerprint scanner. </p>
<p>With the race to increase the real estate space on screens, typically these cameras and scanners are placed somewhere around the screen. But they take up valuable space.</p>
<p>This is why we’ve recently seen tricks to carve out more space for them, such as <a href="https://www.techradar.com/au/news/this-is-the-worlds-first-smartphone-where-half-the-screen-is-a-fingerprint-scanner">pop up</a> cameras and <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=phone+screen+hole+for+camera&source=lmns&bih=598&biw=1280&rlz=1C5CHFA_enAU871AU871&safe=active&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjXvcyoveDrAhUwhUsFHXvqBYMQ_AUoAHoECAEQAA">punch-hole</a> cameras, in which the camera sits in a cutout hole allowing the display to extend to the corners. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357640/original/file-20200911-18-r1bxyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Front view of Samsun Galaxy Note 10." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357640/original/file-20200911-18-r1bxyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357640/original/file-20200911-18-r1bxyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357640/original/file-20200911-18-r1bxyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357640/original/file-20200911-18-r1bxyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357640/original/file-20200911-18-r1bxyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357640/original/file-20200911-18-r1bxyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357640/original/file-20200911-18-r1bxyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Samsun Galaxy Note 10 has a centered punch hole front-facing camera.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Samsung</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But another fantastic place for sensors is right in front of us: the screen. Or more specifically, under the screen.</p>
<p>Samsung is one company that has suggested placing selfie-cameras and fingerprint readers behind the screen. But how do you capture a photo or a face image through a layer of screen? </p>
<p>Up until recently, this has been put in the “too hard basket”. But that is changing: Xiaomi, Huawei and <a href="https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/262497-samsung-patent-shows-phone-camera-inside-display">Samsung</a> all have patents for <a href="https://www.phonearena.com/news/samsung-galaxy-s21-s30-under-display-camera_id125174">under-display cameras</a>.</p>
<p>There are a range of ways to do this, from allowing a camera to see through the screen, to using <a href="https://www.rp-photonics.com/microlenses.html">microlenses</a> and camera pixels distributed throughout the display itself – similar to an insect’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/insect/Nervous-system#ref250944">compound eye</a>. </p>
<p>In either case, the general engineering challenge is to implement the feature in a way that doesn’t impact screen image quality, nor majorly affect camera resolution or colour accuracy.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357639/original/file-20200911-20-1vwk072.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close up of an insect's compound eyes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357639/original/file-20200911-20-1vwk072.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357639/original/file-20200911-20-1vwk072.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357639/original/file-20200911-20-1vwk072.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357639/original/file-20200911-20-1vwk072.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357639/original/file-20200911-20-1vwk072.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357639/original/file-20200911-20-1vwk072.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357639/original/file-20200911-20-1vwk072.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Insects have compound eyes. These are made up of repeating units called the ommatidia, sometimes with thousands in each eye. Each ommatidia is a separate visual receptor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Laptops in our pockets</h2>
<p>With up to 3.8 billion smartphone users <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/">expected by 2021</a>, mobile computing is a primary consumer technology area seeing significant growth and investment.</p>
<p>One driver for this is the professional market, where larger mobile devices allow more efficient on-the-go business transactions. The second market is individuals who who <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/779/mobile-internet/"><em>only</em> have a mobile device</a> and no laptop or desktop computer.</p>
<p>It’s all about choice, but also functionality. Whatever you choose has to get the job done, support a positive user experience, but also survive the rigours of the real world.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/apples-iphone-11-pro-wants-to-take-your-laptops-job-and-price-tag-123372">Apple's iPhone 11 Pro wants to take your laptop's job (and price tag)</a>
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</em>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Maxwell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 2 is almost three-quarters screen. And while that’s convenient, it’s important to actually be able to hold the phone. As design evolves, how do manufacturers adapt?Andrew Maxwell, Senior Lecturer, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1404142020-07-06T12:13:17Z2020-07-06T12:13:17ZDigital contact tracing’s mixed record abroad spells trouble for US efforts to rein in COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345338/original/file-20200702-111368-x228i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C5%2C3982%2C2652&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Korea's success in containing COVID-19 came at the price of sacrificing privacy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Asia/d4f4baa923ea42dea46005975779cfd9/52/0">AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two public health measures – testing, to identify those infected, and contact tracing, to identify those who may have encountered an infected person – have become essential as countries around the world <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/saibala/2020/06/08/heres-what-reopening-looks-like-in-some-countries-devastated-by-coronavirus/#965319c402a8">reopen</a> their economies and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/26/21302023/coronavirus-surge-arizona-texas-florida-risk-contain-covid-19">fresh surges</a> of COVID-19 infections appear.</p>
<p>Even as testing ramps up, contact tracing with a wide enough net remains a daunting task. Contact tracing involves public health staff conducting interviews with infected people. Public health experts are calling for <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/04/27/845165404/ex-officials-call-for-46-billion-for-tracing-isolating-in-next-coronavirus-packa">180,000 more contact tracers</a>, but progress on contact tracing <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/26/coronavirus-contact-tracing-is-not-going-well-fauci-says.html">has not been going well</a>, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345150/original/file-20200701-159803-todbh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345150/original/file-20200701-159803-todbh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345150/original/file-20200701-159803-todbh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345150/original/file-20200701-159803-todbh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345150/original/file-20200701-159803-todbh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345150/original/file-20200701-159803-todbh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345150/original/file-20200701-159803-todbh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Contact tracers work at Harris County Public Health contact tracing facility in Houston, Texas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Texas/09767fb75bec49a7bc0cf77b843e4ed6/4/0">AP Photo/David J. Phillip</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Enter digital innovations that offer a tantalizing promise: to automate the laborious task of alerting people who have been exposed to the virus. Numerous governments have championed such apps as a means of augmenting manual contact tracing. As <a href="https://fletcher.tufts.edu/people/bhaskar-chakravorti">an economist who tracks digital technology’s use worldwide</a>, I’ve found that the experiences of these countries reveal challenges to getting enough people to use the apps. Unfortunately, these challenges appear to me to be all but insurmountable in the U.S.</p>
<h2>Privacy and trust</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-apps-factbox/factbox-the-race-to-deploy-covid-19-contact-tracing-apps-idUSKBN22Q2KU">Contact tracing apps</a> detect when a smartphone is in the presence of another app-enabled smartphone whose owner has tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.</p>
<p>These apps come in two types. One mimics traditional contact tracing by uploading to a central public health server the ID numbers of smart phones that have been close to an infected person’s smart phone. Depending on the app, public health authorities can be notified of the smart phone owners’ identities. </p>
<p>The alternative is an “exposure notification” app that prioritizes privacy by <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-apple-and-google-will-let-your-phone-warn-you-if-youve-been-exposed-to-the-coronavirus-136597">using random numbers</a> to ensure that no one can learn anyone else’s identity. All data are stored on the users’ phones. The <a href="https://www.apple.com/covid19/contacttracing">Apple-Google collaboration</a> supports these types of apps.</p>
<p>Initial enthusiasm for digital contact tracing was sparked by early successes in countries such as <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/seouls-radical-experiment-in-digital-contact-tracing">South Korea</a>. Some countries, such as India, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-india-contact-tracing-app-privacy-data-security-concerns-aarogya-setu-forced-on-millions/">had to mandate it</a>. Others, such as Germany had to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/world/europe/contact-tracing-apps-europe-coronavirus.html">reconsider its approach and change course</a>. </p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s newsletter explains what’s going on with the coronavirus pandemic. <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=coronavirus-going-on">Subscribe now</a>.</em>]</p>
<p>South Korea’s, India’s and Germany’s experiences suggest a three-question test for gauging the potential of such apps: Does the government have its citizens’ trust, leading citizens to believe that the government is not collecting data or, if it is, will not misuse it? Are citizens willing to “pay” for improved health outcomes by accepting some loss of privacy? Are there events in the nation’s history that help shift the balance in favor of citizens’ willingness to share data?</p>
<h2>South Korea: widespread voluntary adoption</h2>
<p>Despite being hit early and hard by COVID-19, South Korea <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus">kept its number of deaths low</a> by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/world/asia/coronavirus-south-korea-flatten-curve.html">deploying contact tracing technology</a> together with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/23/test-trace-contain-how-south-korea-flattened-its-coronavirus-curve">widespread testing</a>. Its contact tracing arsenal included <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/03/06/905459/coronavirus-south-korea-smartphone-app-quarantine/">tracking apps</a> paired with CCTV footage, travel and medical records and credit card transaction information. </p>
<p>Arguably, it has one of the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/seouls-radical-experiment-in-digital-contact-tracing">most intrusive</a> digitally aided tracking systems anywhere. The system shares locations of infected people, even with the media, and issues emergency text alerts. </p>
<p>All of this was widely accepted, except when intrusion crossed a line. When a <a href="https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20200508003651315">COVID-19 cluster</a> was linked to gay clubs and bars and led to calls to out people who visited such establishments, it raised concerns about discrimination against the LGBTQ community. The government <a href="https://twitter.com/koryodynasty/status/1258640680777248768">stopped singling out</a> particular clubs or bars in its alerts.</p>
<p>Why were Koreans willing to tolerate this level of official intrusion? The explanation can be traced to the country’s history. The previous administration had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/world/asia/experts-fault-south-korean-response-to-mers-outbreak.html">botched its response</a> to the 2015 MERS outbreak, when it shared no information about hospitals visited by infected citizens. This led to public support for legislation giving health authorities <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/lessons-america-how-south-korean-authorities-used-law-fight-coronavirus">access to CCTV and smartphone location data</a> on infected citizens and the right to issue alerts. </p>
<h2>India: partially mandated adoption</h2>
<p>In preparation for reopening post-lockdown, the Indian government declared its Aarogya Setu contact tracing app to be <a href="https://thewire.in/government/home-ministry-aarogya-setu-office-workers">mandatory for office workers</a>, with <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/coronavirus-noida-aarogya-setu-app-police-6395945/">police enforcement</a> in some cases. But then, concerns mounted. The app had few privacy safeguards. It collected data using both GPS and Bluetooth technologies, stored it in centralized servers with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/technology/on-data-privacy-india-charts-its-own-path.html">no data protection law</a> in place. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345149/original/file-20200701-159785-1auaxm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345149/original/file-20200701-159785-1auaxm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345149/original/file-20200701-159785-1auaxm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345149/original/file-20200701-159785-1auaxm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345149/original/file-20200701-159785-1auaxm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345149/original/file-20200701-159785-1auaxm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345149/original/file-20200701-159785-1auaxm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man uses India’s Aarogya Setu contact tracing app on his mobile phone in New Delhi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-India-Tracing-App/105ea8fe98ba43ec97fefa943c83e70e/1/0">AP Photo/Altaf Qadri</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>In response, the government switched the app from mandatory to “<a href="https://www.firstpost.com/tech/india/govt-softens-stand-on-aarogya-setu-but-airports-private-organisations-continue-to-mandate-8397301.html">advisable</a>,” with enough loopholes for organizations to set individual mandates. In addition, the app was uploaded to a <a href="https://github.com/nic-delhi/AarogyaSetu_Android">public GitHub</a> repository, which, in principle, opens the app – though not the data it collects – to public scrutiny. </p>
<p>Ironically, Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoyed <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/over-93-trust-modi-govt-will-handle-covid-19-crisis-well-survey/articleshow/75312862.cms">overwhelming public support</a> even as the country endured the most stringent of lockdowns anywhere, with <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/the-pandemic-exposes-indias-two-worlds/609838/">unspeakable hardships</a> for many. However, the app stored citizens’ data on centralized servers, which compounded fears of digitally enabled state surveillance. Also, the app had been co-created by a ministry headed by Modi’s lieutenant, Amit Shah, who has a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/12/09/blood-and-soil-in-narendra-modis-india">troubling history of abuse of power</a>. All this made voluntary adoption difficult. </p>
<h2>Germany: interrupted adoption</h2>
<p>Germany had to stop and restart its digital contact tracing effort. The government launched a contact tracing app based on <a href="https://www.pepp-pt.org/">technology developed by a European initiative</a>. However, a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OQg2dxPu-x-RZzETlpV3lFa259Nrpk1J/view">highly critical open letter</a> from multiple experts raised fears of state surveillance because the data was stored centrally, and Apple refused to allow its iPhone operating system to work with it. As a result, the German government <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-europe-tech/germany-flips-to-apple-google-approach-on-smartphone-contact-tracing-idUSKCN22807J">abandoned the centralized model</a> for an Apple-Google-compliant <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-launches-best-coronavirus-tracing-app/a-53825213">decentralized alternative</a>. </p>
<p>This U-turn occurred despite <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/06/no-european-leader-is-safe-as-public-lose-faith-in-coronavirus-responses">widespread confidence in Chancellor Angela Merkel</a>, especially with her administration’s handling of the coronavirus response. Again, history provides a guide. Germans have lived through two notorious surveillance regimes: the <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-61-no-2/the-gestapo.html">Gestapo</a> during the Nazi era and the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/11/lingering-trauma-east-german-police-state/601669/">Stasi</a> during the Cold War. </p>
<p>Even with a decentralized, privacy-protecting approach, Germany’s new app is unlikely to achieve the level of adoption of South Korea’s. However, the government’s investment in an <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-18/german-success-in-contact-tracing-guides-new-jersey-and-new-york">effective traditional contact tracing approach</a> using public health staff to investigate contacts makes a digital alternative less urgent. </p>
<h2>Prospects for digital contact tracing in the US</h2>
<p>What do these cases say about adoption of digital contact tracing in the U.S., which <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/health/us-coronavirus-toll-in-numbers-june-trnd/index.html">leads the world</a> in COVID-19 cases and deaths?</p>
<p>Americans’ trust in government is near an <a href="https://www.people-press.org/2019/04/11/public-trust-in-government-1958-2019/">all-time low</a>. Concerns about the government and tech companies accessing citizens’ data have been heightened in recent years with a string of revelations, from <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/snowden-to-cambridge-analytica-making-case-for-social-value-of-pri/">Edward Snowden to Cambridge Analytica</a>, and citizens are <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/11/15/americans-and-privacy-concerned-confused-and-feeling-lack-of-control-over-their-personal-information/">worried about privacy breaches and misuse of data</a>. </p>
<p>There is also <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/states-reopen-contact-tracing-efforts-hobbled-obstacles-n1210266">no cohesive nationwide plan</a> to deploy such apps. The White House, federal agencies and state governments have failed to champion them, which means that adoption rates are likely to be low and people won’t see enough value in using them to risk their privacy. Apps may appear in pockets – companies, college campuses, local communities – creating a fragmented, unreliable system of digital contact tracing. </p>
<p>In short, the U.S. is left relying almost entirely on tried-and-true though time-consuming and expensive manual contact tracing. As it stands, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/06/18/879787448/as-states-reopen-do-they-have-the-workforce-they-need-to-stop-coronavirus-outbre">only seven states and the District of Columbia</a> have sufficient numbers of contact tracers. Compliance is another challenge. Officials in Rockland County, New York have <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/rockland-county-probing-a-new-covid-cluster-resorts-to-subpoenas-as-people-refuse-to-give-contacts-to-tracers/2494189/">issued subpoenas</a> to force people to cooperate with contact tracing efforts.</p>
<p>Ironically, the U.S. may need digital contact tracing more than any other country but appears to me likely to turn its back on the very lifesaving innovations it has helped develop.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140414/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bhaskar Chakravorti has founded and directs the Institute for Business in the Global Context at Fletcher/Tufts that has received funding from Mastercard, Microsoft, the Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Omidyar Network and the Onassis Foundation. He is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Brookings India and a Senior Advisor on Digital Inclusion at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.</span></em></p>Effective national leadership and trust in government appear to be prerequisites for countries to achieve widespread digital contact tracing.Bhaskar Chakravorti, Dean of Global Business, The Fletcher School, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1412932020-06-25T03:40:19Z2020-06-25T03:40:19ZLatest updates: Apple is trying to reclaim its major innovator status (by making you wash your hands)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343901/original/file-20200625-190498-1f76hks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C5%2C1954%2C1094&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Apple</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Market commentators view Apple’s announcements at this week’s <a href="https://www.apple.com/apple-events/june-2020/">Worldwide Developers Conference 2020</a> (WWDC) as one of the company’s most <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-stock-rises-to-yet-another-record-as-focus-on-integration-across-products-cheered-2020-06-23">important</a> strategic moves of the past decade. </p>
<p>Among the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/22/21299042/apple-wwdc-2020-recap-biggest-announcements-ios-ipados-macos-silicon-chips-mac">key announcements</a> were details of the watchOS 7 – with a pandemic-inspired handwashing detection feature – and plans to end Apple’s reliance on Intel for Mac processing chips.</p>
<p>While Apple still views itself as an <a href="https://time.com/5857500/apple-wwdc-2020/">innovator</a>, critics point out many of its product innovations in recent years have been incremental – with calls for an <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregpetro/2019/06/07/at-its-core-apple-is-no-longer-innovative/#364681e7196d">entire new product category</a>. And consumers have been finding it increasingly hard <a href="https://www.theverge.com/21299641/apple-ios-14-vs-android-11-features-beta-iphone-google?fbclid=IwAR0fwR_qMJAy9AAL4wVtIBNTIhJa6gemS43agYUSULWhXcsZfggUnfIFAwA">to distinguish</a> between Apple and competitors like Samsung. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1275189963378786307"}"></div></p>
<p>Will we ever again see something from Apple that truly changes the market?</p>
<p>We think Apple’s newest updates may be early signs it is, in fact, looking to get back on the map as a “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0312896215587315">business model innovator</a>”. This describes how an organisation creates, delivers and captures value through business activities. </p>
<p>As University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School professor <a href="https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/apple-innovation-edge/">Raffi Amit explains</a>, Apple has renewed its business model many times – from changing the music industry with Apple Music, to creating a community of independent app providers through the App Store.</p>
<h2>A pro-hygiene smartwatch</h2>
<p>In today’s COVID-19 world, Apple’s new watch OS7 (expected to be released <a href="https://www.techradar.com/au/news/watchos-7-release-date">later this year</a>) will offer automatic handwashing detection. </p>
<p>Motion sensors, the microphone (which will listen for water sounds) and on-device machine learning will detect when a user is washing their hands. The watch will then start a <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/22/21299042/apple-wwdc-2020-recap-biggest-announcements-ios-ipados-macos-silicon-chips-mac">20-second timer</a>. </p>
<p>By monitoring the frequency and duration of handwashing, preventative health care will be in the hands of users. </p>
<p>Apple uses its wealth of consumer trend data, combined with advances in machine learning, data and analytics to offer an intensely human experience to suit users’ lifestyles. By focusing on the customer’s journey, Apple is in a unique position to create products with superior customer value. </p>
<p>For the WatchOS 7’s handwashing feature, the customer journey starts by reminding users to wash their hands when they get home. The health app monitors the process, even detecting if a user stops prematurely. By focusing on each step of this “journey”, Apple aims to provide peace of mind and address customer anxieties during the pandemic.</p>
<p>In the market of fashionable wearables, Apple’s smartwatch dominates. Last year, the Apple Watch <a href="https://news.strategyanalytics.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2020/Strategy-Analytics-Apple-Watch-Outsells-the-Entire-Swiss-Watch-Industry-in-2019/default.aspx">outsold</a> the entire Swiss watch industry.</p>
<p>In line with a strong trend towards personalisation, Apple’s WatchOS 7 also offers customisable watch faces, sleep tracking, improved workout apps with dancing and several built-in acoustic health features such as monitoring ambient sound levels.</p>
<h2>Breaking up with Intel</h2>
<p>Apple’s <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-02/apple-is-said-to-plan-move-from-intel-to-own-mac-chips-from-2020">long-awaited breakup</a> with Intel was confirmed at the WWDC 2020. Chief executive Tim Cook announced the company’s plans to transition to using its own Apple silicon processors for Macs.</p>
<p>Currently, Mac computers operate with Intel’s x86 desktop chips. By <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-09/apple-plans-to-announce-move-to-its-own-mac-chips-at-wwdc">2021</a>, these will be replaced with the custom-designed processors Apple has already been using in newer iPhones and iPads – spelling the end of a 15-year partnership between Apple and Intel. </p>
<p>The move is part of Apple’s continued strategy to gain as much control as possible over its product ecosystem and development processes. It could also be seen as a reaction to Intel’s hesitance to meet its requirements. </p>
<p>Intel has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/technology/apple-intel-breakup.html">fallen behind</a> in the industry’s race to miniaturise and has experienced production delays and shortages. Apple’s new processors promise more power efficiency, are lighter and have superior performance for 3D graphics and for apps using artificial intelligence.</p>
<p>Similar to other <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/technology/apple-intel-breakup.html">tech giants</a>, Apple is expanding its capabilities not just through acquisition, but also by developing its inhouse capabilities. </p>
<p>And while the Apple-Intel partnership only amounted to 5% of Intel’s overall sales, the breakup will still impact Intel’s image as a <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/100214/inside-intel-look-mega-chipmaker.asp">market leader</a> in chip manufacturing. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/apples-iphone-11-pro-wants-to-take-your-laptops-job-and-price-tag-123372">Apple's iPhone 11 Pro wants to take your laptop's job (and price tag)</a>
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<h2>An insulated ecosystem</h2>
<p>It’s likely the decision from Apple signals their intent to exert more control over developers, suppliers and customers through the Apple product ecosystem. Indeed, Apple’s tendency to entrench its customers in this <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/01/why-people-keep-buying-apple-products.html">ecosystem</a> has raised concerns. </p>
<p>For instance, larger players like <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/31/netflix-stops-paying-the-apple-tax-on-its-853m-in-annual-ios-revenue/">Netflix</a>, Spotify and Amazon Kindle have been fighting back against Apple’s policy of forcing users to use Apple pay to purchase their apps, which sees Apple collect up to 30% of the revenue <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/apple-developer-rage-30-percent-app-store-tax-2020-6?r=US&IR=T">up front</a>.</p>
<p>While companies such as Netflix can reach users independently through online marketing, smaller app developers are forced to pay the <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/31/netflix-stops-paying-the-apple-tax-on-its-853m-in-annual-ios-revenue/">Apple tax</a> of 15-30%. </p>
<h2>Still a leading innovator?</h2>
<p>At the WWDC, Cook framed the newest announcements as evidence of Apple’s ongoing commitment to innovation. </p>
<p>For many consumers, the most exciting updates will be Apple’s new internet-based technologies. These include spatial audio for <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/airpods-pro-will-soon-automatically-switch-between-apple-devices-and-have-spatial-audio/#:%7E:text=But%20Apple's%20new%20spatial%20audio,delivering%20more%20convincing%20surround%20sound.">AirPods Pro</a>, a feature that creates a more realistic surround sound experience and the new <a href="https://www.apple.com/au/newsroom/2020/06/apple-reimagines-the-iphone-experience-with-ios-14/">CarKey</a> function which will be compatible with 2021 BMW 5 Series. This will let drivers unlock and drive their car using their iPhone, thanks to a specialisied NCP (network co-processor) chip inside the phone.</p>
<p>It seems Apple does want to excel as a business model innovator. The company’s innovations – even when incremental – still drive product value. And this is used to turn profits which can then be reinvested into broader business model innovation. </p>
<p>This may be why shareholders and enthusiasts remain <a href="https://www.apple.com/au/newsroom/2020/01/apple-reports-record-first-quarter-results/">confident</a> about Apple’s future.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-new-iphone-se-is-the-cheapest-yet-smart-move-or-a-premium-tech-brand-losing-its-way-136507">The new iPhone SE is the cheapest yet: smart move, or a premium tech brand losing its way?</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141293/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A range of announcement were made at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, including the new ‘CarKey’ feature, and Apple’s decision to part ways with chip manufacturer Intel.Margarietha de Villiers Scheepers, Senior Lecturer Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of the Sunshine CoastMartie-Louise Verreynne, Professor in Innovation and Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1386942020-06-02T12:15:17Z2020-06-02T12:15:17ZMobile technology may support kids learning to recognize emotions in photos of faces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338980/original/file-20200601-95009-1b3i5td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=199%2C145%2C4483%2C3257&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many kids use screens all day long and are adept at reading what they see on them.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/students-using-laptop-in-classroom-royalty-free-image/104737316">LWA/Dann Tardif/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>An essential social skill is understanding emotion. Children learn about emotion even before language by <a href="https://theconversation.com/clear-masks-for-caregivers-mean-young-children-can-keep-learning-from-adults-faces-139432">paying attention to a caregiver’s face</a>. Watching people around them <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-happens-when-kids-go-cold-turkey-from-their-screens-for-5-days_b_5700805">provides children with essential facts</a> for survival: Who will love me? Whom should I be scared of?</p>
<p>These days everyone’s seen infants and toddlers, and their parents, with screens in their faces. So how could little ones be getting the critical in-person, face-to-face interaction they desperately need in those early years? </p>
<p>Yet in today’s world, just about everyone uses devices to communicate with others, even face to face. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/09/do-babies-know-when-theyre-skyping/404650/">Toddlers learn</a> from video chatting with their grandparents, and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/">teens devour image-driven social media</a> on platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338981/original/file-20200601-95028-s6e0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">There’s a reason they’re called digital natives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/smiling-boy-using-digital-tablet-while-lying-on-bed-royalty-free-image/1155478145">Chachawal Prapai/EyeEm via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>What if, rather than stunting the emotional skills traditionally learned from in-person interactions, the hours kids spend staring at screens and sharing selfies with friends actually teach them to read emotion in facial expressions?</p>
<p>My colleagues and I recently published a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0174">study in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Networking</a> that found screen-based communication, rather than being a barrier to social learning, may instead help it.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad">iPad in 2010</a> <a href="https://www.vjrconsulting.com/children-media-1/2018/9/19/just-out-the-next-wave-of-the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-kids-age-zero-to-eight-2017">drastically changed</a> early learning environments – and set off a decade of hand-wringing about screen time.</p>
<p>At the <a href="https://www.scholarsandstorytellers.com/">Center for Scholars & Storytellers</a>, we seek to understand how media affect learning during the tween and teen years. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115202">growing body of research</a> from a variety of disciplines points to these years as a crucial time for social and emotional learning. As early adolescents work toward achieving independence from their parents, they begin to look to peers and media to learn about the world.</p>
<p>Especially in the time of the coronavirus, it’s critical to understand how and what children learn from the digital media they use to communicate, such as social media and video chat, in order to maximize the positive impact of screen time and minimize the negative effects.</p>
<h2>How we did this work</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336594/original/file-20200521-194955-1yp88vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How would you classify the emotion portrayed in this photo?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen Nowicki Jr.</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>We designed a study to test whether the increase in early childhood screen time affects children’s ability to read emotional cues from facial expressions.</p>
<p>In 2017, we showed 56 sixth grade students who were born in 2006 photographs that test their ability to read basic emotions and asked them to identify the emotion depicted. We compared these kids’ scores with those from an earlier study done in 2012 that had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.05.036">tested sixth grade students</a> who were born in 2001. While both groups spent about the same time watching television and playing video games, their device ownership had changed. Out of the 56 tweens in the 2017 group, 44 reported owning tablets. We hadn’t even asked that question of the group tested in 2012, because tablets were still rare then.</p>
<p>To our surprise, the students who grew up with tablets and phones scored 40% higher on this test than the students from five years earlier. In other words, they were better at reading emotions in the photographs than the older group.</p>
<p>In today’s world, young people use photos and, increasingly, video to communicate. With cameras now installed on every device and the rise of visual-based communication, we suspect our 2017 participants had more opportunities to see, communicate and learn nonverbal emotion expressed in photographs of faces than did the kids from 2012.</p>
<p>While we found a dramatic improvement in reading emotional cues in photos, we don’t know whether this skill would apply to reading emotions in real life.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Technology is always evolving, and just like the studies that have investigated <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sesame-street-and-its-surprisingly-powerful-effects-on-how-children-learn/2015/06/07/59c73fe4-095c-11e5-9e39-0db921c47b93_story.html">how kids learn from television</a>, researchers need to study how increased exposure to pictures, videos, games and other emerging platforms for communication influences young people.</p>
<p>During this time of social distancing, screen-based communication may be one of the only ways kids can socialize with their friends. We hope our findings give parents some peace of mind that kids at the very least don’t seem to be losing this one particular social skill.</p>
<p>Other research supports this notion. A recent study found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/707985">current generations are no worse at social skills</a> than prior ones, even when judged by teachers.</p>
<p>In-person face-to-face interaction is still the gold standard for understanding emotion. But maybe there’s a silver lining to people increasingly relying on their devices to communicate during the time of the coronavirus. Kids might come out of this pandemic even better at identifying the emotions of others.</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138694/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yalda T. Uhls is an advisor for YouTube Kids and Family, The Bill and Melinda Gates Equitable Future project, Common Sense Media, Bark and the Jacobs Foundations Learning and Science Exchange.</span></em></p>Understanding others’ emotions is a crucial social skill. Counter to concerns about screen time stunting kids’ development, one study suggests they’re getting better at recognizing emotion on screen.Yalda T. Uhls, Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers and Assistant Adjunct Professor in Psychology, University of California, Los AngelesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1386542020-05-27T10:39:20Z2020-05-27T10:39:20ZLockdown and tech overload – how to escape your screens<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336422/original/file-20200520-152302-zr79gf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=193%2C43%2C6983%2C4745&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From churchgoers to nursery school children, <a href="https://theconversation.com/zoom-fatigue-how-to-make-video-calls-less-tiring-137861">video calls</a>, conferences and quizzes have become a lifeline at this time. But this has also meant the boundary between work and family life has become blurred and unbalanced – with notifications, calls and messages, <a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-work-life-balance-its-all-about-integration-in-the-age-of-covid-19-137386">interrupting mealtimes and conversations</a>.</p>
<p>And herein lies part of the problem, because <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-06167-021">research has found</a> that breaks from work where we engage with our smartphones – to play games or scroll through social networks – are less effective or restorative than conventional breaks such as walking or napping. </p>
<p>This is in part why we have started a new research project to find out how increased screen use during the pandemic – for both learning and downtime – is affecting student wellbeing and concentration levels. <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-662-44188-6_40">Existing research</a> shows that students who are addicted to their phones have lower level of self-regulated learning, low level of flow – or feeling “in the zone” – and are constantly interrupted by applications on their phones when they are studying. So we want to see if enforced break time – away from all screens – could help. </p>
<h2>What the research says</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17485624">Studies</a> <a href="https://time.com/3834978/babies-use-devices/">have found</a> that by three months of age, about 40% of children regularly watch television, DVDs, or videos. And by 24 months, this number rises to 90%. </p>
<p><a href="https://commercialfreechildhood.org/wp-content/uploads/archive/facingthescreendilemma.pdf">Research from the US</a> has also found that between the ages of eight and 18, children spend on average seven hours and 11 minutes a day engaging with <a href="https://theconversation.com/screen-time-for-children-the-whos-extreme-new-approach-may-do-little-to-curb-obesity-116208">screen-based entertainment</a>. While <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/features-and-news/decade-of-digital-dependency">research from Ofcom</a> shows that, on average, adults in the UK check their phones every 12 minutes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336416/original/file-20200520-152320-2f1ecb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336416/original/file-20200520-152320-2f1ecb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336416/original/file-20200520-152320-2f1ecb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336416/original/file-20200520-152320-2f1ecb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336416/original/file-20200520-152320-2f1ecb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336416/original/file-20200520-152320-2f1ecb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336416/original/file-20200520-152320-2f1ecb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One in four children and young people show signs of addiction to smartphones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this sense, lockdown isn’t helping those who are already addicted to their screens. The need to constantly check the news is also creating new screen addicts – linked with increased levels of stress, anxiety, insomnia, <a href="https://www.magnapubs.com/product/online-seminars/live/trauma-informed-pedagogy-teaching-in-uncertain-times/">and even trauma</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32271070Science">Research proves</a> that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-16525-9">too much screen time</a> results in headaches, migraines, eyestrain, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29376457">obesity</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25193149">sleep deprivation</a>. It’s thought to also cause <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/1/e023191">behavioural problems in children</a>, difficulties at school, and increased levels of violence. </p>
<h2>How to de-screen</h2>
<p>All of which highlights the importance of taking a break from screens – particularly during this time of increased stress. Below are some tips to help.</p>
<p><strong>Take a day off:</strong> Put one day a week aside to give yourself and your gadgets a rest. Turn off the laptop, TV, tablet and smartphone and spend some quality time “offline”. Cook a meal for your family, do some gardening, work on your hobbies, tick off some chores on your to-do list – anything as long as it’s away from the screens. </p>
<p><strong>Don’t carry your phone around:</strong> Your phone does not have to permanently reside in your pocket, this just encourages bad habits like checking it on the toilet or at the dinner table. Being “deviceless” helps you to live in the moment, unwind and focus more on what you’re doing – without worrying about what might be happening “out there”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336417/original/file-20200520-152349-uy5j06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336417/original/file-20200520-152349-uy5j06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336417/original/file-20200520-152349-uy5j06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336417/original/file-20200520-152349-uy5j06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336417/original/file-20200520-152349-uy5j06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336417/original/file-20200520-152349-uy5j06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336417/original/file-20200520-152349-uy5j06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Find ways to have fun away from the screens.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Allow yourself to be bored:</strong> Experiencing boredom off-screen is a natural path to creativity. We can use our boredom as fuel to motivate us to achieve tasks we have been putting off. This will allow your <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/tp201153">dopamine receptors</a> to recover from all that tech use as well – excessive screen use causes <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19249271/">too much dopamine</a> to flood the brain which has been linked to addictive behaviours, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29106542/">changes in mood, increased stress</a> and <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1001347">difficulty sleeping</a>. Time away from the screen can also give you the chance to think about what you want to accomplish and how.</p>
<p><strong>Try a family switch off:</strong> Set aside some device-free time into your family schedule a few times a week. On certain days, after 6pm the whole family should switch off all devices. This will push everyone to have a few hours of quality screen-free time before bed.</p>
<p><strong>Step away from the screen:</strong> It might also be worth thinking about how to counterbalance all that screen time. For every hour you spend working, you could take ten minutes to walk around the house, make a cup of tea, jump on a trampoline, go for a quick run, do some stretches – anything to get you up and moving. This will help to bring some separation into your life – allowing you to switch off and think – without all those notifications and alerts.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336418/original/file-20200520-152338-10y2y4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336418/original/file-20200520-152338-10y2y4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336418/original/file-20200520-152338-10y2y4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336418/original/file-20200520-152338-10y2y4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336418/original/file-20200520-152338-10y2y4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336418/original/file-20200520-152338-10y2y4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336418/original/file-20200520-152338-10y2y4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Get everyone in your house together for a ‘special switch-off’ family meal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All of this is important because <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17766526">studies</a> show that exceeding two hours of recreational screen time <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/mental-wealth/201402/gray-matters-too-much-screen-time-damages-the-brain">directly affects our brains</a>, resulting in slower processing speed, shorter attention span and deterioration in memory. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20603258">Reduced screen time</a>, on the other hand, sharpens our concentration and allows us to complete tasks more efficiently and manage our time more effectively. </p>
<p>In fact why not start now: put down your phone, tablet, or whatever you are reading this on, look at something in the distance to <a href="https://yogainternational.com/article/view/4-yoga-exercises-for-eye-strain">give your eyes a good stretch</a>, and get up and do something else – your body and brain will thank you for it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138654/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Excessive screen use has been linked to addictive behaviours, changes in mood, increased stress and difficulty sleeping - here’s how to take a break.Sina Joneidy, Lecturer in Digital Enterprise, Teesside UniversityCharmele Ayadurai, Teaching Fellow, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1365972020-04-30T12:12:50Z2020-04-30T12:12:50ZHow Apple and Google will let your phone warn you if you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384530/original/file-20210216-19-1t760pj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4050%2C2685&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Apps that warn about close contact with COVID-19 cases are key to relaxing social distancing rules.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cafe-overview-leidseplein-amsterdam-holland-royalty-free-image/121853371?irgwc=1&esource=AFF_GI_IR_TinEye_77643&asid=TinEye&cid=GI&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=TinEye&utm_content=77643">Walter Bibikow/Stone via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>An updated version of this article was published on Feb. 12, 2021. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-apple-and-google-let-your-phone-warn-you-if-youve-been-exposed-to-the-coronavirus-while-protecting-your-privacy-155193">Read it here</a>.</em></p>
<p>On April 10, <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/04/apple-and-google-partner-on-covid-19-contact-tracing-technology/">Apple</a> and <a href="https://blog.google/inside-google/company-announcements/apple-and-google-partner-covid-19-contact-tracing-technology/">Google</a> announced a coronavirus exposure notification system that will be built into their smartphone operating systems, iOS and Android. The system uses the ubiquitous Bluetooth short-range wireless communication technology. </p>
<p>There are dozens of apps being developed around the world that alert people if they’ve been exposed to a person who has tested positive for COVID-19. Many of them also report the identities of the exposed people to public health authorities, which has <a href="https://theconversation.com/digital-surveillance-can-help-bring-the-coronavirus-pandemic-under-control-but-also-threatens-privacy-135151">raised privacy concerns</a>. Several other exposure notification projects, including <a href="https://pact.mit.edu/">PACT</a>, <a href="https://bluetrace.io/">BlueTrace</a> and the <a href="https://covid-watch.org/">Covid Watch project</a>, take a similar privacy-protecting approach to Apple’s and Google’s initiative.</p>
<p>So how will the Apple-Google exposure notification system work? As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=C0ddY2kAAAAJ&hl=en">researchers</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qtoNz_AAAAAJ&hl=en">who</a> study security and privacy of wireless communication, we have examined the companies’ plan and have assessed its effectiveness and privacy implications.</p>
<p>Recently, a study found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30074-7">contact tracing can be effective</a> in containing diseases such as COVID-19, if large parts of the population participate. Exposure notification schemes like the Apple-Google system aren’t true contact tracing systems because they don’t allow public health authorities to identify people who have been exposed to infected individuals. But digital exposure notification systems have a big advantage: hey can be used by millions of people and rapidly warn those who have been exposed to quarantine themselves. </p>
<h2>Bluetooth beacons</h2>
<p>Because Bluetooth is supported on <a href="https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-about-bluetooth/markets/">billions of devices</a>, it seems like an obvious choice of technology for these systems. The protocol used for this is Bluetooth Low Energy, or Bluetooth LE for short. This variant is optimized for energy-efficient communication between small devices, which makes it a popular protocol for smartphones and wearables such as smart watches.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331527/original/file-20200429-51489-yqqojq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bluetooth allows phones that are near each other to communicate. Phones that have been near each other for long enough can approximate potential viral transmission.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/january-2020-us-las-vegas-the-lettering-bluetooth-and-the-news-photo/1192777149?adppopup=true">Christoph Dernbach/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bluetooth LE communicates in two main ways. Two devices can communicate over the data channel with each other, such as a smart watch synchronizing with a phone. Devices can also broadcast useful information to nearby devices over the advertising channel. For example, some devices regularly announce their presence to facilitate automatic connection.</p>
<p>To build an exposure notification app using Bluetooth LE, developers could assign everyone a permanent ID and make every phone broadcast it on an advertising channel. Then, they could build an app that receives the IDs so every phone would be able to keep a record of close encounters with other phones. But that would be a clear violation of privacy. Broadcasting any personally identifiable information via Bluetooth LE is a bad idea, because messages can be read by anyone in range.</p>
<h2>Anonymous exchanges</h2>
<p>To get around this problem, every phone broadcasts a long random number, which is changed frequently. Other devices receive these numbers and store them if they were sent from close proximity. By using long, unique, random numbers, no personal information is sent via Bluetooth LE.</p>
<p>Apple and Google follow this principle <a href="https://covid19-static.cdn-apple.com/applications/covid19/current/static/contact-tracing/pdf/ContactTracing-BluetoothSpecificationv1.1.pdf">in their specification</a>, but add some cryptography. First, every phone generates a unique tracing key that is kept confidentially on the phone. Every day, the tracing key generates a new daily tracing key. Though the tracing key could be used to identify the phone, the daily tracing key can’t be used to figure out the phone’s permanent tracing key. Then, every 10 to 20 minutes, the daily tracing key generates a new rolling proximity identifier, which looks just like a long random number. This is what gets broadcast to other devices via the Bluetooth advertising channel.</p>
<p>When someone tests positive for COVID-19, they can disclose a list of their daily tracing keys, usually from the previous 14 days. Everyone else’s phones use the disclosed keys to re-create the infected person’s rolling proximity identifiers. The phones then compare the COVID-19-positive identifiers with their own records of the identifiers they received from nearby phones. A match reveals a potential exposure to the virus, but it doesn’t identify the patient.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331530/original/file-20200429-51500-967fes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Australian government’s COVIDSafe app warns about close encounters with people who are COVID-19-positive, but unlike the Apple-Google system COVIDSafe reports the contacts to public health authorities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-illustration-the-covidsafe-logo-seen-news-photo/1211085440?adppopup=true">Florent Rols/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most of the competing proposals use a similar approach. The principal difference is that Apple’s and Google’s operating system updates reach far more phones automatically than a single app can. Additionally, by proposing a cross-platform standard, Apple and Google allow existing apps to piggyback and use a common, compatible communication approach that could work across many apps. </p>
<h2>No plan is perfect</h2>
<p>The Apple-Google exposure notification system is very secure, but it’s <a href="https://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2020/04/12/contact-tracing-in-the-real-world/">no guarantee of either accuracy or privacy</a>. The system could produce a large number of false positives because being within Bluetooth range of an infected person doesn’t necessarily mean the virus has been transmitted. And even if an app records only very strong signals as a proxy for close contact, it cannot know whether there was a wall, a window or a floor between the phones.</p>
<p>However unlikely, there are ways governments or hackers could track or identify people using the system. Bluetooth LE devices use an advertising address when broadcasting on an advertising channel. Though these addresses can be randomized to protect the identity of the sender, we demonstrated last year that it is theoretically <a href="https://doi.org/10.2478/popets-2019-0036">possible to track devices for extended periods of time</a> if the advertising message and advertising address are not changed in sync. To Apple’s and Google’s credit, they call for these to be changed synchronously. </p>
<p>But even if the advertising address and a coronavirus app’s rolling identifier are changed in sync, it may still be possible to track someone’s phone. If there isn’t a sufficiently large number of other devices nearby that also change their advertising addresses and rolling identifiers in sync – a process known as mixing – someone could still track individual devices. For example, if there is a single phone in a room, someone could keep track of it because it’s the only phone that could be broadcasting the random identifiers. </p>
<p>Another potential attack involves logging additional information along with the rolling identifiers. Even though the protocol does not send personal information or location data, receiving apps could record when and where they received keys from other phones. If this was done on a large scale – such as an app that systematically collects this extra information – it could be used to identify and track individuals. For example, if a supermarket recorded the exact date and time of incoming rolling proximity identifiers at its checkout lanes and combined that data with credit card swipes, store staff would have a reasonable chance of identifying which customers were COVID-19 positive.</p>
<p>And because Bluetooth LE advertising beacons use plain-text messages, it’s possible to send faked messages. This could be used to troll others by repeating known COVID-19-positive rolling proximity identifiers to many people, resulting in deliberate false positives.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the Apple-Google system could be the key to alerting thousands of people who have been exposed to the coronavirus while protecting their identities, unlike contact tracing apps that report identifying information to central government or corporate databases.</p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-help">Read The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136597/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johannes Becker works for Boston University. His research is funded in part by the US National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations presented in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the US National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Starobinski works for Boston University. His research is funded in part by the US National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations presented in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the US National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>Bluetooth wireless communication makes it possible to track when people have been exposed to people infected with the coronavirus. The right cryptography scheme keeps alerts about exposures private.Johannes Becker, Doctoral student in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boston UniversityDavid Starobinski, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1164262019-11-06T19:04:56Z2019-11-06T19:04:56ZHow to deal with smartphone stress<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300022/original/file-20191104-88394-gn07j5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C0%2C5979%2C4007&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We spend on average four hours a day looking at our phones. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the past decade, smartphones have gone from being a status item to an indispensable part of our everyday lives. And we spend <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/au/mobile-consumer-survey">a lot of time</a> on them, around <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/corporate/coverage/be-prepared-mobile">four hours a day on average</a>.</p>
<p>There’s an increasing body of research that shows smartphones can interfere with our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597814000089">sleep</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853217300159">productivity</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032716303196">mental health</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-016-1011-z">impulse control</a>. Even having a <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/691462">smartphone within reach</a> can reduce available cognitive capacity. </p>
<p>But it’s recently been suggested we should be more concerned with the potential for smartphones to shorten our lives by chronically <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/well/mind/putting-down-your-phone-may-help-you-live-longer.html">raising our levels of cortisol</a>, one of the body’s main stress hormones.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-reasons-to-get-your-stress-levels-in-check-this-year-86764">Three reasons to get your stress levels in check this year</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The stress hormone</h2>
<p>Cortisol is often mislabelled as the primary fight-or-flight hormone that springs us into action when we are facing a threat (it is actually adrenaline that does this). Cortisol is produced when we are under stress, but its role is to keep the body on high alert, by increasing blood sugar levels and <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2004-15935-004">suppressing the immune system</a>. </p>
<p>This serves us well when dealing with an immediate physical threat that resolves quickly. But when we’re faced with ongoing emotional stressors (like 24/7 work emails) chronically elevated cortisol levels can lead to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10732263">all sorts of health problems</a> including diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and depression. The long term risks for disease, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2010-0192">heart attack, stroke</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2019.00043">dementia</a> are also increased, all of which can lead to premature death.</p>
<p>While many people say they feel more stressed now than <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-10-13/smartphone-survey-results-show-fascinating-differences-in-usage/9042184">before they had a smartphone</a>, research has yet to determine the role our smartphones play in actually elevating our levels of cortisol throughout the day. </p>
<p>A recent study found greater smartphone use was associated with a greater rise in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563217306908">cortisol awakening response</a> – the natural spike in cortisol that occurs around 30 minutes after waking to prepare us for the demands of the day. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300024/original/file-20191104-88378-14tmhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300024/original/file-20191104-88378-14tmhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300024/original/file-20191104-88378-14tmhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300024/original/file-20191104-88378-14tmhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300024/original/file-20191104-88378-14tmhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300024/original/file-20191104-88378-14tmhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300024/original/file-20191104-88378-14tmhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300024/original/file-20191104-88378-14tmhxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the past, we couldn’t receive angry emails from our bosses 24/7.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Awakening responses that are too high or too low are associated with <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0167876008007940">poor physical and mental health</a>. But smartphone use did not affect participants’ natural pattern of cortisol rises and falls throughout the rest of the day. And no other studies have pointed to a link between smartphone use and chronically elevated cortisol levels.</p>
<p>However people still do report feelings of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15213269.2015.1121832">digital stress</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563215300893">information</a> and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ct/article/27/3/269/4651866">communication overload</a>.</p>
<p>Checking work emails in the evening or first thing upon waking can lead to the kind of stress that could potentially interfere with natural cortisol rhythms (not to mention <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597814000089">sleep</a>). <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563214007018">Social media can also be stressful</a>, making us feel tethered to our social networks, exposing us to conflict and cyberbullying, and fostering social comparison and <a href="https://clutejournals.com/index.php/JBER/article/view/9554">FoMO</a> (fear of missing out).</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-years-resolutions-how-to-get-your-stress-levels-in-check-34539">New year's resolutions: how to get your stress levels in check</a>
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<p>Despite being aware of these stressors, the dopamine hit we get thanks to social media’s <a href="http://sheu.org.uk/sheux/EH/eh363mdg.pdf">addictive design</a> means there is still a compulsion to check our feeds and notifications whenever we find ourselves with idle time. More than half of under 35s regularly check their smartphone <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-10-13/smartphone-survey-results-show-fascinating-differences-in-usage/9042184">when on the toilet</a>.</p>
<h2>Some tips</h2>
<p>Dealing with smartphone-induced stress is not as simple as having periods of going cold turkey. The withdrawals associated with the unofficial condition known as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4036142/">nomophobia</a> (an abbreviation of “no-mobile-phone phobia”) have also been shown to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6143708/">increase cortisol levels</a>. </p>
<p>Rather than going on a digital detox, which has been likened to the fad of the <a href="https://qz.com/1229311/digital-detoxing-is-the-tech-equivalent-of-a-juice-cleanse-and-neither-of-them-work/">juice cleanse diet</a>, we should be aiming for <a href="https://www.digitalnutrition.com.au/">digital nutrition</a>. That is, maintaining a healthier relationship with our smartphones where we are more mindful and intentional about what we consume digitally, so we can maximise the benefits and minimise the stress they bring to our lives.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300027/original/file-20191104-88368-9qo4rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300027/original/file-20191104-88368-9qo4rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300027/original/file-20191104-88368-9qo4rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300027/original/file-20191104-88368-9qo4rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300027/original/file-20191104-88368-9qo4rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300027/original/file-20191104-88368-9qo4rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300027/original/file-20191104-88368-9qo4rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300027/original/file-20191104-88368-9qo4rf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Making the bed and kitchen table phone-free zones can help to reduce their effect on our lives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Here are some tips for healthier smartphone use:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Use Apple’s “<a href="https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT208982">Screen Time</a>”, Android’s <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.actiondash.playstore&hl=en_AU">ActionDash</a> or the <a href="https://inthemoment.io/">Moment app</a> to take an audit of how often you use your phone and which apps take up most of your time</p></li>
<li><p>Turn off all but the most important app notifications (such as private messages) so you can take back control of when you look at your phone. You can also allocate certain times of the day to be notification free</p></li>
<li><p>Turn off the “push” or “fetch new data” option on your smartphone’s email. This way emails will only appear when you open the mail app and refresh it. As an added bonus this will help extend your phone’s battery life</p></li>
<li><p>Take some time to complete a digital declutter, which includes unfollowing people/pages (there’s an <a href="https://blogs.systweak.com/how-to-mass-unfollow-on-instagram/">app</a> for that!) and unsubscribing from email lists (<a href="https://www.cleanfox.io/en/">that too</a>!) that cause you stress or don’t benefit you. Remember you can unfollow friends on Facebook without defriending them</p></li>
<li><p>Create tech-free zones in your house, such as the kitchen table or bedrooms. An “out of sight out of mind” approach will help keep smartphone-delivered stress from creeping into your downtime</p></li>
<li><p>Set a digital curfew to support better restorative sleep and don’t keep your phone next to your bed. Instead of reaching for your phone first thing in the morning, start your day with a brief meditation, some exercise, or a slow breakfast</p></li>
<li><p>Be mindful and curious about how often you pick up your phone during the day simply out of boredom. Instead of bombarding your mind with information, use these opportunities to clear your mind with a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bs0qUB3BHQ">short breathing exercise</a>. There’s even a mindfulness exercise that challenges you to hold your phone while you <a href="https://www.mindful.org/addicted-to-your-phone-try-this-practice-phone-in-hand/">meditate on your relationship with it</a>, so you can reclaim your phone as a cue to check-in with yourself, rather than your emails or social media feed.</p></li>
</ol><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116426/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Ridout does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The relationship between our smartphones and levels of the stress hormone cortisol isn’t yet clear, but people report feeling more stressed than they were before they had a smartphone.Brad Ridout, Research Fellow; Registered Psychologist; Deputy Chair, Cyberpsychology Research Group, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1220772019-10-11T12:31:19Z2019-10-11T12:31:19ZFor young refugees, a mobile phone can be as important as food and water when arriving in a new country<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296265/original/file-20191009-3860-1kzcv53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C100%2C7439%2C4870&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/smiling-woman-holding-black-smartphone-937541/">Pexels</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Between 2015 and 2018, more than 200,000 unaccompanied children <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/9751525/3-26042019-BP-EN.pdf/291c8e87-45b5-4108-920d-7d702c1d6990">claimed asylum in Europe</a>. Many of these young people, now in the EU, have one thing in common: their smart phones. </p>
<p>Digital tools are not only a means to keep in touch with friends and family. They can also become a lifeline for refugees and unaccompanied minors, according to a <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/latest/2016/9/57d7d4478/mobile-connectivity-lifeline-refugees-report-finds.html">recent report</a>, becoming as essential as food, water and shelter. But for many of these unaccompanied young children, out-of-date kit, lack of access to digital technologies and expensive mobile broadband packages <a href="https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/projects/media-literacy-unaccompanied-refugee-youth">can all act as barriers</a> to being able to live in a digital environment. </p>
<p>Similarly, levels of literacy, can also significantly hinder technological development. And without structured educational provision, many young refugees can also struggle because of poor IT skills. </p>
<p>As researchers based in the UK and Hungary, we decided we wanted to help. And what began as a chance conversation at a conference in Prague, is now a major research project. The main aim of our two-year-long <a href="https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/projects/media-literacy-unaccompanied-refugee-youth">media literacy</a> project was to understand how unaccompanied young refugees use digital technologies and social media. </p>
<p>We wanted to find out whether these technologies can help to foster successful integration. The fieldwork was carried out in four European countries with a high share of unaccompanied minors among asylum-seekers: Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK. </p>
<h2>EU Calling</h2>
<p>Our project involved interviews with 56 refugees, age 14-19, as well as their carers, mentors and educators. We met and observed the young people in their homes and community centres. We also carried out “digital ethnography” –- a type of online “audit” – on Facebook, with some of the children.</p>
<p>We found that young refugees can become easily lost when trying to access the digital world, needing multiple skills and tools to integrate successfully into a highly networked culture. The plethora of service providers, social media platforms and devices can be intimidating at first, but we were astonished at how quickly some of the young people we worked with were able to finds ways to negotiate their new digital circumstances – often after leaving war-torn countries. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296271/original/file-20191009-3935-1jkyaqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296271/original/file-20191009-3935-1jkyaqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296271/original/file-20191009-3935-1jkyaqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296271/original/file-20191009-3935-1jkyaqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296271/original/file-20191009-3935-1jkyaqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296271/original/file-20191009-3935-1jkyaqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296271/original/file-20191009-3935-1jkyaqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A phone can be a lifeline for unaccompanied minors.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/family-went-out-city-walk-three-1390286885?src=54nfh8c7CiIONfOYKUCJtg-1-20">Shutterstock/Marian Fil</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From using translating apps, to communicate with locals, to downloading music from their own countries, some of these young people learned very rapidly how these tools work. That said, this was not the case for the majority of unaccompanied young people. </p>
<p>And for many, mentors or guardians were often the first point of aid when it came to problems encountered online. Older refugee children who have perhaps been in the new host country for some time – or have more familiarity with digital technologies – were also found to be key in helping new and arriving young people to better understand the digital world. </p>
<h2>Digital navigation</h2>
<p>We also found that many of the young people did not think too critically about their online experiences. And in an era of “fake news” they may be ushered into making poor judgements on what information to trust, and which opinions to follow. So for this reason we created an app called Media+Mentor specifically for mentors or educators who work with unaccompanied refugee youth. </p>
<p>The idea is that the <a href="https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/news/2019-08-30/mentor-media-new-app-professionals-working-refugee-youth">Media+Mentor</a> app will bring mentors and carers together. The app will also point users to further resources, support and advice on the most common issues unaccompanied minors face online – such as fake news, cyberbullying or hate speech.</p>
<p>From <a href="https://issuu.com/blueanna/docs/illustration_final1">our findings</a>, it’s clear that media literacy education is essential for these young people and their mentors. Indeed, for any teenager in the EU, popular apps and platforms are useful resources for learning new things, finding relevant information or simply as a way to connect with other young people. But as a refugee in a new country it can be hard to know how to access such help.</p>
<p>And these children are not just crossing physical borders, but are shifting into the heightened technological spaces that all EU youth probably take for granted. It has been estimated, for example, that 83% of young people across the EU use their <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Being_young_in_Europe_today_-_digital_world">smart phones to access the internet</a> – and generally use fairly up-to-date kit.</p>
<p>So we hope that our research could help to provide young refugee people with the skills needed to stay safe and thrive – not only in the online world, but also in a new country where they are building new lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122077/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annamaria Neag receives funding from the EU’s Horizon2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 747083.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>This project has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 747083.</span></em></p>But out-of-date kit, lack of access to digital technologies and expensive mobile broadband packages can all act as barriers to being able to operate successfully in the digital world.Annamaria Neag, Marie Curie Research Fellow, Bournemouth UniversityRichard Berger, Associate Professor, Head of Research and Professional Practice, Department of Media Production, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1196152019-09-18T12:35:00Z2019-09-18T12:35:00ZI researched Uighur society in China for 8 years and watched how technology opened new opportunities – then became a trap<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287414/original/file-20190808-144888-x3l2i6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Uighurs wait in line at a face scan checkpoint in Turpan, Xinjiang in northwest China on April 11, 2018</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Darren Byler</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Uighurs, a Muslim minority ethnic group of <a href="http://www.xjtj.gov.cn/sjcx/tjnj_3415/2016xjtjnj/rkjy/201707/t20170714_539450.html">around 12 million</a> in northwest China, are <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/05/01/chinas-algorithms-repression/reverse-engineering-xinjiang-police-mass-surveillance">required</a> by the police to carry their smartphones and IDs listing their ethnicity.</p>
<p>As they pass through one of the thousands of newly built digital media and face surveillance checkpoints located at jurisdictional boundaries, entrances to religious spaces and transportation hubs, the image on their ID is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/technology/china-surveillance-artificial-intelligence-racial-profiling.html">matched to their face</a>.</p>
<p>If they try to pass without these items, a digital device scanner alerts the police. </p>
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<p>But even complying with the rules won’t necessarily keep them out of trouble. During random spot-checks <a href="https://logicmag.io/china/ghost-world/">the police at times demand</a> that an individual hands over their unlocked phone which the police then examine manually or plug into a scanner. </p>
<p>I did <a href="https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=m07s5swAAAAJ&hl=en">ethnographic research</a> with Han and Uighur migrants for more than 24 months between 2011 and 2018 in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, in northwest China. During this period, I was affiliated with the Xinjiang Arts Institute. My position allowed me to interview <a href="https://logicmag.io/china/ghost-world/">hundreds</a> of Han and Uighur people. I read and speak both Uighur and Chinese so I was able to communicate with people in their own language.</p>
<p>When I first began my research in the region, smartphone use was not that tightly controlled by the police. But by 2018 it had became common knowledge among my Uighur interviewees that if they did not carry their phone with them or failed to produce it they <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10670564.2019.1621529">could be detained</a>. </p>
<h2>The Uighur internet</h2>
<p>The Uighur majority areas on the border of Central Asia only became a fully <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02634937.2017.1410468?journalCode=ccas20">integrated part</a> of China in the 2000s. They were effectively colonized when millions of non-Muslim Han settlers <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/O/bo23151172.html">moved into their community</a> in the 1990s and 2000s to extract natural resources such as oil and natural gas. </p>
<p>Earlier they lived <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315243054">much more autonomously</a> in desert oasis towns and villages much like the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan, a group that shares a similar history and language as the Uighurs.</p>
<p>In 2011, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563211002135">the Chinese government built 3-G networks</a> in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Cheap <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563211002135">smartphones</a> soon became available in local markets of this region and Uighurs <a href="https://www.academia.edu/40024087/Uyghur_Social_Media_and_Internet">began to use</a> the new social media app WeChat.</p>
<p>WeChat, which is owned by <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/04/what-is-wechat-china-biggest-messaging-app.html">the Chinese company Tencent</a>, was put into general use across the whole country in 2012 after Facebook and Twitter <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2009/07/07/china-blocks-access-to-twitter-facebook-after-riots/">were banned in 2009</a>. </p>
<p>Smartphones <a href="https://www.academia.edu/40024087/Uyghur_Social_Media_and_Internet">became a common feature</a> of daily life for millions of Uighur villagers. At the time, the way Uighurs used them was unique. In other parts of China, the Chinese language was used in social media communication. Uighur uses Arabic script – radically different from the character based Chinese – and acted as a form of coded speech that state censors couldn’t understand.</p>
<p><a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/42946/Byler_washington_0250E_19242.pdf?sequence=1">When I began my research project</a>, I was interested in the way online culture produced forms of Islamic, Chinese and Western identity and the way it brought people of different ethnicities together.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292329/original/file-20190912-190012-4stjck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292329/original/file-20190912-190012-4stjck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292329/original/file-20190912-190012-4stjck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292329/original/file-20190912-190012-4stjck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292329/original/file-20190912-190012-4stjck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292329/original/file-20190912-190012-4stjck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292329/original/file-20190912-190012-4stjck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This November 2017 photo shows residents walking through a security checkpoint into the Hotan Bazaar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/China-Digital-Police-State/d88358fd6ab142148254af5185eed95c/247/0">AP Photo/Ng Han Guan</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I found that Uighurs used smartphones differently than other internet users. On traditional internet sites that required text-based communication, Uighur web users faced <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/04/21/welcome-to-the-uighur-web/">tighter forms of censorship</a> since state authorities viewed them as potential terrorists. They were viewed this way since Uighurs had long protested the way their <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674660373">briefly independent nation</a> had been <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-uyghurs/9780231147583">subsumed by China</a> and their religious practices were restricted, <a href="https://brill.com/view/title/20646?lang=en">lashing out violently</a> at times. </p>
<p>Using WeChat on smartphones <a href="https://www.academia.edu/40024087/Uyghur_Social_Media_and_Internet">gave Uighurs</a> the ability to circulate short audio messages, videos and images. Beginning in 2012 this allowed Uighurs to develop semi-autonomous forums in Uighur spoken language. </p>
<p>Initially Chinese state authorities did not have the technical capabilities to monitor and control Uighur oral speech or Uighur text embedded in images as memes. They could turn the Uighur internet on and off, but they could not fully regulate what Uighurs said because they spoke in another language. </p>
<p>Based on hundreds of interviews and <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/42946/Byler_washington_0250E_19242.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">my own observations</a> Uighurs <a href="https://voicesoncentralasia.org/muslim-china-and-de-extremification-campaign-interview-with-darren-byler-living-otherwise/">used these forums</a> <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02634937.2018.1492904?journalCode=ccas20">to discuss</a> cultural knowledge, political events and economic opportunities outside their local communities. </p>
<p>Over the course of only a few years, online Islamic teachers based in the region and elsewhere in the Islamic world, in places like Turkey and Uzbekistan, <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/42946/Byler_washington_0250E_19242.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">became influential</a> throughout Uighur social media. Their messages focused primarily on Islamic piety. They described what types of practices were halal, and how people should dress and pray. </p>
<p>According to scholars <a href="https://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff31068.php">Rachel Harris</a> and <a href="https://soas.academia.edu/AzizIsaElkun">Aziz Isa</a> the vast majority of those who began to study <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02634937.2018.1492904?journalCode=ccas20">Islam by smartphone</a> were simply interested in instruction on what it might mean to be a contemporary Muslim, something they felt was lacking in government-censored state-run mosques. </p>
<h2>The Uighur internet as a space of surveillance</h2>
<p>But Chinese state authorities interpreted it differently.</p>
<p>They regarded the Islamic appearance and practice of Uighurs, such as young men growing beards and praying five times per day, as <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/13/48-ways-to-get-sent-to-a-chinese-concentration-camp/">signs</a> of what state authorities described as the “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-xinjiang-un/un-religious-freedom-expert-seeks-visit-to-chinas-xinjiang-idUSKCN1QM24A">extremification</a>” of the Uighur population. </p>
<p>They began to link violent incidents, such as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/02/kunming-knife-attack-muslim-separatists-xinjiang-china">suicide attack</a> in the city of Kunming in Eastern China, to what government officials told me was the “<a href="https://logicmag.io/china/ghost-world/">Talibanization</a>” of the Uighurs.</p>
<p>In response to this Chinese authorities declared what they called a “<a href="http://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/viewpoint/once-their-mental-state-healthy-they-will-be-able-live-happily-society">People’s War On Terror</a>.” They began to use <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2019/01/counter-extremism-in-xinjiang-understanding-chinas-community-focused-counter-terrorism-tactics/">techniques of counterinsurgency</a>, a mode of military engagement that stresses <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/bernard-e-harcourt/the-counterrevolution/9781541697270/">mass intelligence gathering</a>, to assess the Uighur population.</p>
<p>As part of this process, in 2016, they began to collect <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2017/12/uyghur-biodata-collection-in-china/">biometric data</a>, such as DNA, high-fidelity voice recordings and face scans, from the entire population of the region <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/09/09/eradicating-ideological-viruses/chinas-campaign-repression-against-xinjiangs">in order to track</a> the activities of people on WeChat and in their daily lives using their voice signature and faceprint.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292328/original/file-20190912-190007-rlprvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292328/original/file-20190912-190007-rlprvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292328/original/file-20190912-190007-rlprvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292328/original/file-20190912-190007-rlprvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292328/original/file-20190912-190007-rlprvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292328/original/file-20190912-190007-rlprvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292328/original/file-20190912-190007-rlprvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a September 2018 photo, Uighur drivers have their vehicles checked at a police check point in Hotan, in China’s Xinjiang region.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/China-Ethnic-Unity-Village/2bc6b2cf025f497590c064ddb90e853a/94/0">AP Photo/Andy Wong</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They also began a process of interviewing millions of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities to <a href="https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190922610.001.0001/oso-9780190922610-chapter-003">determine</a> who could be categorized as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02634937.2019.1586348">trustworthy or “normal”</a> as stated on official population assessment forms. In order to determine this, state authorities <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/twelve-days-in-xinjiang-how-chinas-surveillance-state-overwhelms-daily-life-1513700355">mapped out</a> the person’s social network and history of Islamic practice, both in their local community and online.</p>
<p>Since the total Muslim population of the region, including other Muslim groups such as the Kazakhs, Hui, Kyrgyz, Tajiks and others, is around 15 million, these assessments and activity checkpoints required the deployment of more than <a href="https://jamestown.org/program/xinjiangs-rapidly-evolving-security-state/">90,000 police officers</a> and <a href="https://apjjf.org/2018/24/Byler.html">more than 1.1 million civil servants</a>.</p>
<p>The majority of the security forces are of Han ethnicity. Han people are settlers in the Uighur region. They are not Muslim, they do not speak Uighur, and many of my Han interviewees described the Uighur culture as “backward,” “primitive,” or even “dangerous.”</p>
<p>In order to aid in this assessment process, state authorities also <a href="https://logicmag.io/china/ghost-world/">contracted with Chinese private technology firms</a> to develop software programs and hardware that could comb through the images, videos and speech recordings in the WeChat histories of a targeted person in a matter of seconds.</p>
<h2>The Uighur internet as a trap</h2>
<p>Through this process around <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/china-quarterly/article/securitizing-xinjiang-police-recruitment-informal-policing-and-ethnic-minority-cooptation/FEEC613414AA33A0353949F9B791E733%22">1.5 million Uighurs and other Muslims</a> were determined “untrustworthy” and scheduled for detention and reeducation in a massive internment camp system. </p>
<p>Government procurement records show that the camp facilities have “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02634937.2018.1507997?journalCode=ccas20">no blank spots</a>” outside the vision of surveillance cameras and that the camp workers are often armed with <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/inside-chinas-internment-camps-tear-gas-tasers-and-textbooks">tasers and other weapons</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://apnews.com/6e151296fb194f85ba69a8babd972e4b">In the prison-like camps</a> the detainees were held in crowded dormitory cells where they studied Chinese, learned the political thought of Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of China’s ruling political party and confessed their past crimes. In many cases, these crimes were <a href="https://logicmag.io/china/ghost-world/">related to their internet use</a>. </p>
<p>Since more than 10% of the adult population has been removed to these camps, hundreds of thousands of children have been separated from one or more of their parents. Many children throughout the region are <a href="http://www.jpolrisk.com/break-their-roots-evidence-for-chinas-parent-child-separation-campaign-in-xinjiang/">now held in boarding schools or orphanages</a> which are run by non-Muslim state workers.</p>
<h2>Erasing identity</h2>
<p>Today the Uighur internet has begun to merge with the Chinese internet. Uighurs are <a href="https://supchina.com/2019/01/02/the-patriotism-of-not-speaking-uyghur/">discouraged from writing or speaking in Uighur</a> or <a href="https://supchina.com/2019/02/06/uyghur-cultural-and-halal-life-in-the-year-of-the-pig/">celebrating Uighur culture</a>. </p>
<p>Instead Uighurs often <a href="https://livingotherwise.com/2018/07/31/happiest-muslims-world-coping-happiness/">post statements</a> written in Chinese attesting to their loyalty to the Chinese state.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/42946/Byler_washington_0250E_19242.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">my research shows</a>, the Uighur internet has been transformed from a space that fostered a cultural flourishing for Uighurs into a space that controls many aspects of their lives. </p>
<p>In the past, it was a place where Uighurs published <a href="https://livingotherwise.com/2015/02/15/lift-and-the-future-of-uyghur-film/">short films</a>, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323132202_Claiming_the_mystical_self_in_new_modernist_Uyghur_poetry%22%22">poetry</a>, <a href="https://livingotherwise.com/reviews/uyghur-contemporary-art/">art</a> and <a href="https://livingotherwise.com/2017/07/14/ablajan-subtle-politics-uyghur-pop/">music</a>. They <a href="https://livingotherwise.com/2014/04/26/traffic-lights-and-uyghur-black-humor/">critiqued police brutality</a> and defended the <a href="https://livingotherwise.com/2016/08/26/ms-muniras-wedding-gifts-trolling-uyghur-elite-society/">social mores of Uighur society</a> against conspicuous consumption and economic corruption.</p>
<p>During my last trip to the region in 2018, my Uighur interlocutors told me that the Uighur internet <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/42946/Byler_washington_0250E_19242.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">had become a “trap,”</a> or a “qapqan” that they cannot escape.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Darren Byler received funding from the Social Science Research Council. </span></em></p>An anthropologist who interviewed Uighurs in China found different ways in which Chinese authorities used checkpoints, social media and smartphones to identify, categorize and control this group.Darren Byler, Assistant Professor, International Studies, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.