Why some schools are cutting back on the technology they spent billions on; The Washington Post, May 7, 2026

 Lauren Lumpkin, The Washington Post ; Why some schools are cutting back on the technology they spent billions on

"The scrutiny comes amid a reckoning with the ubiquitous — and potentially dangerous — role of technology in children’s lives."

Google Starts Scanning All Your Photos As New Update Goes Live; Forbes, April 20, 2026

 Zak Doffman, Forbes; Google Starts Scanning All Your Photos As New Update Goes Live

"Take a moment to think before you dive in. That’s the best advice for Google Photos users, as the company confirms its latest update can scan all your photos to “use actual images of you and your loved ones” in AI image generation. That means Gemini seeing who you know and what you do. You likely have tens or hundreds of thousands of photos. They’re all exposed if you update.

We’re talking Personal Intelligence, Google’s latest AI upgrade path which lets users opt-in to connecting Google apps to Gemini...

This is the latest iteration in the ongoing battle between convenience and privacy playing out on our phones and computers."

Juries Take the Lead in the Push for Child Online Safety; The New York Times, March 26, 2026

 Cecilia Kang, The New York Times; Juries Take the Lead in the Push for Child Online Safety

A pair of verdicts held social media companies accountable for harming young users, highlighting a growing backlash as Congress struggles to pass legislation.

"But this week, two juries held social media companies accountable for harming young users.

In Los Angeles on Wednesday, a jury decided in favor of a plaintiff who had claimed that Meta and YouTube hooked her with addictive features — a verdict validating a novel legal strategy holding the companies accountable for personal injury. And a day earlier in New Mexico, a jury found Meta liable for violating state law by failing to safeguard users of its apps from child predators.

The landmark decisions highlight a growing backlash against social media and its effects on young people, including criticism from parents and policymakers around the globe that it is contributing to a youth mental health crisis. And they show that the push for change may finally be gaining steam.

U.S. lawmakers said on Wednesday that the verdicts underscored the need for child safety legislation. Senators Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, and Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, called for legislators to pass their bill, the Kids Online Safety Act.

Federal momentum would build on laws in more than 30 states banning phones in schools. Globally, Australia in December banned social media for those under 16. Spain, Denmark, France, Malaysia and Indonesia are considering similar restrictions."

Americans Didn’t Panic About the Telephone. We Didn’t Need To.; The New York Times, March 10, 2026

 Andrew Heisel, The New York Times; Americans Didn’t Panic About the Telephone. We Didn’t Need To.

"The telephone wrought great changes, and yet in reviewing over 40,000 articles — including every headline in a newspaper database containing “telephone” or “phone” for the technology’s first 30 years of existence — I found no evidence of panic. There was nothing like the current alarm over, say, smartphones. Histories of the phone don’t show much distress, either. “There was little serious controversy about the telephone,” Claude Fischer wrote in his study “America Calling.”

Yet the telephone offered plenty to dislike."

Gambling. Investing. Gaming. There’s No Difference Anymore.; The New York Times, October 20, 2025

 Jonathan D. Cohen and Isaac Rose-Berman, The New York Times ; Gambling. Investing. Gaming. There’s No Difference Anymore.

[Kip Currier: It's good to see online gambling issues getting more attention, as in this 10/20/25 New York Times Op-Ed. One of the piece's writers is Jonathan D. Cohen, author of the 2025 book “Losing Big: America’s Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling".

I spoke on these issues in my talk -- AI Gambling Thirst Traps and God: Christian Imperatives, Church Roles, and Ethical Responsibilities -- at the September 2-5, 2025 Faithful Futures: Guiding AI with Wisdom and Witness conference in Minneapolis. A publication based on the talk is forthcoming.]

[Excerpt]

"If it feels as if gambling is everywhere, that’s because it is. But today’s gamblers aren’t just retirees at poker tables. They’re young men on smartphones. And thanks to a series of quasi-legal innovations by the online wagering industry, Americans can now bet on virtually anything from their investment accounts. 

In recent years, this industry has been gamifying the investing experience; on brightly colored smartphone apps, risking your money is as easy and attractive as playing Candy Crush. On the app of the investment brokerage Robinhood, users can now buy stocks on one tab, “bet” on Oscars outcomes on another, and trade crypto on a third.

Given a recent explosion in unsafe gambling and growing evidence of severe financial harm, one might ask whether the government should be permitting 18-year-olds to effectively bet on the Dallas Cowboys with the same accounts they can use to invest in Coca-Cola. Under President Trump, who has a son serving as an adviser to two entrants in the sports prediction marketplace, the answer appears to be a firm yes."

How to Secure Your Phone for the No Kings Protest; Your Time Starts Now (Substack), October 15, 2025

 LORI CORBET MANN, Your Time Starts Now (Substack); How to Secure Your Phone for the No Kings Protest

"This post is about using technology safely at a protest — how to protect yourself, and the people you organise with, from unnecessary risk.

It’s a longer read than I would have liked — I’ve learned that when I just post the steps, I’m flooded with questions asking why, so I’ve explained the reasoning too. But if you prefer to skip straight to the practical advice, you’ll find a downloadable checklist at the end.

Technology is everywhere: phones, tablets, headphones, smartwatches, fitness trackers. In everyday life that’s fine, but at a protest it can expose you and others to tracking and surveillance.

This guide explains how those devices broadcast information, how that data can be used to identify or locate you, and what you can do to reduce those risks. The aim isn’t to frighten you — it’s to help you make calm, informed choices about what you carry and how you use it."

Don't mourn the loss of libraries – the internet has made them obsolete; The Telegraph, 3/29/16

John McTernan, The Telegraph; Don't mourn the loss of libraries – the internet has made them obsolete:

"The truth, and it is a sad truth for former librarians like myself, is that the public are voting with their feet. Councils are only following the lead of the public with library closures.

We can, and should, still love books, but we should not be sentimental about libraries, because they are a means to an end. Access to information is now widely available via smartphones: three quarters of us have one, it was one in five in 2010. Library and information services have to be designed with that reality in mind.

The true inequality remains access to books and reading. Children who grow up with and around books do better educationally than those who don’t. That is where childcare, nurseries and schools are the key. Libraries must adapt to the changing habits of adults, where there is a clear and irreversible trajectory there. But they must never abandon children."