screen time

Apple has announced new child safety features designed to help parents keep their children safer online. The announcement has drawn widespread attention, with hundreds of thousands of people engaging with the news. Reaction is focused on what the tools mean for families managing screen time, communication and online protections for kids across Apple devices.

A major new study reported by the Guardian finds that high screen usage in children is linked to poorer developmental outcomes. Researchers suggest the effect of elevated screen exposure could be as significant as parental behaviour and premature birth. The findings add weight to ongoing concerns among parents, educators and health experts about how much time children spend on phones, tablets and other devices.

A large global study has examined how screen time affects children's wellbeing, according to reporting carried by Yahoo News New Zealand. The findings address an ongoing debate among parents, educators and health researchers over how digital device use shapes children's mental and physical health. Details of the study's size, methodology and conclusions were not included in the available report.

A new survey reported in the Netherlands finds that 8 in 10 people aged 16 to 34 say smartphone use harms their everyday life. The figure highlights growing concern among young adults about the impact of their own phone habits on wellbeing, focus and daily routines, adding to wider public debate about screen time and digital balance.

UF Health researchers report that cancer diagnoses in the United States drop sharply during holiday periods, while outcomes for patients diagnosed around those dates are worse. The findings suggest holiday disruptions delay screenings and follow-up care, allowing cancers to be caught at later, harder-to-treat stages, and raise questions about how seasonal healthcare patterns affect patient survival.

Derek Thompson's new essay, 'The Death of the American Host', argues that Americans have largely stopped inviting people into their homes. Time-use data show socializing at home and hosting guests has declined sharply, with people increasingly staying in alone. Readers are debating the causes, citing screens, loneliness, cost of living, and the loss of hospitality habits.

A newly published book argues that digital screens are driving growing social disconnection, examining how constant device use reshapes relationships, attention and everyday face-to-face interaction. The work adds to ongoing public debate about the psychological and social costs of screen time, joining a wider wave of recent writing on technology's effects on community and mental health.

Singapore's National Library Board is offering micropayments to encourage people to read more books and spend less time on their phones. The programme aims to build reading habits by rewarding users directly, prompting debate online about whether small financial incentives can genuinely change behaviour or trivialise the value of reading.

A film starring Denzel Washington described as 'masterfully executed' is being broadcast on BBC tonight, according to the Liverpool Echo. The actor, one of Hollywood's most decorated stars and a two-time Oscar winner, is drawing attention as viewers look up details about the screening and which of his films is being shown.

Dr Gaurav Batra, Principal Consultant Neurosurgeon at Yashoda Medicity in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, spoke to HT Lifestyle about whether excessive smartphone use could contribute to health problems. He addressed concerns including fragmented attention, disturbed sleep and recurrent headaches, adding medical perspective to the growing public debate over heavy screen time and its effects on daily wellbeing.

German broadcaster Martina Eßer has presented her last show on WDR, bidding farewell to viewers, as reported by the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. The Cologne-based public broadcaster is a fixture of regional television in North Rhine-Westphalia, so the departure of a familiar host has drawn attention from local audiences reflecting on her time on screen.

Drug Discovery News is examining why regulatory screening tends to occur only after a product's formulation, or 'recipe', has already been completed, rather than earlier in development. The question highlights a common tension in drug and food product development, where safety and compliance checks arrive late in the process, potentially forcing costly reformulations when problems are found.

Attention is turning to how young South Korean children are when they first begin using smartphones, with reports highlighting exposure starting in the toddler years. The topic has fuelled wider debate about screen time, child development and parenting habits in one of the world's most connected countries.

A new expert guide to modern digital parenting has been published, offering advice on how parents can manage children's screen time, online safety and social media use. The guide arrives as families worldwide continue to wrestle with how much device access is healthy for children and how to set effective boundaries at home.

PBS is making its American Masters documentary 'Raúl Juliá: The World's a Stage' available to watch online, but only for a limited time. The film celebrates the Puerto Rican actor's life and career on stage and screen. Viewers are being urged to watch soon, noting that free access to PBS programming is restricted, which the network links to long-running pressure on its public funding, and availability may also depend on geographic location.

A new date has been announced for a Leipzig screening of the documentary 'Ghost in the Machine' (USA 2026, 110 minutes, FSK 12), directed by Valerie Veatch. The film, shown in English with English subtitles, is described as an investigative documentary exploring the hidden history of artificial intelligence. It screens on 17 October at 18:30, and locals are being informed of the rescheduled showing.

A television adaptation of Spider-Man's Clone Saga is reportedly moving toward a series order at Prime Video. The project would bring the famously convoluted 1990s comic storyline — centered on clones of Peter Parker, including Ben Reilly — to live action for the first time. Fans have long considered the saga one of Marvel's most ambitious and divisive arcs, and reactions to a screen version are already mixed.

Parents and teens alike are being warned about 'phubbing' — snubbing people in favour of a phone. A new parenting-focused report says the habit damages relationships at home, with family members checking devices during conversations and meals. The advice circulating is that adults model the behaviour as much as teenagers, so change has to start with parents putting their own phones down.

New research suggests that the amount of time young children spend looking at screens affects their developmental outcomes on a similar scale to major risk factors such as growing up in poverty or being born prematurely. The findings are prompting debate among parents and child development experts about how much screen use is safe in early childhood and whether clearer official guidance is needed.

Streaming platforms that built their businesses on music and television are increasingly adding video games to their offerings, raising the question of whether gaming is becoming a core part of their strategy rather than an experiment. Industry commentary suggests entertainment companies see interactive content as a way to keep subscribers engaged and attract new audiences as competition for screen time intensifies.

Entertainment Weekly has published a ranked list of the 30 best movie duos of all time, ordered from 'lovable to lethal'. The roundup celebrates iconic on-screen pairings across film history, from comedic partnerships to deadly action teams. Film fans are sharing and debating the picks, as is typical with ranked lists of beloved movie pairings.

SwitchBot looks set to launch a new smart home hub called the AI Hub Show, which may include a built-in display. The find comes from an analysis of the company's Android and iOS apps, where references to the unreleased device were uncovered. Details such as pricing and release timing are not yet known.

An update has emerged on the status of a planned sequel to 'The Love Hypothesis', the film adaptation of Ali Hazelwood's bestselling romance novel. The news confirms where the follow-up project stands in its development. Fans of the original book and its screen adaptation are closely watching for further details on casting and release timing.

A writer reflects on time spent wandering through Tokyo, arguing that people put great effort into erasing the medium between themselves and what they see: the frame, the filter, the screen. The cleaner the image, the less we notice we are watching, the reflection suggests, and Tokyo in the rain made that mediation impossible to forget. The note touches on photography, attention and how a view becomes something more than an image when weather and place intrude.