I was at my friend Tim’s house when I noticed a strange square thing on his wall. ‘It’s given me back two hours a day’ he said when he saw me looking at it quizzically. It turns out that ‘The Brick’ is an innovative device that will help you turn off certain Apps on your phone at times of your choosing, thus removing the temptation to check your socials/news sites and fall down a rabbit hole.
I was already aware of another intervention being developed by a digital entrepreneur called Jim Morrison which instead of controlling disparate App use, works by curating news content from different sites with an emphasis on breadth, balance and perspective. Called Nourish, all comparisons with the food industry are deliberate as Morrison believes that we are being fed a content diet that is as bad for our health as ultra processed food. But it’s our mental health that suffers if we don’t find a way to counter the repetitive and narrow daily news cycle which can leave us hopelessly depressed.
I didn’t stop to look for a third example to feel convinced that this is a new trend. Frankly I didn’t need another innovator’s actions to confirm what I already know from my own experience and the daily fight I have getting my teenagers off their phones. We need to do something about the epidemic of what Jim has dubbed ‘Algorithmia’. We are being sucked down rabbit holes of doom by content we can’t help but be attracted to, but much like the sugary, pappy foods developed to make us overeat, this diet is leaving us unsatisfied and unhappy.
Social anthropologists tell us that a predisposition to bad news is an evolutionary characteristic. It’s helped us stay alive to know when there’s something dangerous afoot. That’s why we love a negative headline. Yet young people don’t even need the cleverly crafted clickbait to succumb; they are still in much less discerning discovery mode but the associated rapid dopamine hits are playing havoc with their moods and attention spans.
So, when we were invited to develop an event for this year’s Anthropy national gathering at the Eden Project, it felt like a good subject to dig deeper into. We ask ‘How can we break the doomscroll for positive change?’
Our panel features one of the lead researchers into digital mental health from the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge, Dr. Amrit-Kaur Purba. She is joined by a visiting Professor leading a project on mobilising capital for socioeconomic policy priorities who also happens to be the longstanding former FT business editor, Sarah Gordon. They will help us understand where the science is and what the policy makers are evaluating in terms of strategies for regulation. Our serving media representative on the panel is BBC journalist Kamilah McInnis is a mental health advocate and member of the corporation’s positive news initiative, the Upbeat. Jim Morrison is the restless innovator who will help us see the problem from his viewpoint and why he feels compelled to bring about a change.
I’m the lucky one in that I get to ask at least some of the questions – Anthropy audiences are well known for their engagement, often from their own deeply expert viewpoint, so I doubt I’ll have it all my own way. But what is certain is that this is going to be a candid discussion about whether we believe innovation or regulation will save the day if the media companies fail to step up and take responsibility to help fix a situation that is largely of their creation in pursuit of profit.
There is still time to register for tickets for this year’s Anthropy national gathering on 26-28 March 2025, please contact hello@thewilful.com to find out more.
