Imagine that a James Bond villain decided to achieve world domination not with armies or drones but through our brains. They might manipulate our minds to get us addicted to fantasy worlds, turn us against one another and reduce our ability to concentrate. 

Inventing the smartphone would do it. Then persuading us to give it to our children.

Until now, parents who fear that these omnipresent devices have made children sedentary, distracted and depressed have been cowed by powerful companies, naive teachers and peer pressure. Mothers who beg schools not to set homework online, undermining screen time limits, have been told technology is a “l(fā)ife skill”. Fathers who fear phones mean their children can be targeted by predators and bullies in their own homes are met with the response that their GPS tracking keeps children “safe”. Families who see how online gaming disrupts learning are told that it improves problem-solving. And of course some of this is true.