As part of a growing anti-tech movement, startup dumb.co is pushing flip phones as a way for young people to find ‘social and spiritual freedom’

They can be high-tech, but crucially, are "screen-free." Bondu is a stuffed dinosaur that speaks 27 languages. It--or, more precisely, the AI chatbot embedded inside it--can also play games, help with homework, and patiently answer a child's questions, even the really inane ones. Its "bedtime mode" includes breathing exercises and stories. Bondu, which costs $300 and comes in four colors, is marketed as a playmate, a confidant, a teacher, a quasi-caregiver.

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. Children and parents at a recent L.A. Unified school board meeting where screen-time limits were discussed. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . The L.A. Board of Education got its first look at proposed screen-time limits for students, including a total ban until secnd grade.

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. Alberto Carvalho sits with third-grade students as he visits classrooms at Lenicia B. Weemes Elementary School on the first day of classes for LAUSD students in 2023. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . Leaders who helped drive L.A. Unified's recent test-score gains are exiting as Supt.

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. Students with computers participate in a summer program at Canoga Park High School in 2022. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . Los Angeles Unified is poised to reverse years of promoting classroom technology with restrictions on student screen time.

Things to Do in L.A. Kate Brody's 7-year-old son plays at home in North Hollywood on March 14. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . Early childhood experts say excessive screen time displaces hands-on learning and peer interaction critical to development. At least 11 states have considered legislation limiting technology in the classroom this year.

Will Storr: 'I was shocked to find my daily average was over four hours.' Will Storr: 'I was shocked to find my daily average was over four hours.' We have lost so much of ourselves to smartphones: can we get it back? My use of mobile phones has been compulsive - has it been for better or for worse? From a priest to a pensioner, a teenager to a tech CEO: can you guess our screen time? I n 2003, the Stanford social scientist BJ Fogg published an extraordinarily prescient book.

Parents of under-fives in England are to be offered official advice on how long their children should spend watching TV or looking at computer screens. The government says it will publish its first guidance on screen time for the age group in April. It comes as government research was published showing that about 98% of children under two were watching screens on a daily basis - with parents, teachers and nursery staff saying youngsters were finding it harder to hold conversations or concentrate on learning. Children with the highest screen time - around five hours a day - reportedly could say significantly fewer words than those at the other end of the scale who watched for around 44 minutes. A national working group led by Children's Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza and Department for Education scientific adviser Professor Russell Viner will formulate the guidance after speaking to parents, children and early years practitioners.

Our columnist on digital culture suggests technology--or anti-technology technology--to give this holiday season. We are entering a Surrealist phase of personal technology. Any device you might imagine can be found online courtesy of an obscure Chinese factory, ready to be shipped out for a loved one's holiday enjoyment: pocket-size artificial-intelligence gizmos ( Rabbit r1, $199), in-home hologram machines (Code 27 Character Livehouse, $558), human-size robot servants ( 1X NEO, $20,000). The components of tech have become better and cheaper, from microchips to speakers and screens (have you seen how cheap a good TV is these days?), enabling out-there innovation. On the consumer side, we are bored of rote device designs; we've seen a dozen models of iPhone and crave something refreshingly different.

The first step to recovery is acceptance of this fact. Listen to more stories on the Noa app. This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. "That's enough screen time for today," you tell your kid, urging them to turn off the video-game console or iPad. As for what they should do instead, you are not quite sure.