Category: Digital Common Sense
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Across Europe, schools are tightening restrictions on smartphones. But not all phone bans reflect the same idea of education. The Netherlands and Italy are taking notably different approaches. In 2024, the Netherlands introduced a national “agreement”1 limiting smartphones and other devices in schools. The goal was to reduce distraction and improve the school environment, while…
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“It’s better than nothing.”“No one likes me but AI does.” These are not extreme opinions. They reflect something increasingly visible: for many people, chatbots are no longer just tools, but something closer to companions. They are used to talk, to vent, to pass the time, to feel heard. In a context where loneliness is rising,…
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In the previous article, I explored why it is so difficult to stop scrolling: the absence of stopping cues and the structure of variable rewards make the experience continuous and hard to interrupt. If social media is part of everyday life—for staying connected, accessing information, or learning—the goal is not to stop using it, but…
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A recent jury verdict in Los Angeles concluded that Meta and Google can be held responsible for contributing to the mental health harm of a young user who had been exposed to their platforms from an early age1. The case concerns one individual, but it reflects a broader development: questions about social media are increasingly moving from public debate…
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Persuasion is as old as human relationships. Influencing beliefs and behavior has always been part of social life. Aristotle already identified three fundamental dimensions of persuasion: Over time, technological developments — especially in advertising — have changed the scale, personalization, and automation of persuasive communication. The rise of the internet further expanded scale and data collection, increasing the precision…
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The Absence of Safeguards in Online Scams In victimology, the risk of becoming a victim does not depend solely on individual characteristics, but also on the context in which people live and act. One of the most widely used frameworks to understand victimization is the Routine Activity Theory (RAT), developed by Cohen and Felson (1979)1.…
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Many people claim to care about their privacy. They express concerns about the collection of personal data, the use of information online, and the potential consequences of their digital exposure.Yet, in practice, they continue to share data, accept terms of use without reading them, and use digital services that make extensive use of their personal…
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The term self-disclosure refers to the process by which a person shares personal information about themselves. Self-disclosure is a fundamental component of human relationships: sharing personal information helps build trust, strengthen bonds, and maintain social relationships. With the shift from offline to online – and in particular with the rise of social media – the nature…