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  • OUTLOOK

Searching for digital technology’s effects on well-being

Fears over the impact on mental health of smartphones, social media and other trappings of the digital world are driving tech companies to change, but the evidence remains sketchy.
  1. Simon Makin

    1. Simon Makin is a science writer based in London.

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Credit: Jan Kallwejt

In his 1909 short story The Machine Stops, E. M. Forster imagined a future in which people live in isolation underground, their needs serviced by an all-powerful ‘machine’. Human activity consists mainly of remote communication — face-to-face interaction is frowned upon. Ultimately, the title of the story plays out: the machine stops, civilization collapses, and the future of humanity is left to the surface-dwellers who avoided dependency.

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Nature 563, S138-S140 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07503-w

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Digital revolution, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

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