Humans and Technology

A look at how technologies from AR/VR, brain-computer interfaces, and chip implants to health trackers, biometrics and social media are changing the most basic aspects of human life—work, friendship, love, aging, sickness, parenting, learning, and building community.

Humans and Technology

The Human Screenome Project will capture everything we do on our phones

It proposes taking screenshots of your smartphone activity every five seconds to better understand our digital lives. Is it worth it?

screenshots of device activity

Humans and Technology

Baseball’s ban on sign-stealing technology doesn’t make sense

Red Sox and Astros managers should not have been fired for seeking a competitive advantage

photograph of Alex Cora

Humans and Technology

Sex tech is slowly making a comeback at CES. About time.

The world’s biggest tech show still has a long way to go in accepting that sex—and women—exist.

image of lips on billboard next to street light with sunset in background sex tech ces vibrator

Humans and Technology

In 2019 it became cool to be “real” online

Awkward angles, bad poses, and raw emotions: it was the year of posts about our true selves—or so we thought.

Behind the Scenes

Humans and Technology

Meet the wannabe kidfluencers struggling for stardom

Millions of viewers flock to watch the biggest names on YouTube. But not everyone can be an online video hit.

photo collage of youtube personality Dane

Latest from Humans and Technology

google digital wellbeing experiment envelope screen time

Humans and Technology

Google’s new idea to get you off your phone? Seal it in an envelope.

by Tanya Basu
2020-01-22T10:49:30-05:00

Conceptual illustration of kids playing AI Bingo with the researchers and a robot

Artificial Intelligence

Play this bingo game with your kids to teach them about AI

Designed at MIT and tested by kids ages 9 through 14, it builds off research that shows how exposing kids to technology fosters their interest in STEM.

by Karen Hao
2019-12-27T07:00:54-05:00

Humans and Technology

Editor’s letter: How the next generation is using technology to mask, reveal, and form identity

An introduction to our special issue on youth

by Gideon Lichfield
2019-12-27T07:00:54-05:00

Humans and Technology

Teens are all obsessed with social media? Not so much.

Meet the young people who stay offline and hear why they’re doing it.

by Andy Wright
2019-12-27T07:00:50-05:00

Humans and Technology

What I learned from studying billions of words of online fan fiction

Fanfic used to be a joke—now it’s teaching kids important skills like learning how to write.

by Cecilia Aragon
2019-12-27T07:00:47-05:00

conceptual illustration of a woman blowing a kiss

Humans and Technology

I (28M) created a deepfake girlfriend and now my parents think we’re getting married

A fiction story about artificial romance

by Fonda Lee
2019-12-27T07:00:45-05:00

Humans and Technology

Video games: scourge or savior?

For the past four decades our writers have explored whether video games are a plague upon our youth or the key to the future of education and computing.

by The Editors
2019-12-27T07:00:23-05:00

Humans and Technology

Why an internet that never forgets is especially bad for young people

As past identities become stickier for those entering adulthood, it’s not just individuals who will suffer. Society will too.

by Kate Eichhorn
2019-12-27T07:00:18-05:00

Humans and Technology

Does keeping kids offline breach their human rights?

Children are making the case for a smarter, safer approach to technology—but they need adults to make it happen.

by Anya Kamenetz
2019-12-27T07:00:14-05:00

Humans and Technology

Should colleges really be putting smart speakers in dorms?

Administrators say installing listening devices like Alexa in student bedrooms and hallways could help lower dropout rates. Not everyone agrees.

by Kathryn Miles
2019-12-27T07:00:04-05:00

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