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A growing movement wants you to put down your ‘insidious’ phone: ‘Want to start a revolution’

Nypost · · 954 words · By Associated Press
Big Tech Criticism Digital Detox Attention Economy
open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/04/15/lifestyle/a-growing-movement-wants-you-to-put-down…

psychologyDetected Techniques

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Loaded Language 95% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
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Name Calling / Labeling 70% confidence
Attaching a negative label to a person or group to reject them without evidence.
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Exaggeration / Hyperbole 80% confidence
Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

12 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

verified Verified By Reference 4
check_circle Corroborated 2
help Insufficient Evidence 2
schedule Pending 2
info Single Source 1
verified Verified 1
verified
“More than a dozen millennials gathered in a brownstone apartment in Brooklyn and placed their phones in a metal colander before two hours of reading, drawing and conversation”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence includes general definitions of millennials and Brooklyn, and a separate story about student groups in Brooklyn, but no evidence confirms a specific gathering of millennials with a metal colander for phone-free activities.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2011–12 New Jersey Nets season was the 45th season of the franchise, their 36th in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and their 35th and final season in New Jersey before moving to Brookly…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011–12_New_Jersey_Nets_season
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Brooklyn is the most populous of the five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located at the westernmost end of Long Island and formerly an indepen…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The News 12 Networks are a group of regional cable news television channels in the New York metropolitan area that are owned by Optimum Communications. All channels provide rolling news coverage 24 ho…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_12_Networks
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“Two decades after Steve Jobs premiered the iPhone, a small but passionate movement — with offshoots in several countries — is rebelling against the omnipresent screen.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided consists of dictionary definitions for 'multi' and general Wikipedia entries for the number 20. There is no evidence confirming a specific multi-national movement against screens emerging 20 years after the iPhone.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and grapheme. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Twenty or 20 may refer to: 20 (number), the natural number following 19 and preceding 21 one of the years 20 BC, AD 20, 1920, 2020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — MD 20/20 is a discount flavored fortified wine produced by Mogen David. 20/20 originally referred to 20% ABV and a 20 oz bottle. It is commonly referred to by the nickname "Mad Dog". The wine is produ…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD_20/20
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“Apple and other Big Tech firms say they’ve taken steps to help users reduce time spent on their devices, including features that track usage and a less enticing gray mode.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
While the evidence confirms Apple is a Big Tech company, there is no specific evidence in the provided results confirming the implementation of 'gray mode' or specific usage tracking features as part of a strategy to reduce time spent.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley, and known for consumer electronics, software and online services. Founded in 1976 …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Big Tech, also known as the tech giants or tech titans, are the largest and most influential technology companies in the world. It most commonly denotes the five dominant firms in the U.S. technology …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Tech
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Tyranny of Big Tech is a 2021 book written by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. The book's claim is that Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple (Big Tech) are the "gravest threat to American liberty si…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tyranny_of_Big_Tech
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“Dan Fox... works in marketing for Brooklyn-based Light Phone, one of several “dumb phones” with only basic functionality.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence for 'Dan' refers to a stock (Dana Inc) and a DJ, not a marketing professional for Light Phone. No evidence confirms Dan Fox's employment at Light Phone.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Rutger Christiaan Bregman (born 26 April 1988) is a Dutch historian and author. Bregman published four books, most notably Utopia for Realists, which has been translated into thirty-two languages. Hi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutger_Bregman
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Taken is a 2008 English-language French action-thriller film directed by Pierre Morel and written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, Davi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taken_(film)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper is an American animated television spin-off series and a sequel of the feature film Casper, which, in turn, was based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spooktacular_New_Adventure…
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“the company boasts of its phones’ lack of features, like “social media, clickbait news, email, an internet browser, or any other anxiety-inducing infinite feed.””
SINGLE SOURCE
One web search result confirms Light Phone is a company that designs tools to empower users, but the specific list of excluded features (social media, clickbait, etc.) is not explicitly detailed in the provided snippets, though it aligns with the company's stated mission.
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web search NEUTRAL — Light is a radically different technology company. We design beautiful tools that respect and empower our users and our first product is The Light Phone.
https://www.thelightphone.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — This video explains how to fix the following error:Couldn't sign you inThis browser or app may not be secure. Learn moreTry using a different browser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBhsQosKcUc
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web search NEUTRAL — Social media use in teens: A guide for parents. After reading the background, as a parent, you might ask yourself, “Sure, but do kids really use social media that much?” Social media use among young p…
https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/social-media-teen-mental-h…
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“authorities shut down the internet during mass protests in January [in wartime Iran]”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm that Iranian authorities shut down the internet (including Starlink) during mass protests in January 2026.
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web search NEUTRAL — By 11 January, Iran reportedly shut down the Starlink internet for the first time.[44]. On 19 January 2026, it was reported that hackers managed to break in to Iran's state TV satellite feed, and broa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Internet_blackout_in_Iran
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web search NEUTRAL — By cutting internet access during uprisings, the Iranian regime turns connectivity itself into a mechanism of control.Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protes…
https://theconversation.com/why-iran-keeps-turning-off-the-i…
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web search NEUTRAL — Yet during the January protests, even with the internet shut down, reports and video evidence of extrajudicial killings, arrests and beatings trickled out.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgzk91leweo
verified
“D. Graham Burnett is a historian of science at Princeton University and one of the authors of “Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement””
VERIFIED
Multiple independent sources, including a university department page, a professional profile, and Wikipedia, confirm D. Graham Burnett is a historian of science at Princeton and a co-author of 'Attensity!'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — D. Graham Burnett is an American historian of science and a writer. He is a professor at Princeton University and an editor at Cabinet, based in Brooklyn, New York. Burnett received his A.B. in histor…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._Graham_Burnett
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Michael Sean Mahoney (June 30, 1939 – July 23, 2008) was a historian of science and technology. Mahoney was born in New York City, and did his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, graduating i…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Sean_Mahoney
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) was a research program at Princeton University that studied parapsychology. Established in 1979 by then Dean of Engineering Robert G. Jahn, PEAR con…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Engineering_Anomalie…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“MS NOW host Chris Hayes’ bestselling “The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource””
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results from Penguin Random House and other sources confirm Chris Hayes (MSNBC host) wrote the book 'The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource'.
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web search NEUTRAL — The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource.Chris Hayes is the Emmy Award–winning host of All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC and the New York Times bestselling author of …
https://www.amazon.com/Sirens-Call-Attention-Endangered-Reso…
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web search NEUTRAL — The Sirens' Call. How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource.Now, as Chris Hayes writes, “With the help of a few tech firms, we basically tore it down in about a decade.”
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/719661/the-sirens-c…
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web search NEUTRAL — Chris Hayes is the Emmy Award–winning host of All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC and the New York Times bestselling author of A Colony in a Nation and Twilight of the Elites. He lives in Brooklyn, New Y…
https://www.abebooks.com/9780593653135/Sirens-Call-Attention…
help
“people filed into a neo-Gothic cathedral late last month for a meeting of the Offline Club.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found for this claim in the provided search results.
help
“There are several dozen “attention activism” groups across the United States and Canada, and the movement has also cropped up in Spain, Italy, Croatia, France and England.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found for this claim in the provided search results.
schedule
“Members of Oberlin College’s Harkness Housing and Dining Co-op decided to run their organization without emails and spreadsheets in January, expanding to a ban on technology in the shared spaces of the 1950s brick building.”
PENDING
schedule
“Wilhelm Tupy... visited the School of Radical Attention in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood on a trip last month.”
PENDING
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.