Digital Detox: Group of Teenagers at UK School Trade in Smartphones for a Week

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• Supreme Court Rules Against Pro-Life Groups on Abortion Pill

• El Salvador’s Remarkable Turnaround From Murder Capital

• Group of Teenagers at UK School Trade in Smartphones for a Week

• +Getsmart: ❄️ A Snowball Fight Documented from 1897

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Newsbites

• Apple announced what they call Apple Intelligence this week, which will integrate AI features into the iPhone, Macbook and iPad later this year. The tech giant partnered with OpenAI’s ChatGPT to build their own in-house models and features such as emoji creation, improved photo editing and automatic message creation and replies. (5-min overview)

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• Hunter Biden convicted: President Biden’s youngest son was convicted of three felonies Tuesday for lying about his drug use while purchasing a handgun. Hunter Biden bought a .38-caliber Colt Cobra Revolver in 2018 while addicted to cocaine. On the form to purchase the gun, he checked a box claiming he was not using any drugs which is illegal under federal law. He faces up to 25 years in prison, though a much smaller time is expected. President Biden said he does not plan to use his presidential pardon power for his son. 

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• Eucharistic Pilgrimage Across U.S.: Hundreds of thousands of Catholics are walking the Eucharist across the U.S. from four different starting points (map). All four of the pilgrimages will convene in Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 17 for a Eucharistic Congress, the first in 83 years in the U.S. A Eucharistic Congress is an official gathering of priests, religious and lay people to witness what Catholics believe is the True Presence of Jesus Christ in the bread and the wine.

  More: 7,000+ people joined a part of the procession in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on May 27. (photos).

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• U.S. travelers can now renew their passports online. The change rolled out in beta form this week and will be made available to more people over the coming months.

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• “I take responsibility”: A new video posted on X shows Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the House, moments after the January 6 Capitol incident, saying, “We have responsibility…I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more,” Pelosi said in a video secretly taken by her daughter Alexandra in the car. “Why weren’t the national guard there from the beginning?” (video)

  
  More: Much discussion has taken place as to why Capitol security was so sparse on a day when tens of thousands were planning to rally.

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• EU Elections: The EU is nearing the end of its parliamentary elections, in which more than 370M Europeans are able to vote for representatives from their countries to the European Parliament. The largest winners in the election have been right-wing parties in prominent countries, including Italy, France, and Germany.

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• Pope Francis to Address G7 Summit: The leaders of seven nations - U.S., Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Britain - are meeting in the region of Puglia, Italy, this week for the G7 Summit. Pope Francis will be the first Pope to ever speak at the Summit. His talk will focus on Artificial Intelligence and the risks and potential benefits it poses to humanity. It won’t be the first time Pope Francis, who has been subject to AI deep fakes in the past, has spoken on the topic.

  More: In 2020, the Vatican worked with tech companies like Microsoft and IBM on a set of AI principles known as the Rome Call for AI Ethics.

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• Hamas’ leader, Yahya Sinwar, has communicated with ceasefire negotiators that civilian casualties “are necessary sacrifices” in its war with Israel. According to a new report from the WSJ, Sinwar believes that in part civilian casualties are one way in which Hamas can win the war. “We have the Israelis right where we want them,” he communicated. In another message sent in April, he told a military officer that the loss of Palestinian life would “infuse life into the veins of this nation, prompting it to rise to its glory and honor.”

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Main Stories

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Digital Detox: Group of Teenagers at UK School Trade in Smartphones for a Week

The BBC conducted a “digital detox” experiment with a small group of teenagers this week in the UK. 10 high-school students at the University Technical College (UTC) agreed to trade in their smartphone for a Nokia brick for five days. The students’ smartphones were locked in a safebox during the week.

One of the participants, Charlie, lasted 24 hours before he requested his phone back. The other 9 students made it through the week and largely reported positive experiences, including improved sleep and more time spent with their parents. However, they were also ready to get their phones back at the end of the experiment.

• Insightful: A discussion with some of the students - starts at 1:07:45.

The test is part of a larger project by the BBC to study the smartphone habits of young people. Various surveys estimate that teenagers spend an average of 7-8 hours on their phone daily, including 4-5 hours on social media alone.

• In the UK, it’s estimated more than 95% of children have a smartphone by the age of 12.

The BBC recently commissioned a survey of 2,000 teenagers to explore their relationship with smartphones. The survey highlights were: