The entire world is phoneifying
At a time when the moral panic over smartphones is reaching a fever pitch, appliance manufacturers are rushing to add communication tools and screens to every item under the sun, blurring the line between what constitutes as “screen time.”
A new Samsung vacuum cleaner alerts you to incoming texts and phone calls via an LCD screen. If you missed a text on your vacuum, newer models of Samsung washer and dryer machines allow you to answer calls directly via a 7-inch LCD screen.
The company has already integrated large touch screens into its line of refrigerators, where you can get models that allow you to do things like watch YouTube, play trivia games, read the news, and access TikTok. And, Samsung is in the process of integrating screens into its line of AI-powered smart ovens.
CES this year was packed with interactive touch screens built into things like coffee makers and cars displays. GE is rolling out a line of “AI-powered kitchen, laundry, and shopping innovations,” including a refrigerator that allows for messaging and recipe suggestions.
Outside of the home, we’re seeing more consumer products become internet-enabled. Did your mom take your cell phone away? Now you can text, tweet, browse social media and play video games on your vape. “Smart vapes,” disposable e-cigarettes equipped with built-in messaging and mobile apps, are a fast growing category among e-cigarette manufacturers.
These shifts, along with the rise of wearables like the Apple Watch and voice-controlled devices like Amazon’s new Echo Show 8, which allows users to video calls and consume streaming content, show how fruitless the current crusade against “screen time” ultimately is.
We are moving into a world where internet connectivity and messaging is integrated seamlessly into products and devices everywhere around us. While our phones and laptops were once our only portal to the online world, now you can text, tweet, post and scroll on myriad appliances.
I think of the 2019 story of the alleged 15-year-old girl on Twitter who claimed to be banned from social media by her mother and proceeded to tweet from her LG smart fridge. The story was likely a hoax, but in 2025 this sort of thing has become reality.
As Trump declared recently while viewing the inside of a Tesla, these days, “everything’s computer.” Reactionaries like Jonathan Haidt can bemoan “screen time” and try to ban kids from accessing smartphones, but they’re fighting a losing battle.
A few months ago, Samsung began rolling out its new “Screens Everywhere” vision. A press release from the company touts its plans to build screens into seemingly every household product imaginable. These screens will “provide various entertainment features through internet connection, expanding the roles played by home appliances within the domestic environment.”
“The appliance category becoming connected does add a lot of opportunities to provide new information to a consumer,” says Elizabeth Parks, the president of Parks Associates, a consumer tech market research firm recently told NPR.
The proliferation of screens in and outside the home only underscores the importance of teaching kids tech and media literacy. It’s crucial to expose young people to technology at an early age in order to teach them how to use the internet and develop healthy behaviors and boundaries. Attempting to ban a kid from using a smartphone is going to become more and more difficult when they can inevitably post TikToks from a friend’s dishwasher.
This proliferation of screens also raises questions about data privacy. We are already sorely lacking smart data privacy regulation in this country, and when every device down to your toothbrush connects to wifi and gathers data, I think consumers are owed some assurances about how that data will be used.
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What I’m reading
Two Vegan Lovers, an AI ‘Cult,’ and a Trail of Dead Bodies
Max and Milo saw a future where meat-eaters enslaved all. They would do anything to stop it. — New York Magazine
The Tactics Elon Musk Uses to Manage His ‘Legion’ of Babies—and Their Mothers
The world’s richest man juggles more than a dozen children and ‘harem drama’ along with running his companies and advising Trump. He recently took a paternity test in a battle with one woman over money and privacy. — WSJ
The Podcaster Asking You to Side With History’s Villains
Darryl Cooper is no scholar. But legions of fans — many on the right — can’t seem to resist what he presents as hidden truths. — New York Times
The Brazilian Judge Taking On the Digital Far Right
Alexandre de Moraes’s efforts to fight extremism online have pitted him against Jair Bolsonaro, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump. — New Yorker
David Zaslav’s Shaky Hollywood Empire
In a declining industry, the aspiring mogul has defied the odds — for now — based on an unlikely set of skills. — New York Magazine
The past, present, and future of college kids and social media
Beyond Facebook, college students shape—and are shaped by—social media through meme pages, anonymous apps, and more. — Phone Time
Leaked Data Reveals Massive Israeli Campaign to Remove Pro-Palestine Posts on Facebook and Instagram
Israel is the biggest originator of takedown requests globally by far… creating what can be called the largest mass censorship operation in modern history. — Drop Site News
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User Mag news rundown
- OpenAI is developing an X-like social feed within ChatGPT.
- Parents are tagging along with their high-school seniors on Spring Break to share the experience, monitor their drinking and make sure they wear sunscreen.
- South Asian business moguls are turning to astrologists before making big corporate decisions, making sure the stars and planets are aligned before choosing the location of offices or launching new ventures.
- Robocallers love the FCC’s plan to “delete” as many rules as possible.
- Meta once considered deleting everyone’s friend lists and having them start from 0 in an effort to revive the platform.
- A Facebook group started by a retired Milwaukee police sergeant has become a valued resource for crime writers seeking to avoid corrections and accurately depict crimes.
- Pickle is Airbnb for clothes.
Someone developed an AI tool to create endless NSFW emoji chain texts on any topic.
- A suspected 4chan hack could expose the message board’s longtime anonymous admins.
- Alamo Drafthouse opts out of Meta’s ‘Movie Mate,’ which offers viewers interactive content via Instagram DMs during screenings.
- The popularity of saunas has surged in recent years, with health-conscious and sober-curious young people driving demand
- Ornate gold medallions that now adorn the Oval Office appear to be available on Alibaba.
- A guy in Chicago bought an old skyscraper and is now documenting his renovation efforts through day in the life content on TikTok and IG under the moniker Skyscraper Guy.
- YouTuber idubbbz is reviving his popular “Content Cop” series where he does detailed take downs of other content creators.
- Drought is selling a $395 mirror that looks like the Microsoft Paint interface.
- An extremely realistic portrayal of what filming a 1 minute video for social media is actually like.
- The @kamalahq TikTok account remains under Harris’ control and she’s holding on to it to use it in her campaign for Governor of California in 2026 or another presidential bid in 2028.
- No one knows how much money anyone is making as wealth becomes harder to determine because of social media, leading to “money dysmorphia.”
- A foldable iPhone could be in the works, costing over $2,000.
- The Pentagon’s “SWAT team of nerds” has resigned en masse, saying they were sidelined by DOGE. “Either we die quickly or we die slowly.”
- ‘ICE Barbie” Kristi Noem’s steady stream of publicity stunts has been a drag on her agency’s immigration enforcement efforts, according to a new report.
- Addison Rae is carrying around a 3rd generation iPod nano
- “My favorite TV show currently on air is this Tik Tok channel created by a guy in his 60’s named Ron.”
- Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons have been hacked to blast Zuckerberg’s voice talking about undermining democracy and “cooking grandparents brains with AI slop.”
- A “vibe shift against the right” is potentially brewing as dissatisfaction with some Trump administration policies grows.
- ‘Silicon Six’ accused of avoiding almost $278bn in taxes over 10 years. Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, Netflix, Apple and Microsoft averaged 18.8%, compared with 29.7% US average.
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