Write a card, read a poem, take fewer photos: how to feel more human in 2026

While ‘touch grass’ has become a popular prescription for a less digital life, choosing social friction over efficiency can also feel curative

At the turn of the millennium daily life looked very different. The modern internet was just a decade old, mobile phones were far from universal and our social lives were mostly physical – and local.

In the 25 years since, technology has changed how we live in profound ways. Most people check their phone within minutes of waking and return to it on average 186 times a day. Computers and the systems that sit behind them mediate every aspect of modern life, shaping how we move through the world.

Published: January 20, 2026, 2:00 pm

The truth about health patches: can they really treat stress, spots and lost libido?

For three weeks, I wore stickers on my skin supposed to address all sorts of conditions. Are they a panacea, problem or performance?

This morning, I woke up feeling a little groggy. My go-to remedy is usually a coffee and cold-water face plunge, followed by a compulsive phone scroll. But today called for something more, so I unpeeled a small, yellow “energy” patch the size of a walnut, popped it on to my upper arm and hoped for the best.

The patch (£12 for 30) contains – so the packaging says – vitamins B5, B3 and a “microdose” of caffeine. It is made by Kind Patches, which is one brand in an increasingly crowded market of wellness stickers that claim to treat everything from lack of sleep to period pains to pimples. They are coin-sized, and often come in TikTok-friendly shades of sunflower yellow and peachy orange: you may have seen a teenager sporting a star-shaped one on their face to treat spots, or influencers patting blue magnesium ones on their wrists before bed.

Published: January 20, 2026, 5:00 am

I got a fine after Cineworld cut its parking time limit

The cinema chain didn’t warn me clearly when I went to see Avatar: Fire and Ash that I needed to register my number plate

I parked at Cineworld in Chichester to watch the new film Avatar: Fire and Ash.

It is more than three hours long and, when I returned to my car, I’d received a penalty charge notice (PCN) for overstaying. I’d watched the previous two Avatar films there without a problem.

Published: January 20, 2026, 7:00 am

World is short of nearly a million midwives, report warns

Shortage raises rates of maternity intervention, while improving access to care could potentially save 4.3m lives a year, say experts

A global shortage of nearly a million midwives is leaving pregnant women without the basic care needed to prevent harm, including the deaths of mothers and babies, according to new research.

Almost half the shortage was in Africa, where nine in 10 women lived in a country without enough midwives, the researchers said.

Published: January 20, 2026, 7:00 am

UK study to examine effects of restricting social media for children

Trial involving 4,000 children will explore impact on mental health, sleep and time spent with friends and family

A pioneering investigation into the impact of restricting social media access for children in the UK has been announced as politicians around the world consider action on the issue.

In December, Australia became the first country to ban under-16s from social media, with governments in other countries, including the, coming under pressure to do the same.

Published: January 20, 2026, 4:22 pm

Elon Musk floats idea of buying Ryanair after calling CEO ‘an idiot’

Tesla boss clashed with Michael O’Leary when airline boss rejected installing Starlink technology on aircraft

• Business live – latest updates

Elon Musk has floated the idea of buying the budget airline Ryanair, escalating his public spat with the Irish carrier’s boss, Michael O’Leary.

The two outspoken businessmen have locked horns since last week, when O’Leary was asked whether he would follow Lufthansa and British Airways in installing Musk’s Starlink satellite internet technology on his fleet of 650 aircraft.

Published: January 20, 2026, 3:19 pm

Big tech continues to bend the knee to Trump a year after his inauguration

Inside the big rewards tech titans have reaped from caving to Trump. Plus, a look at the US datacenter boom and the effects of Australia’s social media ban

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, the Guardian’s US tech editor.

One year ago today, Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States. Standing alongside him that day were the leaders of the tech industry’s most powerful companies, who had donated to him in an unprecedented bending of the knee. In the ensuing year, the companies have reaped enormous rewards from their alliance with Trump, which my colleague Nick Robins-Early and I wrote about last month after Trump signed an executive order prohibiting states from passing laws regulating AI. Trump has sponsored the tech industry with billions in government funding and with diplomatic visits that featured CEOs as his fellow negotiators in massive, lucrative deals.

Published: January 20, 2026, 3:55 pm

UK exposed to ‘serious harm’ by failure to tackle AI risks, MPs warn

Government, Bank of England and FCA criticised for taking ‘wait-and-see’ approach to AI use in financial sector

Consumers and the UK financial system are being exposed to “serious harm” by the failure of government and the Bank of England to get a grip on the risks posed by artificial intelligence, an influential parliamentary committee has warned.

In a new report, MPs on the Treasury committee criticise ministers and City regulators, including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), for taking a “wait-and-see” approach to AI use across the financial sector.

Published: January 20, 2026, 12:01 am

My analogue month: would ditching my smartphone make me healthier, happier – or more stressed?

When I swapped my iPhone for a Nokia, Walkman, film camera and physical map, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But my life soon started to change

When two balaclava-clad men on a motorbike mounted the pavement to rob me, recently, I remained oblivious. My eyes were pinned to a text message on my phone, and my hands were so clawed around it that they didn’t even bother to grab it. It wasn’t until an elderly woman shrieked and I felt the whoosh of air as the bike launched back on to the road that I looked up at all. They might have been unsuccessful but it did make me think: what else am I missing from the real world around me?

Before I’ve poured my first morning coffee I’ve already watched the lives of strangers unfold on Instagram, checked the headlines, responded to texts, swiped through some matches on a dating app, and refreshed my emails, twice. I check Apple Maps for my quickest route to work. I’ve usually left it too late to get the bus, so I rent a Lime bike using the app. During the day, my brother sends me some memes, I take a picture of a canal boat, and pay for my lunch on Apple Pay. I walk home listening to music on Spotify and a long voice note from a friend, then I watch a nondescript TV drama, while scrolling through Depop and Vinted for clothes.

Published: January 21, 2026, 5:00 am

Write a card, read a poem, take fewer photos: how to feel more human in 2026

While ‘touch grass’ has become a popular prescription for a less digital life, choosing social friction over efficiency can also feel curative

At the turn of the millennium daily life looked very different. The modern internet was just a decade old, mobile phones were far from universal and our social lives were mostly physical – and local.

In the 25 years since, technology has changed how we live in profound ways. Most people check their phone within minutes of waking and return to it on average 186 times a day. Computers and the systems that sit behind them mediate every aspect of modern life, shaping how we move through the world.

Published: January 20, 2026, 2:00 pm

Cosmic Princess Kaguya! review – trippy anime adapted from Japanese folk dives into virtual reality popworld

Emojis explode all over the screen in this hyperactive adaptation of a Japanese folk tale about a princess who has run away from the moon

Never has a film been more deserving of an exclamation mark at the end of the title than this animation from Japan. Cosmic Princess Kaguya! is an adaptation of a Japanese folk tale, the story of a princess from the moon discovered inside a bamboo stalk in a poor rural village. A decade ago, Studio Ghibli adapted the tale into a gorgeously animated movie with a traditional, lovingly hand-painted feel. This film could not be more different, a trippy, high-energy, techno anime set in the near future, half of it in a virtual reality world – and TikTok-ifed with emojis and stickers exploding all over the screen.

It begins when a 17-year-old high school student called Iroha finds a baby girl inside a glowing lamppost (rather than the bamboo stalk of the original). Iroha (voiced by Dawn M Bennett in the English dub) is a sensible kid, a talented musician and grade-A student who has already moved out of the family home and is living alone, working all hours to pay the rent of her tiny studio flat. In any free time she does have, Iroha follows her idol, AI musical megastar Yachiyo, in a crazy, chaotic virtual reality world called Tsukuyomi.

Published: January 20, 2026, 11:00 am

UK study to examine effects of restricting social media for children

Trial involving 4,000 children will explore impact on mental health, sleep and time spent with friends and family

A pioneering investigation into the impact of restricting social media access for children in the UK has been announced as politicians around the world consider action on the issue.

In December, Australia became the first country to ban under-16s from social media, with governments in other countries, including the, coming under pressure to do the same.

Published: January 20, 2026, 4:22 pm

Looking for Miracle: why have so many dugongs gone missing from Thailand’s shores?

The Andaman coast was one of very few places in the world with a viable population but then dead dugongs began washing up. Now half have gone

A solitary figure stands on the shore of Thailand’s Tang Khen Bay. The tide is slowly rising over the expanse of sandy beach, but the man does not seem to notice. His eyes are not fixed on the sea, but on the small screen clutched between his hands.

About 600 metres offshore, past the shadowy fringe of coral reef, his drone hovers over the murky sea, focused on a whirling grey shape: Miracle, the local dugong, is back.

Published: January 20, 2026, 11:03 am

Era of ‘global water bankruptcy’ is here, UN report says

Overuse and pollution must end urgently as no one knows when whole system might collapse, says expert

The world has entered an era of “global water bankruptcy” that is harming billions of people, a UN report has declared.

The overuse and pollution of water must be tackled urgently, the report’s lead author said, because no one knew when the whole system could collapse, with implications for peace and social cohesion.

Published: January 20, 2026, 6:00 pm

King Harold coins from 1066 and Roman artefacts top UK’s 2024 treasure finds

British Museum hails record-breaking year for archaeological discoveries – thanks largely to metal detectorists

A hoard of pennies linked to Harold II and most likely buried on the eve of battle in 1066, a rare Roman vehicle fitting, and a group of early medieval objects are among the archaeological finds and treasure discovered in Britain in 2024.

It was a record-breaking year for archaeological and treasure finds in Britain, with the highest number recorded in a single year – thanks in large part to metal detectorists.

Published: January 20, 2026, 1:09 pm

Is your body really full of microplastics? – podcast

Studies detecting microplastics throughout human bodies have made for alarming reading in recent years. But last week, the Guardian’s environment editor, Damian Carrington, reported on major doubts among a group of scientists about how some of this research has been conducted.

Damian tells Ian Sample how he first heard about the concerns, why the scientists think the discoveries are probably the result of contamination and false positives, and where it leaves the field. He also reflects on how we should now think about our exposure to microplastics

Clips: Vox, Detroit Local 4

Published: January 20, 2026, 5:00 am

Intense geomagnetic storms could make auroras visible in southern US

Major disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field may make northern lights visible far more south than usual

The aurora could be visible across Canada and much of the northern tier of US states on Monday night, and possibly even further south, following a major disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field, a forecast shows.

The forecast, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s space weather prediction center, comes amid intense geomagnetic and solar radiation storms, said Shawn Dahl, service coordinator at the center.

Published: January 20, 2026, 12:51 am

Aurora australis set to light up Australian sky as agencies monitor ‘severe’ solar storm

The spectacular aurora australis, also known as the southern lights, may be visible as far north as Victoria and New South Wales

A ‘severe’ solar storm, which is being monitored by the National Emergency Management Agency, could make auroras visible in Australia as well as cause disruptions to the power grid.

Here’s what you need to know about the solar storm.

Published: January 20, 2026, 6:40 am

The influencer racing to save Thailand’s most endangered sea mammal

Amateur conservationist and social media influencer Theerasak 'Pop' Saksritawee has a rare bond with Thailand’s critically endangered dugongs. With dugong fatalities increasing, Pop works alongside scientists at Phuket Marine Biological Centre to track the mammals with his drone and restore their disappearing seagrass habitat. Translating complex science for thousands online, Pop raises an urgent alarm about climate change, pollution and habitat loss — before Thailand’s dugongs vanish forever

Published: January 20, 2026, 10:58 am