Sixth-generation folder adds bigger battery, better camera, brighter screen and more fancy AI features

Samsung’s popular folding-screen Z Flip phone is back for 2024 with a faster chip, much longer battery life and more AI.

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is the smaller of Samsung’s two new folders for this year, launched alongside the book-style Z Fold 6. It takes the flat sides and slab-like design of Samsung’s standard Galaxy S24+ and folds it in half, turning a big-screen phone into a compact clamshell.

Main screen: 6.7in FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED Infinity Flex Display (425ppi)

Cover screen: 3.4in AMOLED

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

RAM: 12GB

Storage: 256 or 512GB

Operating system: One UI 6.1 based on Android 14

Camera: 50+12MP rear, 10MP front-facing

Connectivity: 5G, nano sim + esim, wifi6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3 and GNSS

Water resistance: IP48 (1.5-metre depths for 30 minutes)

Folded dimensions: 85.1 x 71.9 x 14.9mm

Unfolded dimensions: 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9mm

Weight: 187g

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Jonathan Haidt’s claims about the effects of devices on children’s wellbeing have been criticised for lacking proof, but they tell us what we need to know

Jonathan Haidt is a man with a mission. In his day job, he’s a professor of ethics at New York University’s Stern School of Business. But outside academia, he’s a compelling campaigner. His mission: to alert us to the harms that social media and modern parenting are doing to our children. And his latest book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness , pulls no punches. It is, said the New York Times , “erudite, engaging, combative, crusading”, which possibly explains why it has been on the newspaper’s nonfiction bestseller list for 14 weeks (it is now at No 2).

Haidt writes of a “tidal wave” of increases in mental illness and distress beginning around 2012. Young adolescent girls are hit hardest, but boys are in pain, too, as are older teens. He sees two factors that have caused this. The first is the decline of play-based childhood caused by overanxious parenting, which allows children fewer opportunities for unsupervised play and restricts their movement. This translates into low-risk childhoods in which kids don’t have the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them. The second factor is the ubiquity of smartphones and the social media apps that thrive upon them. The result is the “great rewiring of childhood” of his book’s subtitle and an epidemic of mental illness and distress.

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The absence of a body adds intrigue to this shot of the photographer’s daughter on a rope swing

Phil Doherty took this photograph on a family walk in a Warwickshire woodland in 2020. It was near the end of the first lockdown, and Doherty, his wife, Lisa, and their two daughters, Lulu and Pearl, had taken the opportunity for a spot of rule-abiding recreation.

“We went to Oversley Wood and stopped by this rope swing. There was strong sunlight streaming through the leaves, creating pockets of brightness among the deep shadows of the trees,” Doherty says. “I’m always looking at light and shadow to create a strong image, and as Pearl was swinging back and forth, I noticed she would enter these pockets of light.”

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Focusing on phones and social media allows adults to ignore the real fears of adolescents, writes Dr Helen Care. Plus letters from Jo Johnson, Alison Watson and Arnold Brown

Lucy Foulkes makes an important point, having interviewed adults about their own past experiences: “adolescence is bewildering to live through” and smartphones are only “one piece of a large and complicated puzzle” ( I’m an expert on adolescence: here’s why a smartphone ban isn’t the answer, and what we should do instead, 15 June ). I work with teenagers, and they are fed up with the narrative that smartphones and social media are the cause of their mental health issues. It lets us adults off the hook.

How much easier it is to blame phones and social media than to acknowledge the harm we do by taking away creative outlets in school such as art, music or sport, and focusing only on targets and rote learning. And how much easier it is not to take responsibility for fixing the other aspects of their lives that bring anxiety: the climate crisis; the lack of affordable housing; the cost of living crisis. Smartphones are a distraction from the real issue facing adolescents – they are fearful for their futures. Despite this, many of the young people I work with are hopeful, determined and courageous. Let’s celebrate them and ask them what would help, instead of looking for an easy answer and taking their phones away.
Dr Helen Care
Clinical psychologist, Woodstock, Oxfordshire

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Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a statewide ban as states and large school districts have pursued similar prohibitions to prevent disruption and cyberbullying.

You’ll need to hand over your phone before you can grab a coffee at the Netherlands’ Offline Club, or attend a music event from Off the Radar. Why are the Dutch so keen on digital detoxes – and are there lessons for the rest of the world?

When I walk into Amsterdam’s Cafe Brecht , I immediately want to take a picture. The old-fashioned bar – with its plush sofas, vintage art and warm lighting – is what the Dutch would call “ gezellig ”, a word with many meanings but perhaps best summed up as “cosy” or “pleasant”. My instinct is to whip out my phone and take a photo. For friends? Future reference? Who knows? But I’ll have to rely on my memory, as I’ve checked it at the door.

I’m at the cafe for a Sunday morning “digital detox hangout”, organised by the burgeoning Offline Club . I’ve dropped my phone off in slot seven of a fancy-looking lockbox, committing to spend the next few hours unplugged. There’s a set schedule: we have some time to chat at the beginning, then 45 minutes to ourselves, another 30 minutes to connect, followed by another 30 minutes of quiet time. During the quiet time, we are invited to do any sort of activity – I brought a book – provided we don’t interrupt others.

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Microsoft alerte sur l'existence d'une faille de sécurité qui se cache dans des applications Android. Elle menace des milliards de smartphones et tablettes, avec un risque sérieux pour vos données personnelles.

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Owner of Al Condominio in Verona says response to the initiative during meals has been very positive

An Italian restaurant is offering a free bottle of wine to customers who relinquish their mobile phones during meals.

Angelo Lella, the owner of Al Condominio, a restaurant that opened in the northern city of Verona in March, said the aim was to revive the conviviality of an eatery in which diners chat to each other as opposed to constantly glancing at their phones.

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