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Expert explains why turning your phone off every day could protect you from getting hacked

Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Ronan Farrow shares how this simple tip can offer protection in a time of less-than-stellar privacy regulations.

Daily Show/Youtube, Photo credit: Canva

He also explains why tin foil might not be the best strategy for privacy.

There are just so many ways for important information held on your phone to be swiped—from subscription based apps that secretly send private customer data to Facebook to fake accounts that get your friends to invest in some kind of fake crypto.

And of course—this is more than a modern day inconvenience. It poses real threats to democracy and global human rights, which is why so many are calling for more regulations and safeguards. Of course, as with most regulations, change isn’t coming fast. Which isn’t good news, considering how rapidly technology evolves.

However, Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Ronan Farrow has an incredibly simple tip for preventing our phones from being hacked: Turn them off more often.

While appearing on the Daily Show to promote his new documentary, Surveilled, Farrow told correspondent Desi Lydic that we as a society should be "freaking out" more about the lack of government restraints about spyware technology, saying that it could turn the country “into an Orwellian surveillance state,” affecting anyone who uses a device, essentially—not just political dissidents.

But, as Farrow noted, turning your phone off and on every day is an easy way to protect yourself, since most current forms of spyware “will be foiled by a reboot.” And even if you aren’t, say, a journalist of political activity (i.e. common targets for malware), you’re thwarting apps from monitoring your activity or collecting your data. And better still, you’re making it more difficult for hackers to steal information from your phone. Privacy protection aside, it’s a great way of just keeping your device healthy. Basically, it seems like the age-old solution for virtually all tech issues still holds up.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

There are a few other things worth turning off now and then, such as bluetooth and location devices when you’re not using them, according to the NSA. In addition, Farrow also suggested keeping devices updated, and perhaps most important of all, actually writing to your representative about the issue.

However, when it comes to wrapping devices in tinfoil as a makeshift Faraday cage…that might not be the best use of one’s aluminum.

“Experts vary on exactly how effective that approach is,” Farrow told Lydic, just before quipping, “we need better policies. Not just better tinfoil.”

Expanding on Farrow’s 2022 New Yorker investigative exposé on the notorious spyware Pegasus, Surveilled delves into the multibillion-dollar industry of commercial spyware and its potential threats, making it evidently clear that this is not an issue for the elite few, or one to ignore until the future.

Surveilled is available on Max now.

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Parenting

New study finds nearly half of young people are putting their hearing at risk

We're living in a very loud world.

Sascha Kohlmann

Headphones can protect you from the annoying noises of the world, but they come with their own risks.

There was a time not too long ago when teens blasting music too loudly was everyone’s problem. Parental cries of “Turn down that damned music!” seemed to punctuate every day. But with the advent of tiny, high-performance headphones, the volume battles have become personal and much more challenging to monitor. Now, as more people are plugging into music anywhere and everywhere with what experts call personal listening devices (PLDs), alarms are being raised about a new trend: unsafe listening practices that could lead to widespread hearing loss in young people.

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A recent global study conducted by researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina and colleagues worldwide examined the listening habits of people aged 12 to 34, focusing on exposure to loud sounds from earbuds and headphones as well as at entertainment venues like econcerts, clubs, and festivals. The findings reveal that unsafe listening habits aren’t isolated; they’re a global issue affecting millions of young ears worldwide.

Loud music, quiet consequences

The study collected data from over 19,000 individuals across 33 studies and found that roughly 24% of young people are likely using their PLDs at unsafe volumes. When it comes to loud entertainment venues, that number rises significantly, with around 48% of attendees exposed to potentially harmful sound levels.

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Key Findings:

  • Personal Listening Devices: 23.81% of young listeners engage in unsafe listening practices via headphones and earbuds.
  • Entertainment Venues: 48.20% of young people attending concerts or clubs are exposed to volumes that can damage hearing over time.

The World Health Organization’s guidelines indicate that listening above 85 decibels for long periods can cause irreversible hearing damage, and many concerts and clubs easily exceed this threshold. With more young people tuning in to louder sounds, often for extended periods, the cumulative impact could be life-altering.

"Unsafe listening practices are highly prevalent worldwide and may place over 1 billion young people at risk of hearing loss."

— Lauren K. Dillard, lead researcher

A hidden health crisis affecting over a billion people

The most striking takeaway from this study is the sheer number of young people at risk. The researchers estimate that between 670 million and 1.35 billion adolescents and young adults worldwide could be on a path toward hearing loss due to unsafe listening practices. This staggering number makes hearing damage a serious, though often overlooked, global health issue.

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Hearing loss often progresses gradually, with early symptoms easy to miss. Many don’t realize they have hearing issues until the damage has already affected their quality of life, including their ability to understand speech in noisy settings or fully enjoy music at safer volumes. Dr. Lauren Dillard, the lead researcher, highlighted the urgent need for action, emphasizing that unchecked, this issue could affect a generation.

Tech steps in: New solutions to address unsafe listening

A pair of Apple AirPods.New features might turn the source of this problem into one of its solutions. aconcagua

Recognizing the growing concern around hearing damage, some tech companies are stepping up with innovative solutions to help protect users. Apple, for instance, has recently introduced new hearing health features in its AirPods and iPhones that focus on reducing noise exposure and enabling easy hearing checkups.

  • Hearing Test in iOS Health App: Apple now offers an in-app hearing test available on the iPhone, allowing users to assess their hearing from their device, with results saved in the Health app. Users can even upload professional hearing test results for comparison. Designed to prevent gaming, the test uses randomized tones for accuracy, helping users better understand their hearing health over time.
  • Hearing Protection with AirPods Pro 2: With the recent iOS 18.1 update, AirPods Pro 2 offers hearing protection across all listening modes, including Noise Cancellation, Transparency, and Adaptive Audio. These settings help reduce exposure to overly loud sounds, adding a layer of defense for users in noisy environments. However, extreme sounds like fireworks or gunfire are still beyond its intended scope.

As Apple introduces these features, other manufacturers are likely to follow suit, with industry experts suggesting that hearing protection technology will soon become a common offering across high-end audio devices. These developments are a promising step, as technology starts to play a more active role in helping individuals protect their hearing.

Protecting your ears in a loud world

With sound technology getting smaller, sleeker, and more powerful, it’s easy to slip into unsafe listening habits. But a few small changes can go a long way toward protecting your hearing. Taking regular breaks, lowering the volume slightly, and considering noise-canceling headphones are all small steps with significant benefits.

This study’s findings are a wake-up call. Hearing loss is often preventable, but once it sets in, it’s challenging to reverse. By spreading awareness, encouraging policy changes, and practicing safe listening, we can help protect our ears and preserve the music we love—at safer volumes—for years to come.

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Technology

23-year-old brilliantly explains 'foolproof' system to compare news sources

Properly processing a newspaper article isn't something younger generations have been taught.

kelscruss/TikTok

Gen Z, we're all begging you: Please don't get your news from TikTok. Unless you're following Kelsey Russell, that is. The 23-year-old Columbia grad has found a fascinating niche on social media — helping young people learn how to read and analyze actual news. The paper kind, believe it or not!

She calls herself "the girl who reads the newspaper", and the title couldn't be more apt. In most of her content, she takes a news article from a big paper like the New York Times and breaks it down for her audience in their terms. She helps them understand the news, the context behind it, and why they should think critically about the source behind the news.

It's a skill that younger generations desperately need more of. Studies show there are major gaps in Gen Z's media literacy skills, and that can have major consequences.

In one of Kelsey's most popular videos, she breaks down her "foolproof" method for contrasting and synthesizing different news sources.

It's a system she learned from various teachers throughout her life, who she gratefully shouts out in the video. And though it's designed to help young people who need to write an essay for school while using evidence from supporting texts, it doubles as an amazing lesson in how to think critically about the news.

In the lesson, Kelsey examines the same news story across three different papers: The New York Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal.

Even without getting into the text of each article, Kelsey teaches viewers how to infer meaning, bias, and context from word choices in the headline.

Watch the full video for some excellent tips on how to reflect on what you've read and identify differences in news coverage.

@kelscruss

ima make your english teacher shed a tear😢 #fyp #medialiteracy #mcarthy #writingtips

What's amazing is that she really sits with the content of each news story and thinks about how it makes her feel.

She does some mental association with the headlines. What stands out to me about each one? How do they differ in their tone? What feelings or thoughts do the different word choices conjure up?

She uses the comparisons to create a thesis statement about the news story and how it's being covered by the media.

To older generations who grew up reading news article, these seem like really basic concepts.

But to younger people who get rapidly bombarded with an endless feed of different shortform news and opinions on social media and the web, taking time to process what they've read or heard is not something that comes easy.

What's really impressive is that Kelsey's approach is working and actually connecting with people. Reading the newspaper might sound like a boring idea for a TikTok channel, but that hasn't stopped Kelsey from racking up nearly 100k followers and millions of views.

Kelsey is meeting young people where they are to teach crucial skills like reading comprehension and critical thinking.

@kelscruss

like I knew about da bombs but the cluster bomblets?!??! #fyp #syrian #newyorktimes #ukraine #russia

She's challenging young people to not just take what they read at its exact face value but to dig deeper into the tone, the intention, the word choice.

And she's an advocate for reading news that you can hold in your hand.

"I realized when I read the news on print, I actually had time to process what was going on," she told NPR. "And when I would read the same article on my phone I would find my body [was] overwhelmed."

Most kids and young people get their news from friends and family or social media, where it can be much harder to diagnose misinformation and bias. That's not likely to change any time soon, and there is major power in social media's ability to spread messages far and wide, quickly. That's what makes Kelsey's work so amazing. There are a lot of campaigns and efforts out there to try to get young people more engaged with traditional news, but there aren't many people willing to meet them where they are, speak their language, and teach them with empathy and understanding.

Gen Z and Gen Alpha will decide future elections. Even the future of the world.

It's reassuring to know there are people fighting to make sure they have all the facts.

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Technology

Students show how new smart glasses can steal your information 'in a glance'

They also show how to protect yourself.

Nan Palmero

As technology advances, it will get harder to tell smart glasses from normal glasses.

It isn't hard to think of ways to misuse smart devices. Since cameras were added to phones, privacy concerns have grown in lockstep with technology. The ability to surreptitiously record a conversation, lurk through someone's social content, or slip an AirTag into a purse have all created traps that are far too easy to fall into. Now, new devices are being released that might complicate things even further.

One duo of Harvard students has demonstrated how combining artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and wearables like smart glasses can open up a new frontier of abuse, allowing the wearer to access an amazing trove of information on a stranger just by looking at them. Fortunately, their research also focused on combatting these new dangers, and they've shared their findings.

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The Harvard students behind the project, AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio, built a program called I-XRAY that uses the Meta smart glasses to livestream video to Instagram. AI software monitors the stream, capturing faces and linking them to information from public databases. In seconds, the tech displays individuals' personal information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and even names of relatives.

"The purpose of building this tool is not for misuse, and we are not releasing it."

— AnhPhu Nguyen

Nguyen explained that the project isn’t designed to exploit this technology but to show how easily it can be accessed and abused. “The purpose of building this tool is not for misuse, and we are not releasing it,” Nguyen and Ardayfio stated in a document detailing the project. Instead, they hope to raise awareness that the potential for misuse is here — not in a distant, dystopian future.

The dawning age of smart glasses

Since the launch of Google Glass over a decade ago, privacy concerns around smart glasses have been an ongoing issue. New devices like the recently released Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have reignited the conversation. Google Glass faced significant backlash, and the company ultimately shelved the device partly due to public discomfort with being unknowingly filmed.

A man wearing Google Glass. The form factor has evolved but the idea is the same, all the tech of a smart phone in a new package. Loïc Le Meur

While people have grown more accustomed to cameras through social media, the idea of wearable, nearly invisible recording devices still unsettles many. Comments on the demonstration reveal that this discomfort persists:

"Guess in the future we will be wearing face-altering prosthetics to not get doxxed."

— Leek5 on Reddit

Meta has set guidelines for smart glasses users in response to etiquette questions. These include advising people to use voice commands or gestures before filming to ensure others are aware of being recorded. However, as the Harvard students demonstrate, these guidelines rely on individuals’ willingness to follow them — a tenuous safeguard at best.

AI’s role in connecting the dots

Nguyen and Ardayfio’s project relies heavily on large language models (LLMs), which use AI to identify connections among large data sets. I-XRAY can rapidly retrieve personal details by analyzing relationships between photos and database entries. This capability, combined with real-time video streaming from the glasses, demonstrates how easily AI can connect scattered pieces of public data into a full profile of an individual.

College students used Meta’s smart glasses to dox people in real time
by u/MetaKnowing inFuturology

In a video released to X, the students demonstrate the abilities of their app. Most people identified by the technique react with uncomfortable laughter or astonishment. While Nguyen and Ardayfio emphasize that they have no intention of releasing this technology, their project raises serious ethical questions about the future of AI and facial recognition. The fact that two college students could develop such a tool suggests that the technology is well within reach for anyone with basic resources and programming knowledge.

Steps you can take to protect your privacy

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Fortunately, the creators of I-XRAY have outlined steps you can take to protect yourself from similar invasions of privacy. Many public databases like PimEyes and people-search sites allow individuals to opt out, though the process can be time-consuming and not always fully effective. Additionally, they recommend freezing your credit with major bureaus and using two-factor authentication to prevent potential identity theft. Here are some practical steps to consider:

  • Remove yourself from reverse face search engines – Tools like PimEyes and FaceCheck.id allow users to request removal. While this may not fully protect your privacy, it limits some exposure.
  • Opt out of people search engines – Sites like FastPeopleSearch, CheckThem, and Instant Checkmate allow individuals to opt out. For a comprehensive list, The New York Times has published an extensive guide.
  • Freeze your credit – Adding two-factor authentication and freezing your credit can protect your financial identity from SSN data leaks.

"Time to start wearing my Staticblaster foil jacket and my handy EMP-Lite Boombox whenever I get onto public transport."

— Just_Another_Madman on Reddit

As these technologies evolve, robust privacy protections will be essential to prevent misuse, and awareness of privacy risks can help individuals make informed choices about their digital and physical security. The creators of I-XRAY remind us that awareness and action are our best tools in this era of advancing surveillance tech.

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