If you live your life through your phone rather than engaging with the world around you, then it’s time to do something about it. Tech addicts read on: author Paul Levy shares his 21 tips from his new book ‘Digital Inferno: Using Technology Consciously in Your Life and Work, 101 Ways to Survive and Thrive…

Britain’s oldest female triathlete and an artist who turned a phone box into a library are among 100 people being celebrated for making the UK a happier place. The list of unsung heroes in the Independent on Sunday Happy List is made up of people nominated by the public and is described as an antidote to…

Colouring books for adults are outselling cookery books in France, and now they appear to be taking over bookshelves in the UK, too. But why? While drawing between the lines was once reserved for children, colouring is now being used as a form of alternative therapy to help adults relieve stress and anxiety. According to…

Feeling knackered after your first week back at work? We thought as much. If you’re still in night owl mode from staying up past 12am and having numerous lie-ins over the Christmas holidays, then this week has probably had a catastrophic effect on your snooze system. As part of our Say No To January campaign,…

The average Brit owns 1,000 items and checks their phone 200 hundred times a day. It’s pretty excessive, to say the least. So what happens when three households abandon all of their possessions to find out what they really need to make them happy? In Channel 4’s ‘Life Stripped Bare’, which aired last night at 9pm,…

Digital detoxes usually involve going cold turkey for a day, a week or even six months, but is that the best way to reduce your use of technology? Digital marketing consultant Joanne Tombrakos doesn’t think so – and she draws an analogy between food and tech to explain why not: “If you go on a…

Too much screen time before bed can significantly affect both the sleeping patterns of teenagers and directly affect their emotional state, researchers in Norway have found. The massive study looked at over 10,000 16-19 year olds and found that the longer they looked at their smartphones, tablets or TVs, the worse their night’s sleep was…

When was the last time you said thank you? Those two little words may be more powerful than you realise. Expressing gratitude doesn’t just warm your heart, it may also make it healthier, according to a new study. Research published by the American Psychological Association found that heart patients who regularly expressed gratitude experienced improved…

As co-founder of Decoded, Kathryn Parsons’ working day is inundated with tech, which was why it came as a shock when she openly admitted to coming off email. Her multi-award winning company, founded in March 2011, went from a London start-up to the infamous place to learn to code in just one day. As business…

In a country where food banks are a necessity for thousands and the poverty gap is ever-widening, it can be easy for those who need an occasional helping hand to become swallowed up in a void – like a lost penny down the side of the sofa. Luckily for them, Jaime Thurston wasn’t going to…