Debbienho !

  What I’m thinking A former Prime Minister recently banned under-16s from using social media sites. This measure, which will supposedly take effect by spring next year, was deemed necessary to protect kids online.  Now, the jury’s out on whether this is necessary or extreme. It’s generated such a buzz around the world, that even in my neck of the woods it’s being asked if minors should be banned from social media. I’m not here to discuss this, not exactly, especially when the world of under-16s is so foreign to me, me that was born an adult. It did get me thinking: could adults stay off social media? Could you?  Not permanently, although if you could, hey, power to you. Just, enough to regain a semblance of control of your screentime. I’ve woken up on a Monday morning and been brashly informed by my phone’s Digital Wellbeing app that the previous week, I had a daily screentime of [redacted to safeguard my self-esteem]. Like that wasn’t mad enough, most of it was spent o...

  They’d left the keys there to taunt her.  Naa lunged. Stupid.  Like the first thirty times, the chains on her ankles tensed, snatching her back. Pain tore across her body as she slammed into the dungeon’s icy wall. She wheezed through chattering teeth. The glowing orange manacles around her wrists continued to shrink, their sinister laugh echoing in the darkness.  She chuckled. Her tummy cramped. ‘I’ll need a long beauty rest after this.’ Wind whooshed in through the window slats, carrying sounds of distant brass harmonies and beating drums. The coronation!  Seven days. That was how long the strongest–or most stubborn–magic wielders could survive before the manacles fused with their skin, sucking all their ability. It had been six days since Jasim threw her in, clearing the final obstacle to his coronation tomorrow. Naa’s chains rattled as she scrambled to her feet. She could not hang around for another day.  If she could just reach the stupid keys! ...