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Walled IN, The Blog

February 14, 2026

Landmark trial accusing social media companies of addicting children to their platforms begins.

The Social Media tech giants are officially on trial. They are accused of knowingly creating an addictive product designed to hook younger people.

You cannot deny that the smart phone and social media has changed the way young people communicate and therefore learn, relate and evolve. 

Therefore, some may say it is too late, but I believe it is time to provide systems that protect children from the possibility of future mental health illnesses. 


February 12, 2026


Guns and mental health struggles: 

What the apparent online footprint of the 

Canada school shooter tells us?


The availability for young people to access firearms is not a good thing at all. Seriously. Who thinks having the access to a gun or an automatic weapon is the answer to the mental health crisis in the world?

I am sure the systems in place are trying to look into the root cause of school shootings and the mental health crisis among young people? Maybe, the wrong people are being hired for that job. 

Why can't the systems see that social media and putting a smart phone into the hands of vulnerable minds is not an answer? 




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The Erosion of Human Connection.


One of the most frustrating things that I have experienced these past ten years are people’s eyes glued to their phones. Every time I’m on the subway, in an elevator, teaching class, walking on the street: I see people stuck to their phones and all I can feel is the deep absence of real human connection. It seems to have taken many encounters I have out in public from me. At home it is Zoom meeting after Zoom meeting, texting and silence. 

It makes me keenly aware of how social media, the smart phone and now A.I. are changing how we communicate. There are many positives to this new way of connecting, like the speed of passing important information, but the damage it is doing to the human connection, sensitivity levels, intimacy and relationships is irreparable. We are frighteningly close to a future where we only know this form of communication and face to face, breathing in the same air, especially in the winter months will be a rare part of our week. 

Connecting on a truly human level where all our senses are in play and relationships based on intimacy, body language, and the connection of spirits will be so rare. 

Will we be able to handle the overload of emotions when we need to confront our problems in real life relationships? 

It is like watching in slow motion the erosion of human relationships like a disease growing within the population. All the colors of human connection are being stripped away and flattened onto a tiny screen. The amount of people with hearing and sight issues will rise. The number of times we are ill during the year will rise due the lack of fresh air. 

In my profession, I am meeting young people who struggle with profound mental health issues, and I am a firm believer that the phone has created a fair bit of this damage. 




February 2, 2026


Psychological distress among Ontario teens has nearly tripled in a decade, study finds.


What is the link between teen mental health distress and smoking pot? 

It's not too hard of a stretch to think if a young mind turns to pot, becomes quite addicted to it and lapses in their marks at school and interpersonal communication that there is a connection.

It is not just one connection though. It is a spiderweb of connectors at the root of young peoples distress: social media, smart phone addiction, online bullying, over prescribing by doctors, the environment, and the lack of qualified social workers in the school system just to name a few. Then add the accelerating pace of high tech, A.I. and placing these products into the hands of young people  for the sole purpose of making billions of dollars.