About this event

Agenda

5:30 PM - 6:30 PM

Author Presentation + moderated discussion with audience Q&A

6:30 PM - 7:00 PM

Light refreshments and book signing

Topic:

Smartphone Nation: Why We're All Addicted to Our Screens and What You and Your Family Can Do About It (August 12, 2025 Knopf Canada)

Speaker:

Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr, Associate Professor, University College London

Moderator: Michael Inzlicht, Professor of Psychology, University of Toronto; Cross-appointed as Professor in the Department of Marketing, Rotman School of Management

Book Synopsis:

A refreshingly candid guide to gaining agency with your smartphone, filled with exercises and science-backed strategies to help you and your children become healthy and informed digital citizens in the age of the smartphone, social media and AI.

How many times have you looked at your phone today? Or rather, how many times did you look at your phone to do one thing, only to find yourself looking at something completely different ten minutes later? We’re all addicted to screens, but what can you do about it?

Whether we like it or not, our lives and careers, as well as those of our children, will be shaped by social media, apps, and AI. In today’s attention economy, our minds and our attention equal the product that is sold to advertisers. Only those who learn how to navigate our digital world effectively will thrive.

Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr breaks digital consumption into an accessible structure of the food pyramid we all grew up on and frames it into five digital nutrition categories: education and learning, at the bottom of the pyramid, where the most time should be spent; creativity, including interests like reading, music, or drawing; communication with friends and family; participation, such as searching and gaming; and passive, the activities we should do the least, like doomscrolling.

Smartphone Nation encourages and supports readers, showing you how to:

• Game your algorithm

• Catch misinformation

• Spot and tackle "microdosing" of harmful content

• Navigate the attention economy, which prioritizes engagement at any cost

• Improve your digital nutrition for better mental health

• Spring clean your online viewing experience

Uplifting and empowering, this pioneering, practical book will equip you—and your family—not only to survive in the digital space, but to thrive.

About the speaker:

Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr is a leading expert on the cultural impacts of social media. She is an Associate Professor at University College London, lecturing on digital literacy, a prominent voice in the media, a key influence in policy circles, and a mother of two. Dr. Regehr has provided consultation to members of the House of Lords, to Members of Parliament, the Metropolitan Police, and the Scottish Government. Her research fed into the Online Safety Act and cyberflashing legislation in the UK. She appears regularly in the media as an expert on this subject, including on BBC News, ITV, BBC Woman’s Hour, Channel 4, and in The Economist. Originally from Toronto, she is now based in London.

Michael Inzlicht is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto and is also cross-appointed as a Professor in the Department of Marketing at the Rotman School of Management. A former Research Fellow at Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR), Michael conducts research that sits at the boundaries of social psychology, cognitive science and neuroscience.

Event Logistics:

This event is available to attend in-person or virtually via livestream.

Rotman Events is committed to accessibility for all people. If you have any access needs or if there are any ways we can support your full participation in this session, please email Mandi Gosling [events@rotman.utoronto.ca] no later than 2 weeks in advance of the event and we will be glad to work with you to make the appropriate arrangements.

General Admission: In-Person + Book Ticket Details

• The event will be hosted in Desautels Hall at the Rotman School of Management (105 Saint George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3E6). Your registration fee includes a copy of the book, meet-and-greet with book signing by the author, as well as access to a video replay of the session for 30 days.

General Admission: Livestream + Book Ticket Details

• Rotman Events will email registrants a link to the livestream. Your registration fee includes access to the livestream, video replay for 30 days, a copy of the book and shipping fees. The book will be shipped to registrants after the event. Please allow 3 - 4 weeks for delivery.

30-day Catch-up Viewing

• Unable to attend the event due to scheduling conflicts? Not to worry. All registrants (in-person or livestream) can access the full recording on-demand for one month after the live event.

Cancellation & Refund Policy

• Refunds will only be issued for cancellations received in writing NO LATER than 24 hours prior to the event. Please email events@rotman.utoronto.ca for processing.

• In-person registrants who do not pick up their book at the event will have 5 business days to request postal delivery by emailing us at events@rotman.utoronto.ca. All unclaimed books will be returned to the publisher after that time.