Manitoba premier says adults also vulnerable to tech harms

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says we can strengthen our democracy with one provocative move, throwing our phones into the garbage. Now, the Premier admits that it isn't necessarily a reasonable ask, but he wants to make clear to everybody the harms of technology shouldn't be discounted. We're joined by the CBC's Ian Fraser with more in our newsroom. Now, Ian, the Premier made the comment at a Winnipeg conference on democracy. What point was he trying to make in saying that we should ditch our phones? Morally, he says we spend a lot of time worrying about how kids are using their phones, but adults aren't immune to the adverse effects either. Remember, his government has already banned phones in schools and talked about a social media ban for youth. I'm trying to get re-elected, and I know banning Facebook for you would get me tossed in the garbage. But everything that we're saying is bad in tech for kids applies equally to you. It's not like 16 comes or 18 comes or 21 comes and then all of a sudden, well, I could never be manipulated by an algorithm. And actually, like the circadian rhythms in my body are immune to blue light. The premier says he still believes in the power of technology, but is skeptical on how it's being delivered. So Ian, what would the premier like to see? He says big tech simply needs to be regulated. One computer scientist I spoke to from the U of M says we should be skeptical of what the tech companies are selling. Most of the technology that we see today, especially in the context of social media, is there to serve advertising to our eyeballs so that the companies behind the scenes can buy and sell advertising space. And that makes it a different motivation from, you know, using the technology to make my life better or to help me do a thing I need to do. Now the Premier also told the Democracy Conference he's worried about declining voter turnout. He says we need to make politics more engaging and entertaining, but did not elaborate on how.