This lesson is part of the pack: The Psychology of Influence. Teach it as a complete experience.
WHAT'S INSIDE
- Real-World Context: Dive into the hidden reality of daily screen habits and uncover how smartphones are designed to keep us constantly checking, scrolling, and coming back for more.
- Watching & Analysing (Social Experiment): Watch a real-life social experiment where participants guess their screen time and confront the gap between perception and reality
- Watching & Analysing (The Psychology of Design): Explore the science of "Two Billion Truman Shows," examining how app design, notifications, etc. are deliberately engineered to capture attention and simulate social connection.
- Critical Thinking & Discussion: Through agree/disagree tasks and reflection questions, students evaluate whether phones enhance life or quietly control behaviour.
- Innovative Solutions: Analyse Google's "Paper Phone" project as a creative, analog alternative designed to help users disconnect and regain focus in a digital world.
- Fluency Building & Problem Solving: Act as a "Digital Wellness Coach" to design a 24-hour detox plan, brainstorming "emergency boredom killers" to help a partner survive without any digital devices.
Related Lessons
Step inside the modern workplace and explore how meetings really work—from awkward video calls to office debates—through a humorous video and real-world scenarios. Build natural meeting vocabulary and decode common business expressions. Compare virtual, hybrid, and in-office work styles while practicing how to raise concerns and reach decisions collaboratively. Finish with fluency-driven simulations that mirror the authentic daily conversations at work.
FREE
Explore the mind of Edward Bernays—Freud's nephew—to discover how he turned psychoanalysis into a tool for engineering human desire through controversial campaigns. Master the vocabulary of manipulation, from 'luring people in' to 'jumping on the bandwagon,' and analyse how brands like Nike use social movements to sway public opinion. Wrap up with a debate on whether these techniques are clever marketing or dangerous mind games.
FREE
Discover your advice style! Watch a celebrity share the best advice she’s received and analyse different approaches, tone, and impact. Expand your vocabulary with natural expressions for giving and responding to advice, then practise them in realistic dialogues, role-plays, and debates. Reflect on personal experiences, explore when advice helps—or backfires—and finish with a lively Talk & Listen session where students tackle each other’s real-life dilemmas.