‘It’s torture’: prisoners’ letters expose subterranean Oklahoma ‘dungeon’ known as the tombs; The Guardian, June 11, 2026

Hilary Andersson , The Guardian; ‘It’s torture’: prisoners’ letters expose subterranean Oklahoma ‘dungeon’ known as the tombs

"Dungeons have housed American prisoners as far back as the revolutionary war, but most underground cells – including those at the notorious island prison Alcatraz – have long since been decommissioned.

Today, there is no national database for prisons that continue to use buried or partly buried facilities. A handful of other facilities do reportedly still use underground cells, but the practice is rare.

The letters from H Unit offer a glimpse into this sunless world. The prisoners – of whom there are currently 248 in total, according to prison authorities – write of living in squalor, and frequent violence and rape. Many are held in solitary confinement, with almost no human contact. Others stay in two-person cells, where they say violence is common because the space is not large enough for two men...

The Death Penalty Information Center said: “These allegations about Oklahoma’s H Unit raise new and serious concerns about whether the constitutional obligations of prison officials are being met, and they deserve close scrutiny.”"

Marriage over, €100,000 down the drain: the AI users whose lives were wrecked by delusion; The Guardian, March 26, 2026

Anna Moore , The Guardian; Marriage over, €100,000 down the drain: the AI users whose lives were wrecked by delusion

"Most of us are aware of concerns around social media and its role in rising rates of depression and anxiety. Now, though, there are concerns that chatbots can make anyone vulnerable to “AI psychosis”. Given AI’s rapid proliferation (ChatGPT was the world’s most downloaded app last year), mental health professionals and members of the public such as Biesma are sounding the alarm."

Mark Zuckerberg Takes the Stand in Landmark Social Media Addiction Trial; The New York Times, February 18, 2026

 Eli Tan, The New York Times; Mark Zuckerberg Takes the Stand in Landmark Social Media Addiction Trial

"Mr. Zuckerberg’s appearance in court — his first time testifying about child safety in front of a jury — was highly anticipated. Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook and has more than 3.5 billion users, has come under fire as one of the biggest providers of platforms for teenagers. Parents, as well as tech policy and child safety groups have accused the company of hooking young people on its apps and causing mental health issues that have led to anxiety, depression, eating disorders and self-harm...

In internal documents that surfaced in some of the lawsuits, Mr. Zuckerberg and other Meta leaders repeatedly played down their platforms’ risks to young people, while rejecting employee pleas to bolster youth guardrails and hire additional staff...

K.G.M.’s lawyer, Mark Lanier, said during his opening statement this month that Instagram and YouTube’s apps were built like “digital casinos” that profited off addictive behavior. He pointed to internal documents from Meta and Google, which owns YouTube, comparing their technology to gambling, tobacco and drug use. In a 2015 memo, Mr. Zuckerberg encouraged executives to prioritize increasing the time that teenagers spend on Meta’s apps.

Meta said in its opening statement that K.G.M.’s mental health issues were caused by familial abuse and turmoil. The company presented medical records to show that social media addiction was not a focus of her therapy sessions."

What research actually says about social media and kids’ health; The Washington Post, June 17, 2024

Tatum Hunter , The Washington Post; What research actually says about social media and kids’ health

"There is no clear scientific evidence that social media is causing mental health issues among young people. Public health officials are pushing for regulation anyway.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy on Monday called for social media platforms to add warnings reminding parents and kids that the apps might not be safe, citing rising rates of mental health problems among children and teens. It follows an advisory Murthy issued last year about the health threat of loneliness for Americans, in which he named social media as a potential driver of social isolation.

But experts — from leading psychologists to free speech advocates — have repeatedly called into question the idea that time on social media like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat leads directly to poor mental health. The debate is nuanced, they say, and it’s too early to make sweeping statements about kids and social media."