Gaia Bernstein is a Seton Hall law professor and the author of the award-winning book Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies. Gaia studies how Big Tech is transforming our present and future and advocates for the regulation of technology so that we can remain masters of our own lives.

We believe that innovation will promote human welfare. But have you noticed that life feels increasingly overwhelming and lonely? What began as a technological dream to “connect the world” has turned into a nightmare, where children are anxious and depressed, and adults feel guilty, powerless, alone, and exhausted.

Tech companies are not focused on humans. Instead, they are gradually eliminating us from the entire process. They create and deliver self-regulation tools that are not intended to help, but only to create the illusion that we are in control.  They tell users, “It’s for you” knowing full well these tools serve them alone.

Gaia Bernstein believes that Big Tech is the Big Tobacco of the 21st Century, and it must be regulated. Only then will we once again be masters of our own lives.

• Technology, Privacy and Policy Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law
• Co-Director, Institute for Privacy Protection, Seton Hall University School of Law
• Co-Director, Gibbons Institute for Law Science and Technology, Seton Hall University School of Law
• Board Member, Fairplay for Kids

Gaia Bernstein is a Law Professor at the Seton Hall University School of Law. She is the founding Director of the Institute for Privacy Protection and Gibbons Institute of Law Science and Technology. She is a renowned tech policy expert and the award-winning author of the book Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies. which Kirkus Reviews said “sets an agenda to rein in the tech behemoths that have run rampant for years.” Gaia imagines a world where we can take back control of our technology and connect with each other, not with our screens.

Our society has a technology problem. Many want to disconnect from screens but can’t help themselves. Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies shows us a way out. Rather than blaming users, the book shatters the illusion that we autonomously choose how to spend our time online. It shifts the moral responsibility and accountability for solutions to corporations. Drawing lessons from the tobacco and food industries, the book demonstrates why government regulation is necessary to curb technology addiction. It describes a grassroots movement already in action across courts and legislative halls.

Unwired has been broadly featured and excerpted, including by Wired Magazine, Time Magazine and the Boston Globe. It has received many recognitions, including as a Next Big Idea Must Read Book; a finalist of the PROSE award in legal studies; a finalist of the international Book Awards in general non-fiction; and a finalist of the American Book Fest award in business-technology.

Gaia has spoken about technology all around the world, from the TEDx stage to the World Economic Forum. She has delivered talks to faculty, students, and general audiences at top universities, including Harvard, Stanford, and Yale. Gaia presented to government officials, including the FTC and legislatures. She regularly speaks on media outlets on a broad array of programs, including general news shows, programs targeted at business and technology professionals, as well as wellness and parenting shows. She has also spoken with parents through a unique school outreach program on technology overuse, which Gaia founded in 2017.

• Advises organizations and policymakers on regulating addictive technologies and social media
• Regular commentator on national and international media
• Provides testimony to legislative and executive bodies
• Collaborates on policy papers, recommendations, and amicus briefs

As a trusted leader in this space, Gaia also organizes events that bring together thought leaders from academia, government and the legal community.

In the spring of 2024 Gaia organized a conference on “Legal Responses to Addictive Technologies: Addressing the Impact of Screens, Social Networks and Online Games on Kids Conference.” The event included two keynote speakers: NJ’s attorney General Matthew Platkin and the FTC’s Associate Director Serena Viswanathan Associate Director. The conference was featured in PBS News; and Tech Policy Press.

Gatekeeping Screen Time: Configuring the Regulation of Addictive Technologies and Kids’ Privacy Right
Villanova Law Review (forthcoming) (2024) (invited Essay)

Examines legislation to protect kids’ from addictive technologies and argues that laws placing responsibility directly on tech companies are preferable over laws relying solely on parents as gatekeepers. [Link coming soon; manuscript available with author upon request]

Technology Addiction Has Created a Self-Help Trap
Wired Magazine, May 28, 2023

Argues that the technology industry manipulated us following an old playbook, put together by other powerful industries, including the tobacco and food industries, to convince us that we are to blame and are responsible for fixing the screen time problem.

Opinion: California is Right: Addictive Design is Not Free Speech
The Hill, October 24, 2023

Argues that laws regulating addictive designs are not regulating speech and are not protected under the First Amendment.