Jonathan Haidt’s claims that smartphones and social media are the primary drivers of the youth mental health crisis overstate the evidence and ignore broader social, economic, and developmental factors. Rather than imposing blanket bans, policymakers should focus on teaching digital literacy and supporting age-appropriate, responsible technology use.

If the USTR is serious about protecting U.S. consumers and businesses from copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting, it should designate Chinese online platforms Temu, AliExpress, and SHEIN as notorious markets.

As Daniel Castro writes in Government Technology, a new Information Technology and Innovation Foundation analysis finds a sharp “digital marriage divide,” with only 10 states offering largely end-to-end online processes while many still rely on paper forms and in-person visits. Castro argues the barriers are legal and administrative—not technological—and calls for reforms such as permitting electronic signatures to modernize marriage services

The culture of digital and AI opposition is a growing threat to American prosperity and power. Unless we return at least to neutrality, other nations unburdened by this self-doubt will surpass us.

Global trade is evolving into a form of mercantilist economic warfare where foreign nations use discriminatory regulations to target the U.S. tech sector, draining its wealth and undermining American innovation.

App store–level age verification laws pose privacy, security, and free-speech risks while leaving websites unregulated, whereas device-level, opt-in parental controls offer a more comprehensive and safer way to protect children online.

European calls for “payment sovereignty” misdiagnose the problem: Visa and Mastercard lead through competition, not coercion, and a state-backed alternative would entrench protectionism instead of enabling regulatory reforms that would let European firms scale and compete globally.

Congress confirmed Jared Isaacman to lead NASA in late 2025. He should begin his tenure by finalizing NASA’s plan to transition from the ISS to commercial space stations, because the United States must maintain a presence in low-earth orbit to remain competitive.

The Trump administration’s withdrawal from international cybersecurity forums like the GFCE and Hybrid CoE risks creating gaps in global coordination, early warning, and norm-setting. Strategic disengagement must be paired with replacement mechanisms to preserve multilateral cyber capacity, maintain allied cohesion, and safeguard U.S. interests.

After South Korea reduced its tax credit for automation in 2018 from 7 percent to 3 percent for large firms, South Korean industries, on average, reduced robot installations by 28 percent compared with their Japanese counterparts.