At about 11 o'clock each night, inside the small apartment that has, so far, survived the Israeli bombardment that has swept through much of northern Gaza, Eman Lulu gets out of bed.
asserted
Lulu → survive → bed
The living room is unusually dim, lit only by a handful of lights powered by the family's solar panels, installed by her father Hussam, 58, during the first months of the war, before they became almost impossible to find.
asserted
they → light → war
Beside the central battery on the balcony, where the family charges all their devices, Eman unplugs her phone.
asserted
Eman → charge → phone
Charging from a wall socket has become a luxury in Gaza; like thousands of other families, the Lulus now depend on whatever electricity they can generate themselves.
asserted
they → charge → electricity
Still dressed in the white cotton shirt and denim skirt she'd worn all day, Eman, 18, crosses the black-speckled marble tiles of the living room, the worn brown carpet softening the centre of the floor and steps into her mother Beirut's room.
asserted
carpet → dress → mother
She places the phone in her hands, says goodnight and returns to bed.
asserted
She → place → bed
Beirut, 43, lays the phone beside her pillow, switches it to silent, and a few minutes later, the family shuts down the battery for the night.
asserted
family → lay → night
The apartment sinks into near-total darkness.
asserted
apartment → sink → darkness
Messages still arriving, comments gathering beneath Eman's latest video, will all have to wait until morning.
asserted
Messages → arrive → morning
For a few hours before dawn, one of the world's most-watched windows into Gaza goes dark.
asserted
one → watch → Gaza
Seen in isolation, the ritual feels almost universal.
asserted
ritual → see → isolation
A mother takes away her teenager's phone before bed.
asserted
mother → take → bed
Across the world, families negotiate similar rules every night, with varying degrees of success.
asserted
families → negotiate → success
Governments have joined the argument too.
asserted
Governments → join → argument
Australia already bars under-16s from holding accounts on many major social media platforms, while Britain has announced a similar ban and additional restrictions aimed at older teenagers.
asserted
Britain → bar → teenagers
In the United States and Europe, lawmakers continue to debate where childhood should end and the algorithm should begin.
asserted
algorithm → continue → States
For years, Beirut would have found herself instinctively on their side.
asserted
herself → find → side
"A hundred percent right," she says.
asserted
she → say → ?
"It's like I'd advise any mother whose kids are still young — even if she's 18, 16 ... you still need to keep an eye on things.
asserted
you → advise → things
I was against sharing her picture on Facebook, period."
The dangers, as she understood them, lay inside the phone itself.
asserted
she → share → phone
"All these things I don't know about ...
asserted
I → know → things
you hear so many stories of blackmail, someone provoking [a girl] over photos, people talking about her.
asserted
people → hear → her
Even adults get affected ...
asserted
adults → affect → ?
Until recently, her daughter accepted the rule: no personal phone before finishing secondary school, no social media.
asserted
daughter → accept → school
If Eman needed WhatsApp for school, YouTube for homework, or to speak to friends during the COVID pandemic, she borrowed her mother's device.
asserted
she → need → device
Everything passed through Beirut first before it reached Eman.
asserted
it → pass → Eman
The arrangement was not born of blind obedience.
asserted
arrangement → bear → obedience
Eman describes herself as stubborn, and arguments over phones, curfews and going out were hardly uncommon.
asserted
arguments → describe → phones
But, as her parents' only daughter, she also trusted that the limits they set came from a desire to protect her rather than control her.
asserted
they → trust → her
In Gaza, relatively few teenagers aged below 16 own smartphones, and even among wealthier families, whether a child has a phone often depends as much on parental approval as financial means.
asserted
has → age → means
In Eman's class, only a handful of girls had phones of their own.
asserted
handful → have → own
Most borrowed a parent's device, and owning one before finishing school was considered a matter of luck rather than expectation.
asserted
owning → borrow → luck
Eman wanted one all the same.
asserted
Eman → want → one
Her close friend, Hanaa, had her own phone throughout their school years, and Eman remembers pleading with her mother for one too.
asserted
Eman → have → one
The arguments were frequent, but Beirut never relented.
asserted
Beirut → relent → ?
The family rule was simple: no personal phone until she had finished school and turned 18.
asserted
she → finish → 18
At the time, the wait felt impossibly long.
asserted
wait → feel → time
Looking back now, Eman can scarcely imagine what finally receiving that long-awaited phone would come to mean.
asserted
receiving → look → phone
During the genocide, though, the phone became something else entirely.
asserted
phone → become → genocide
She would carry Beirut’s old iPhone 11 Pro Max as her family fled their home under Israeli bombardment, climbed onto rooftops during communications blackouts that lasted for months, and uploaded videos capturing these moments that would eventually reach millions.
asserted
that → carry → millions
…and 160 more, not listed.
The Aporia
