How to stop the addictive nature of the tech?
Chetan Natesh
20 replies
Today many people are addicted to scrolling social media feeds.
Even though the content is bad people spend easily 30-40 minutes everyday on the platforms.
If the content becomes better this will obviously not reduce, people will still spend time on the platform.
So is this technology always meant to be addictive?
Replies
Matt Li@mattli
Seasons Journaling for iOS
It is absolutely meant to be addictive. If we are lucky it may evolve in a way that is more harmonious with what is healthy for our minds, but that is probably wishful thinking.
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Yes. It's not just addictive but brain dumbing.
@sanat_mohanty ads and brain numbing content always go hand in hand!
Delphi — Digital Clone Studio
Yes - this technology is built to be addictive.
Cut out reels/yt shorts
@philipsnyder It has been proven , short form content is bad for our brains - a very obviously harmful effect - erroding attention spans.
And not having strong attention spans also means there may be areas of our lives that need more attention but are suffering simply because we CANNOT pay attention!
am building something that is uses your time much more beneficially , hope I can count on your support 🙏
Obviously meant to be addictive. No doubt about that.
@satish_kumar_veluri I have a very clever idea to implement EXACTLY what you have suggested - so glad I am hearing something from the market that I assumed to be true 🙂🙏
@satish_kumar_veluri Maybe introducing some friction may help.
For example Francis Haugen a Facebook whistleblower made a statement saying instead of directly being able to retweet a post if a user had to actually copy paste content they wanted to retweet it would reduce spread of fake news considerably!
@chetan_natesh This might reduce the speed of the spread of fake news more than the spread itself. There is no credibility check for the users, such a process must be introduced. When the user is made accountable of his actions, then things might have a different perspective. Right now social media is a zero-consequence platform, that should change.
You either start creating content or consume content! There is no alternative :p
I switch off my phone for at least an hour or two to stay away from wasting time on social media!
@sanjay_somashekar I agree Sanjay, but the percentage of people that create content is miniscule compared to the number that consume content.
Unfortunately this disparity exists not because it is difficult to create content but because of nonsensical reasons like trolls etc.
This is one of the main issues I am trying to solve with the platform I am building.
I hope I can count on your support 🙏
@chetan_natesh would love to see what you are building! All the best!
Waverly
It's sad to see that our technologies are so addictive. To see kids comparing themselves with others non-stop and locking themselves in their rooms all the time.
@kiracheung It's an insane situation, but turning it around is easier than you think 😉
I think one way to stop them is to make it less stimulating. Thumbnails and clickbait in general is one way this is done. I believe there is are various extensions that either outright block clickbait, or replace all video thumbnails with a relevant portion of the video itself rather than what the creator uploaded.
I notice myself being more productive when I use these.
@richard_gao2 Thank you for this Richard, this is useful information about the market!
It is in the platform's interest to show you content that is neither totally useless nor is it mind absorbing by way of being rich.
Enter sensational content, it allows them to show you the most ads this way!
I am building an ad free alternative, I hope I can count on your support 🙏
How to break a digital addiction
1. Turn off push notifications
2. Schedule times to check your phone, or at least be mindful about it
3. Use a timer to block your usage
@rebecka_rodriguez Self control is the best defence, I agree 🙌