This week I am reflecting on a Ted Talk given by Tristan Harris entitled, “How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day.” He knows what he is talking about: he was “a design ethicist at Google where he studied how to ethically steer peoples’ thoughts” (Harris, 2017). All of the large technology companies have similar labs and positions, although maybe they are not so ethical. So why do these positions exist? Because cell phone technology has created a competition for our attention.
You are experiencing it every day, maybe without even realizing it. You end up binge-watching a show instead of going to bed because the next episode auto-plays and you get sucked in. A teenager you know asks a friend to continue snapchatting for him while he’s on vacation because he doesn’t want to lose his streak. Videos on Facebook or YouTube start playing automatically so you start watching even though you weren’t that interested. Notifications pop up on your cell phone and send you off thinking about or acting on something you had not planned on thinking about or acting on at that moment. A headline pops up at the bottom of an article you read, and you are off reading another. All of these are examples of a few large technology companies swaying our thoughts and actions to do what they want us to do. They have studied the mind, how to get our attention, and the things that motivate us, like fear of losing something (a Snapchat streak) and outrage. Yes,outrage. This is why you see so many inflammatory posts on Facebook and Twitter. What better way to get our attention?
I admit that I’ve been sucked in. My husband and I don’t watch much television, but when Stranger Things is released all at once and the episodes automatically play one after another, it’s difficult to turn it off. I’ve also seen my teenage kids keep their friends’ Snapchat streaks going in their absence. As Tristan Harris states, “It affects everyone because a billion people have one of these [cell phones] in their pocket.”
He prefaces that statement with the following: “The costs are so obvious…It’s not just taking away our agency to spend our attention and live the lives that we want. It’s changing the way that we have our conversations, it’s changing our democracy, and it’s changing our ability to have the conversations and relationships we want with each other” (Harris, 2017).
That may seem like an extreme viewpoint at first, but let’s look at it a little closer. These technology companies have control rooms full of people trying to decide what will grab our attention, and they are all competing with each other. And as the Netflix CEO flippantly said, they are also competing with things like sleep (Hern, 2017). Seriously, though, what one company does, the other will do also, whether as simple as using auto-play or as disturbing as posting controversial items or telling lies to outrage people and perpetuate conversations online that we might not even want to have.
So what can we do about it? The first step is simply to understand that you can be persuaded and that you might want to protect against being persuaded. Harris goes on to discuss two more steps: a new accountability system for those aforementioned control rooms and a “Design Renaissance.” In a perfect world, wouldn’t it be great if these technology companies were aligned with the goals of those they are trying to influence? He uses the example of a lonely person at home getting on Facebook. Instead of Facebook encouraging him to spend more time onscreen alone, it could encourage him to go out and socialize with friends. However, when the bottom line for these companies is profitability, is that realistic? Perhaps, not. But, I do agree that in order for us to take back some control, the first steps are awareness that we are being persuaded and action to protect ourselves.
So what are your thoughts on the topic? Were you aware of this practice by technology companies? How do you feel about it? Now that you know this is happening, will you change the way you use your cell phone? One small step might be turning off notifications. I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.
Harris, T. (2017, July 26). How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_the_manipulative_tricks_tech_companies_use_to_capture_your_attention?language=en
Hern, A. (2017, April 18). Netflix’s Biggest Competitor? Sleep. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/18/netflix-competitor-sleep-uber-facebook