{"id":1150,"date":"2019-09-22T13:25:37","date_gmt":"2019-09-22T19:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/?p=1150"},"modified":"2019-09-22T13:25:42","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T19:25:42","slug":"mind-control-sci-fi-or-cell-phones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/2019\/09\/22\/mind-control-sci-fi-or-cell-phones\/","title":{"rendered":"Mind Control: Sci Fi or Cell Phones?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week I am reflecting on a Ted Talk given by Tristan\nHarris entitled, \u201cHow\na handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day<\/a>.\u201d He knows\nwhat he is talking about: he was \u201ca design ethicist at Google where he studied\nhow to ethically steer peoples\u2019 thoughts\u201d (Harris, 2017). All of the large\ntechnology companies have similar labs and positions, although maybe they are not\nso ethical. So why do these positions exist? Because cell phone technology has\ncreated a competition for our attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are experiencing it every day, maybe without even\nrealizing it. You end up binge-watching a show instead of going to bed because\nthe next episode auto-plays and you get sucked in. A teenager you know asks a\nfriend to continue snapchatting for him while he\u2019s on vacation because he doesn\u2019t\nwant to lose his streak. Videos on Facebook or YouTube start playing\nautomatically so you start watching even though you weren\u2019t that interested. Notifications\npop up on your cell phone and send you off thinking about or acting on\nsomething you had not planned on thinking about or acting on at that moment. A\nheadline pops up at the bottom of an article you read, and you are off reading\nanother. All of these are examples of a few large technology companies swaying\nour thoughts and actions to do what they want us to do. They have studied the\nmind, how to get our attention, and the things that motivate us, like fear of\nlosing something (a Snapchat streak) and outrage. Yes,outrage. This is why you\nsee so many inflammatory posts on Facebook and Twitter. What better way to get\nour attention?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I admit that I\u2019ve been sucked in. My husband and I don\u2019t\nwatch much television, but when Stranger Things is released all at once and the\nepisodes automatically play one after another, it\u2019s difficult to turn it off. I\u2019ve\nalso seen my teenage kids keep their friends\u2019 Snapchat streaks going in their\nabsence. As Tristan Harris states, \u201cIt affects everyone because a billion people\nhave one of these [cell phones] in their pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He prefaces that statement with the following: \u201cThe costs are so obvious\u2026It\u2019s not just taking away our agency\nto spend our attention and live the lives that we want. It\u2019s changing the way\nthat we have our conversations, it\u2019s changing our democracy, and it\u2019s changing\nour ability to have the conversations and relationships we want with each other\u201d\n(Harris, 2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That may seem like an extreme viewpoint at first, but let\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cDesign Renaissance.\u201d In a perfect world, wouldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris, T. (2017, July 26). How a\nhandful of tech companies control billions of minds every day<\/em> [Video File].\nRetrieved from https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/tristan_harris_the_manipulative_tricks_tech_companies_use_to_capture_your_attention?language=en<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hern, A. (2017, April 18). Netflix\u2019s\nBiggest Competitor? Sleep<\/em>. The Guardian. Available at: https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2017\/apr\/18\/netflix-competitor-sleep-uber-facebook<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week I am reflecting on a Ted Talk given by Tristan Harris entitled, \u201cHow a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day.\u201d He knows what he is talking about: he was \u201ca design ethicist at Google where he studied how to ethically steer peoples\u2019 thoughts\u201d (Harris, 2017). All of the large … Continue reading “Mind Control: Sci Fi or Cell Phones?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":1151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-1150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-media","tag-inte5665fall19"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Watch-this-Check-this-out-Dont-Sleep-Watch-more.jpg?fit=945%2C756&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1152,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions\/1152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}