4 ms·

Solving technology-induced addiction with more technology is like a doctor prescribing drugs to treat the side effects of other drugs.

sbarker 9y ago
As long as they call it, "Methaphone" i'll take 500mg.
- hownottowrite 9y ago
  I think I'll need a 1000mg at least... The article reads like an episode from Silicon Valley complete with TJ Miller clone boy. "He signs his emails with emojis–a bear, a red heart, a sun–describes himself on the company’s website as an 'escaped circus bear' and favors collared shirts unbuttoned to the sternum, revealing a tan wilderness of chest hair." Really... This is the guy who's going to save everyone from their smartphones?
atomical 9y ago
I was expecting this article to be about software that locks down your phone, or turns off notifications at certain times of the day and sends them to the graveyard. Notifications are the devil.
- RangerScience 9y ago
  Alas, it's not possible for an app to block notifications on iOS. You can do more with Android, tho.
  - atomical 9y ago
    Maybe someone should design AI for notifications that I really need to see. Of course the problem is I don't need to see anything but Slack.
    - RangerScience 9y ago
      We've talked about this. It's part of the thinking around where the engagement sweet spot is: there IS some value that things like FB bring to your life, but beyond that, they're detrimental. Where is that point? Can you find it? Can you habituate people to it? Dunno.
      - atomical 9y ago
        I don't see Facebook as having any value. If people want to communicate with me they should do it directly.
spuz 9y ago
No, that's a poor analogy. For example, I purchased a timer plug socket that turns off my router between the hours of midnight and 7am. That's using technology to solve the problem of technology addiction. If you apply technology in the right way, it can help you to use it less.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  Putting a time lock on your liquor cabinet so it doesn't open between midnight and seven a.m. isn't solving the problem of alcoholism. If an approach of the sort you describe does anything to solve the problem of the behavior pattern it is directed at, you probably shouldn't use “addiction” to describe the behavior pattern in the first place.
  - RangerScience 9y ago
    Sometimes the right way to solve a problem is to alleviate the symptoms. Like dog cones. The solution to some skin issue is to not poke at it, and that's it. If you stop poking at it, it'll fix itself.
  - spuz 9y ago
    This is also a poor analogy. To an alcoholic, alcohol serves no (or very little) useful purpose. However, to a technology addict, technology serves both useful and useless purposes. My suggestion is to build technology in a way that maximises the usefulness to a user and minimises the uselessness. There are two dimensions to work with and you can make changes to your technology that moves you along them independently.
- hownottowrite 9y ago
  It’s a perfect analogy and thank you for reinforcing the point.
tdaltonc 9y ago
Civilization is the accretion of more techniques to fix the problem of the other techniques.

sbarker 9y ago

As long as they call it, "Methaphone" i'll take 500mg.

hownottowrite 9y ago
I think I'll need a 1000mg at least... The article reads like an episode from Silicon Valley complete with TJ Miller clone boy. "He signs his emails with emojis–a bear, a red heart, a sun–describes himself on the company’s website as an 'escaped circus bear' and favors collared shirts unbuttoned to the sternum, revealing a tan wilderness of chest hair." Really... This is the guy who's going to save everyone from their smartphones?

atomical 9y ago

I was expecting this article to be about software that locks down your phone, or turns off notifications at certain times of the day and sends them to the graveyard. Notifications are the devil.

RangerScience 9y ago
Alas, it's not possible for an app to block notifications on iOS. You can do more with Android, tho.
- atomical 9y ago
  Maybe someone should design AI for notifications that I really need to see. Of course the problem is I don't need to see anything but Slack.
  - RangerScience 9y ago
    We've talked about this. It's part of the thinking around where the engagement sweet spot is: there IS some value that things like FB bring to your life, but beyond that, they're detrimental. Where is that point? Can you find it? Can you habituate people to it? Dunno.
    - atomical 9y ago
      I don't see Facebook as having any value. If people want to communicate with me they should do it directly.

spuz 9y ago

No, that's a poor analogy. For example, I purchased a timer plug socket that turns off my router between the hours of midnight and 7am. That's using technology to solve the problem of technology addiction. If you apply technology in the right way, it can help you to use it less.

dragonwriter 9y ago
Putting a time lock on your liquor cabinet so it doesn't open between midnight and seven a.m. isn't solving the problem of alcoholism. If an approach of the sort you describe does anything to solve the problem of the behavior pattern it is directed at, you probably shouldn't use “addiction” to describe the behavior pattern in the first place.
- RangerScience 9y ago
  Sometimes the right way to solve a problem is to alleviate the symptoms. Like dog cones. The solution to some skin issue is to not poke at it, and that's it. If you stop poking at it, it'll fix itself.
- spuz 9y ago
  This is also a poor analogy. To an alcoholic, alcohol serves no (or very little) useful purpose. However, to a technology addict, technology serves both useful and useless purposes. My suggestion is to build technology in a way that maximises the usefulness to a user and minimises the uselessness. There are two dimensions to work with and you can make changes to your technology that moves you along them independently.
hownottowrite 9y ago
It’s a perfect analogy and thank you for reinforcing the point.

tdaltonc 9y ago

Civilization is the accretion of more techniques to fix the problem of the other techniques.