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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I think the Amish have a lot to teach us about integrating technology into our lives. Sure, they probably go further than I, personally, would prefer. But at least they have asked themselves the question, "How can we reap the benefits of this new technology while avoiding it's pitfalls?" The larger culture, on the other hand, isn't even aware this is a question worth asking.
I think it's a non answer if to "reap the benefits" you just rely on the fact the majority of society will both eat any potential pitfalls and cater to your lifestyle to extend the benefits to you.
Your comment lacks specificity so it's difficult to ascertain what elements of technology you understand the Amish to exploit for themselves, and which you believe they parasite off the rest of us.
Speaking generally then, I think it's interesting to note that contrary to popular perception the Amish will often (albeit not always) use modern technology when they decide it suits them for industrial purposes. This includes the (not universal) use of diesel generators, telephones, computers, solar panels, wind turbines, tractors, refrigerators, milking machines, batteries, compressed air, among others. They will (often) use this technology in one aspect of their lives while abstaining in other contexts. They may have a computer in their workplace for workplace related tasks, but they almost certainly won't have a computer at home with which to play CS:Go in the evenings.
I believe this is what toasterlovin was referring to when he attributed to the Amish the question "How can we reap the benefits of this new technology while avoiding it's pitfalls?"
I will say, though, that there are aspects of the Amish lifestyle and belief structure which would not be viable if they were the dominant culture, rather than just a very small minority. The big issue that stands out to me is that I'm not sure that the Amish emphasis on extremely tight community bonds is compatible with the level of economic specialization required for a nation state to be competitive with it's neighbors. There is something kind of magical that only seems to happen in cities, but cities seem to be especially effective at promoting an intensely individualistic lifestyle.
But that's all orthogonal to my original point. You can learn from the Amish without becoming Amish. We could emulate their approach of delineating very specific ways in which technology is to be integrated into our lives. But our society seems to have serious problems with the idea of orthopraxy, so I'm not counting on it.
That's my exact point. They can consume technology if they so choose, but that choice is provided to them by the rest of society. The attitudes the parent suggests we should learn from would, if adopted by the majority, means there's no one left to provide that tech.
All I'm saying is that we would be better off if we asked ourselves how to use each new technology in a way that allows up to reap the benefits while avoiding the pitfalls. In no way am I suggesting that we not create or use new technologies at all.
> > Boundless Mind’s business model is to develop new versions of the same persuasive tools, combined with machine learning, that big tech firms already use–and then to sell them to nonprofits and companies promoting education, health or social welfare.
Both. We all compulsively sleep, eat, and hydrate, but those are not a addictions because they're good for us.
With running I suppose the effort to do it, even if it's a habit, prevents most people from getting addicted to it. And then those that have some psychological 'dependence' on running would not generally be considered 'addicted' because running is mostly healthy.
We don't see it as making "tech addictive," but that's the story the press likes to tell about us. Behavioral Design is a lot more than "do it more." The understanding of neuroscience that we now have, and the ability of machine learning to quickly 'understand' a user is opening up a whole new frontier of ways to change people. So far, these techniques have only been used to make games and social media addictive; we're making it possible to use it for everything else.
The point of the marketing page is to generate sales leads, not be a pure expression of our manifesto. That copy, in that place, does a good job of advancing our goal, even if it doesn't do a good job of communicating it.
You have a B2B service for helping companies form habits, and a consumer-facing app for breaking a specific kind of habit (phone/social media addiction), but I think a hybrid would be killer: A consumer-facing app for both forming and breaking any sort of habit for an individual person, whether that's sleep, exercise, diet, conscientiousness, etc.
We've looked at making a consumer habit app. The problem is when a consumer wants to change them self, they think, "I need to get a financial heath app," or "I need to get a fitness app," or "I need to get a diet app," never "I need to get a habit app." So discoverability and user education become insurmountable. Furthermore, building a UX for habit formation requires a lot of domain expertise. A food behavior app and a education behavior app have almost nothing in common. Generalist habit apps always get crushed by a sea of more focused apps (even if they don't work as well!). The app store is awash in well executed generalist habit apps that no one uses. We pivoted in to being an AI-API for exactly that reason.
I have tried desperately to use technology to help me use technology less. I love my smartphone and Facebook and YouTube, I just don't want to spend all day on them. I have implemented some crude solutions already and they certainly help. For example, my PC shuts down automatically at midnight thanks to a cronjob. I also have a plug socket that turns off my router every night at midnight. I have a number of chrome plugins installed to help me use social media less. However, because none of these solutions are in-built they are not ideal - I can bypass them or they stop me doing work when I need to do it.
I want my phone to nudge me if it thinks I'm spending too long on certain apps. I want reddit to stop loading if I've spent more than an hour on it that day. I want to be able to bypass these limitations if I strictly need to (for example, "You've spent 1 hour on reddit already today, click here to pay $0.10 for another 15 minutes). Just in the way that technology can be fine-tuned to grab your attention, I know that it can be designed to help you get the most out of your time. I really would pay $10 / month for a version of YouTube or Chrome that had these features. If anyone knows of solutions like this please let me know.
Have you tried our app Space? You're right about the engineering limits of it being an app. It's very frustrating. Space was initially rejected from the Apple app store. It only got through after it was featured on 60 Minutes.
If you use Android, email me. We're working on something extra strength there.
Yes, I have tried Space, it honestly seemed pretty dumb. It did not seem to work for me. I would definitely love to see what you have planned for Android. What is your email address?
I used RescueTime for a while but it has two serious flaws. Firstly, it has no system for scheduling focus time and secondly, it has no system for breaking focus time for a short period. I would constantly find myself terminating the program just to browse the news for 5 minutes and then 90 minutes later wonder why I hadn't done any work. I've submitted both of these ideas as feature requests but I don't have much hope that they will implement them as the app has not changed in several years.
Sitting on I5 Northbound on the way to my tech job in Seattle I was rerouted to a smaller highway. As traffic flooded into the communities of the Kent Valley it dawned about on me that if it weren't for all the tech- and therefor tech jobs- I'm not sure I would need a smartphone whatsoever.
I probably wouldn't live here either- but it was just a thought.
There's an app on the Google Play Store called "Stay Focused" that allows you to set time limits for individual apps and block the app for the remainder of the day once the time limit is reached.
While I could go through the effort of subverting it, I've found that it has been effective in limiting my usage of distracting apps like Facebook or Reddit. A lot of times, I will instinctively click the app icon when I get on my phone, and the "Access Denied" splash screen it displays after the time limit is up helps me stay aware of my aimless browsing habits and encourages me to do something more productive.
If you can maintain discipline and not disable the app after a time limit has been reached, it can help to deter compulsive news feed consumption and other distracting activities.
I've been using a timer app on iOS 'Timeglass'. I have multiple timers for social apps, news, email checking at home etc.
I've managed to cut down quite a lot by hitting simple targets like 'only check news once every 6 hours' and so on.
Free, cheap solution I'd recommend to everyone.
48 comments
[ 1.7 ms ] story [ 91.0 ms ] threadThe 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?
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.
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.
Speaking generally then, I think it's interesting to note that contrary to popular perception the Amish will often (albeit not always) use modern technology when they decide it suits them for industrial purposes. This includes the (not universal) use of diesel generators, telephones, computers, solar panels, wind turbines, tractors, refrigerators, milking machines, batteries, compressed air, among others. They will (often) use this technology in one aspect of their lives while abstaining in other contexts. They may have a computer in their workplace for workplace related tasks, but they almost certainly won't have a computer at home with which to play CS:Go in the evenings.
I believe this is what toasterlovin was referring to when he attributed to the Amish the question "How can we reap the benefits of this new technology while avoiding it's pitfalls?"
I will say, though, that there are aspects of the Amish lifestyle and belief structure which would not be viable if they were the dominant culture, rather than just a very small minority. The big issue that stands out to me is that I'm not sure that the Amish emphasis on extremely tight community bonds is compatible with the level of economic specialization required for a nation state to be competitive with it's neighbors. There is something kind of magical that only seems to happen in cities, but cities seem to be especially effective at promoting an intensely individualistic lifestyle.
But that's all orthogonal to my original point. You can learn from the Amish without becoming Amish. We could emulate their approach of delineating very specific ways in which technology is to be integrated into our lives. But our society seems to have serious problems with the idea of orthopraxy, so I'm not counting on it.
All I'm saying is that we would be better off if we asked ourselves how to use each new technology in a way that allows up to reap the benefits while avoiding the pitfalls. In no way am I suggesting that we not create or use new technologies at all.
So what this is about is bringing that same tech to places where you can actually reap that benefit, instead of your corporate memetic overlords.
> Boundless Mind makes it easy to hook your users.
That's not that this post's title made me think it was, which was something that make people put away their phones[0].
[0]: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/27/mobile-ph...
"Meet the tech company that wants to make you even more addicted to your phone" – TechCrunch at: https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/08/meet-the-tech-company-that...
The Time's editor should be ashamed.
> > Boundless Mind’s business model is to develop new versions of the same persuasive tools, combined with machine learning, that big tech firms already use–and then to sell them to nonprofits and companies promoting education, health or social welfare.
It's rare to have a running addiction, but common to have a running habit. Is the line the strength of the compulsion, or the effect on the human...?
With running I suppose the effort to do it, even if it's a habit, prevents most people from getting addicted to it. And then those that have some psychological 'dependence' on running would not generally be considered 'addicted' because running is mostly healthy.
[0]: https://www.boundless.ai/
There's a difference between the mission (power tools for your habits) and the current stage (which is "garage SaaS startup")
The Boundless AI helps companies build habits that help people (fitness, health, financial responsibly, etc). https://Boundless.AI
Space helps people quit habit forming apps. https://youjustneedspace.com
I want my phone to nudge me if it thinks I'm spending too long on certain apps. I want reddit to stop loading if I've spent more than an hour on it that day. I want to be able to bypass these limitations if I strictly need to (for example, "You've spent 1 hour on reddit already today, click here to pay $0.10 for another 15 minutes). Just in the way that technology can be fine-tuned to grab your attention, I know that it can be designed to help you get the most out of your time. I really would pay $10 / month for a version of YouTube or Chrome that had these features. If anyone knows of solutions like this please let me know.
If you use Android, email me. We're working on something extra strength there.
https://youjustneedspace.com
I probably wouldn't live here either- but it was just a thought.
While I could go through the effort of subverting it, I've found that it has been effective in limiting my usage of distracting apps like Facebook or Reddit. A lot of times, I will instinctively click the app icon when I get on my phone, and the "Access Denied" splash screen it displays after the time limit is up helps me stay aware of my aimless browsing habits and encourages me to do something more productive.
If you can maintain discipline and not disable the app after a time limit has been reached, it can help to deter compulsive news feed consumption and other distracting activities.