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You have completed Ethical Design!
You have completed Ethical Design!
Preview
There are many ways technology impacts society; we'll look at addictive technology and then you'll get a chance to explore more impacts.
New Terms:
- Pickups: Pickups in Apple's Screen Time report is the number of times you have picked up your device. Per The Verge, turning on the screen does not count as a pickup; one must interact with the screen to be considered a pickup.
Further Reading:
- Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products - by Nir Eyal
- Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life - by Nir Eyal
- Dear Facebook, this is how you're breaking democracy - TED talk by Yaël Eisenstat (video)
- Social Media Confessions Bingo - The Social Dilemma
- The Social Dilemma - documentary on Netflix (video)
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0:00
MICHELLE: Technology has a lasting effect
on society and the environment.
0:04
Attention hacking dominates people's
focus and creates addictive experiences.
0:09
The book Hooked,
How to Build Habit-Forming Products
0:14
by Nir Eyal made a splash
when it debuted in 2014.
0:19
He describes four elements that
keep users engaged in an app,
0:23
trigger, action, reward, and investment.
0:28
Designing addictive software experiences
is akin to slot machines in Las Vegas.
0:31
It uses intermittent positive
reinforcement to keep us hooked.
0:38
When we pull down to refresh the newsfeed
in an app, our brains get a rush.
0:43
The book Hooked and the movement it inspired
has since been criticized as people
0:49
question the overall impact of making
technology more habit-forming.
0:54
HOPE: One solution is to enable people
to control their consumption.
0:59
Apple screentime reports how much
a device is used each day and
1:03
compares it to previous days.
1:08
I can see data about specific app usage,
notifications, and pickups.
1:11
I can set a downtime for dedicated
time away from my phone or laptop.
1:17
I can choose to allow only certain
apps and phone calls to be available.
1:21
And I can set daily time limits for
app categories such as social networking.
1:25
This gives users insights into
their screen activity and
1:31
provides tools to control
their screen usage.
1:34
This is in line with Eyal's
follow up book Indistractible.
1:37
The premise is to teach people how
to get unhooked from addictive apps.
1:42
Yes, so Hooked teaches tech
companies to hook users and
1:47
the follow-up book is the antidote
to save the hooked users.
1:51
Eyal shifts the blame to the user rather
than the technology by providing tips for
1:56
controlling usage and
becoming "indistractable."
2:02
I'd argue that while activity controls
are helpful, technology is not blameless.
2:07
The root of the problem
lies in the technology and
2:13
we must design it with an ethical lens.
2:16
There's a limit to how forceful and
2:18
persuasive we should be when
developing addictive technology.
2:21
Can you think of any solutions?
2:25
To look into how social media
apps are affecting society,
2:27
check out The Social Dilemma documentary
linked in the teacher's notes.
2:30
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