Hi All! My name is Madhu Einsiedler. I work as a business and personal coach. Instead of mere self improvement I support real growth. I’m a really good coach but I’m really not good at talking about what I do so please bear with me trying here. Maybe I’d rather tell you what I’m passionate about - it’s supporting people to re-direct their attention and increase their consciousness.
Somewhere I read “attention is the new oil”. Apps suck up our attention, pretending that its to our best; the best place for our attention though is within ourselves. Not on who I want to be (which is mainly thought based) but on how and what my body feels right now - breath, tensions.
Our body is our anchor in the here and now yet most of the time we spent outside of it, in thoughts (judging, wanting, restisting).
Consciousness means to “mind the gap”. There is a gap between thinking and acting, and as small and fleeting it might be, in order to spend our time well, in order to support the culture change, each and every one has every moment the chance to use this gap and to fill it with consciousness.
Apps often (all of them?) play to our subconscious pattern, mechanisms.
That’s us the users.
And the programmers and start up entrepreneurs - every idea, thought we find so intriguing; most of those thoughts and ideas are based on the past; most of those thoughts try to fix something we still subconsciously feel need fixing; most of those ideas are not about ‘the user’ - they are about ourselves, still trying to satisfied some longing we don’t even know we have.
My name is Patrice Peyret. I am a consumer tech entrepreneur with a focus in mobile and banking services. I was introduced recently to an invention originating in Israel to allow social networks to foster more and better get-togethers in the real world for face-to-face activities among acquaintances and friends. It is essentially an invitation engine that can take the what (activities & passions), the who (among your friends & acqaintances) and the when (availability during the week) expressed as confidential preferences by users to generate invites to activities that would otherwise not have happened because inertia. It works also for social network nodes currently neglected by Facebook i.e. couples and families with kids.
I am looking for a way to get someone in Silicon Valley to run with this.
My name is Attila Schillinger. Four years of thinking I was ‘alone’ in a movement brings me to Humanetech. I’m so happy to have found you. I’ve gone through a tough divorce in 2012 and years of struggles to communicate as a co-parent brought me to the point of launching my social media startup. We designed a simple smartphone app that lets you ask for content you really need (in my case it was news and pics about my four year old son when messages of any kind would get misinterpreted by my ex). We moved away from the push - personal broadcasting - phenomenon that social networks are built on and added asking for content (pull content) as an easy to use feature. While it definitely helped my co-parenting at the time, the bigger aim was to humanize social media by making it easier to ask for content you want vs tons of useless content pushed upon you. In 2014, we were four years too early and eventually run out of our own funds to build things further. VCs were not interested in helping turn the tide and deconstruct their own making, social media as we know it today.
My hope joining Humantech is that one day we as a community can build/use social media that serves users and not the other way around. I think we must retake control of not just our data and privacy, but content overall.
I’m looking forward to being an active member of the community. Nice to meet you all.
Attila
I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself to this community. I am a psychotherapist and author - with my main research interest in social media. In fact, my first book is called “The Psychodynamics of Social Networking: connected-up instantaneous culture and the self” shortly followed by, and necessarily so, “The Little Book of Calm”. Let’s just say that one led to the other.
As a psychotherapist primarily, my goal has been to apply the insights from dynamic psychology (insight and depth oriented psychology) to technology - I do this from a critical perspective but not a dystopian one. I would like to explore more with developers and those who work in tech to discover how we can make technology more psychologically and emotionally relevant, while at the same time critically explore how we deal with technology as individuals and as a culture.
I am the director of a psychological co-working and events hub (hoping to develop it in the direction of a think tank) called Stillpoint Spaces London where I am hoping to attract people from all different disciplines to think more psychologically about their work. Technology is one of the areas I’m most interested in developing. We also run seminars, workshops, and events and we’re always on the lookout for people and organisations to work with to develop a psychological angle to their work, as well as applying psychological ideas, and those from related disciplines to modern culture.
This seems a great place to meet like minds to continue this conversation, so please do get in touch if you’re interested.
I’m also an undergraduate student in sociology and social psychology and I feel in many ways as you, not really knowing how to affect people to a more mindful relationship with the technology and the social media apps on campus. I also think your research sounds really interesting, i’m thinking now about what I want to do for my research next year and I’d love to hear more about what you’ve done and find some inspiration from that if you don’t mind? Love to talk more maybe over PM if you are interested to discussing these things with a fellow student.
Hi there,
My name is Chris Andrews over the last four years I’ve been using storytelling to shed light on what exists beyond distraction.
In this age of hyper-stimulation I believe there is no skill more critical in our pursuit of truth and purpose than our ability to step out of the noise and into ourselves.
While our devices are wonderful tools, my work calls for mindful technology and digital consciousness.
In 2016 I walked 3200 miles alone from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles to research our relationship with technology. After thousands of interviews I saw that beneath our digital addiction lies a deep craving for connection to ourselves, our community and the world we live in.
Today, my work aims to reveal this underlying desire for real connection and help people navigate beyond the noise and find their peace. After reaching the Pacific I am continuing to spread my message by sharing my story and giving people the tools to find balance themselves.
As part of my project I have released an album of music written on my journey, produced a documentary filmed on my trip and will be publishing a book about our way forward in the coming year.
I am so glad to have found this community and look forward to joining this conversation. I am so proud of the work Center for Humane Tech is doing and believe this movement is the beginning of a more peaceful future.
Hello! My name is Aaron Miller and I am currently a Junior at DePauw University in Greencastle Indiana. I just learned about Center for Humane Technology after reading Tristan Harris’ blog post on medium. (truly outstanding if you have not read it yet)
As it turns out, I had been thinking this for a while now, and have decided to do something about it! I have started my own social network called CHOP and the whole idea is to reduce the noise of social media and make interpersonal conversation the focus. It is designed to enhance the users physical and mental health in order to enhance the base block of society and in turn the physical community as a whole. I have an MVP and some good ideas on how to turn a profit without infringing on user data.
I would be happy to have some conversations with some of you like-minded individuals out there. Hopefully, this thread will send me a notification when someone comments on this… haha but if you want to contact me another way you can reach me at aaron@choptheglobe.com
Cheers, and I am happy I am not alone on this journey to make tech more effective/efficient!
Hi everyone. My name is Josh. I’m a designer and startup founder recently moved to silicon valley from Chicago. I’m also a dad to a preschooler and a 1st grader. I’m seeing first hand both the positives and negatives of having kids grow up with tech so this initiative is awesome to see. There have been days when I’d get frustrated seeing my kids get zombified on their ipads only to catch myself doing the same thing on my phone.
We’re not against screens necessarily because there are some pretty awesome opportunities for learning enabled by tech today that we never had as kids. However, there’s got to be a way to balance this with being active, using our imaginations and interacting with each other in the real world…you know, stuff we loved as kids when sticks were magic swords and trees were our castles. Our work has been focusing on this the past couple years combining storytelling with physical play without relying on screens.
Looking forward to being part of the discussion, getting involved and helping out however I can.
Hi all,
my name is Marcin Sanecki. I am husband of one and father of four (from 1 to 7 years old). I am IT consultant living in Germany.
In 2017 I have started self study about impact of digital world (software based products and new devices) on my life. I have realized that all this new products like social media, apps, smart devices get more and more of my time and attention. I thought I am too slow with the adaptation and learnig and that is why I cannot use this cool products so that they serve me. Instead I noticed that my bevahour has changed and I felt I just react on the signals and use lots of the digital products without my intention. I felt like a slave.
Then I decided to clean the mess in my life and try to find an explanation why this happend to me. I have started the jurney that brough me here.
The short version ofmy jurney to this place:
Observe how I and members of my family react on digital media how other parents felt stupid not understanding the new digital work and be happy when their children do.
2 Read Cal Newprt books: “Deep Work” and " So good they cannot ignor you",“The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies” and lots of stuff from psychology area.
Started personal development / self improvement online course by Ben Hardy (medium.com author) and learn about the urgency of the digital addiction problem not only for children.
Started to build new habbits and expirienc the addiction on myself.
Took part in several discusion panels in schools and get schocked that the probles are margnialized and parents feel overhelmed with all of this new digital products all around.
Reading about dopamine and brain development somehow found the video by Tristan Harris and that was the silver bullet. BTW many many thanks to Tristan and all others involved in this project/community.
As I father I have responsibility not ony for myself but for my family as well. My goals are to share the knowledge especially in the school and with other parents to help them to understand what is going on and what ther alternatives we have.
I very like the idea of Humane Design and hope to be able to support this community.
Hi! I have just finished teaching an engineering ethics course, working with senior undergraduate engineering students in Toronto. We’re all passionate about seeing change in the way technology (and the business/professional practice around it) affects community/worker well-being, shapes culture, raises questions about personhood itself. We’ve explored the issues of power, discourse, fallacies, equity, and more.
I am hopeful that this forum and community will help encourage and sustain engineering students and educators who seek, indeed, humane technology. Thank you for creating this space!
Hi Lauren, nice to see someone from a Bay Area library in this community. My name is Josh and I’m based in Sunnyvale. We’re actually working on storytelling tech that’s combined with physical play as a way to educate and engage children through technology but without relying on screens. Why are we doing this? Well, I’m a dad to 2 kids and we felt we needed an alternative to just sitting around and staring at screens to learn about the world around us. I feel that a lot of folks gravitate to short-term fixes to tech and not enough about long-term behavioral changes where tech becomes a helpful agent, not a detriment.
Would love to connect here or on LinkedIn. Cheers!
Hi. I’m a UX Designer working with a biosciences company in LA. I do user research and craft interfaces that helps our customers focus on what they need to do in the simplest way possible.
During my master’s program in HCI, I was introduced to dark patterns in UX - and ethics in HCI. This really opened my eyes to how modern addictive tech is designed. Later on I read the book “Hooked - how to build habit forming products”. Learnt a lot from it. I began noticing my own usage patterns and how I was doing it compulsively. Sometimes I would close instagram and open it up immediately again.
I’ve deleted Instagram and Facebook off my phone since then, and it is a massive change in how I felt in general. I’m here because I believe compulsive use of technology eats away at our minds and happiness, and wanted to discuss and learn more about humane tech.
I’m Nick. I’ve been working in data for the past 4 years or so, mostly focused on business and product optimization for a large job search company and a dating site. I’m a firm believer that analytics and data science can be used for the good of humanity, but industry trends focus more on optimizing for short term results than enriching the lives of users.
I’m interested in finding ways to broaden our analytical viewpoints so that we can make business decisions that have a positive effect on humanity.
I’m a designer – of communities, environments, and experiences.
I grew up surrounded by technology. I was born the same year as the Macintosh, and I don’t remember not having an email account (I was on The WELL as a kid, for anyone who knows that reference!).
My dad writes about the social, political, and cultural impact of technology, and is often a bit ahead of his time. In 1996 he wrote about the future of surveillance in a piece called “The Shadow Side of The Information Revolution”… and in 2012 he wrote a book about the 5 essential literacies for thriving online: attention, participation, collaboration, critical consumption of information (or “crap detection”), and network smarts. Both pieces couldn’t be more relevant today. All that to say, that while I grew up “always on”, I was also taught how to think critically about technology and how to use it intentionally & mindfully.
I first met Tristan at Google (or maybe even at Stanford?) where I worked for almost a decade and remember when he first circulated his “Time Well Spent” deck on an internal Google+ post. I was so excited by how he clearly articulated the problems embedded in our current landscape of technology – and the ethical responsibility of those of us building it. I helped him plan his first internal community gathering to assemble Googlers who were similarly moved by his deck and inspired to take action, and it is AMAZING to see how this movement & community have grown.
Excited to get more involved and learn from all of you!
Hi everyone
My name is Kristin Tripp Caldwell, I am a visual artist/filmmaker and professor of Media Studies at Foothill College on the SF Peninsula. I am also in the process of finishing up a graduate cinema studies program at SFState. I thinking and writing on frameworks of digital distraction, fragmented thinking lately … among other things
Would love to be a part of a face to face group in the Bay Area.
My name is Jonathan Blum. I am a professional author based outside New York City. Starting approximately 7 years ago, I pioneered the #digitalskeptic tag at TheStreet.com, where I advised investors on profiting by betting against tech companies. Roughly three years ago, I signed with FinePrint Literary Management, where I began working on a practical and prescriptive Information Age manual for making better choices in the face of overwhelming amounts of information. My work now is aimed mostly at young adults. And I’m fascinated by the idea that storytelling is the best technology we have.
I’m slowly feeling my way to coming to market with my work, hopefully in 2018. I am parsing out healthy ways to publish in these destructive times. You can get a feel for what I might add to the debate at blumsday.com. By all means, listen to my early podcasts, read my short essays and stories. Please pass on any transparent tales on effective uses of information. I am also having early success as a Chief Data Storyteller for smaller firms, where I can mine out the human narratives hidden in the smoggy sandstorm of commercial information.
I am always ready to buy a beer for anybody willing to be honest about the storytelling in the science they do and the engineering in storytelling they doo.
Here are my other skills:
Press Relations.
Market and Communications.
Publishing, both virtually and on real media.
Geographical Information Systems and Digital Maps.
Video
I am more than happy to help in anyway I can. This is such a good idea!
Hi, I just joined and am in my early 50’s and work in a private law firm. I’m most interested in how much of this organization’s efforts will be on the front line fighting the exploitation of the human mind and how much will be developing alternatives. Also, is there a danger of this site becoming another center of social media. Thanks for stepping out on behalf of humanity.
Hi Max ! I am Gopalakrishnan from India. I am a software developer working with ERP Tools such as PeopleSoft, Oracle Cloud. I have been working for the past 6 years in IT. I want to come out of smart phone usage and be a minimalist inusing smart phone. My entire country is behind smart phones, which phone to buy in Amazon Offer etc. I wanted to seriously come out of this obsession of social media which takes mankind nowhere !
I’m a 28 y/o person based in Stockholm, Sweden. (Please correct my grammar if I’m wrong )
I like to experiment with UX/UI-design and make digital art. Popular topics: consumerist society, mass psychosis, internet, psychedelic. See: amandawidegren.com(Optional: IG @amandapropaganda)
I do charity design. Mostly for animal rights organisations.
Due to mental chattering, I discovered this community while browsing around for “humane design” and viola!
I’m worried about the future, and I, as a Visual Designer, want to know how to contribute and start creating humane design NOW!
I want future generations to own their own minds. I want to declutter the world.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
I’m a Junior Visual Designer and Art Director. I work in the insurtech-industry, designing apps and websites.
I studied Visual Communications at The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, and independent cultural studies at University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
so please bear with me trying here. Maybe I’d rather tell you what I’m passionate about - it’s supporting people to re-direct their attention and increase their consciousness.
http://madhueinsiedler.com/growth/is-this-way/