I remember the internet when it was less populated by behavioral modification programs. To me, that experience suggests that we humans can create shared technical experiences that are far more caring and ennobling. I am here to contribute to this new organization’s development and success.
Note: I also do photography in my spare time. In reference to an earlier monopoly, the above work is entitled “Standard: Social, Data, Commerce”.
Hi everyone! hello from Tokyo Japan. I’m Yuri.
sometimes i forget the Phone, each time I regain “myself”.
I want to discuss about digital attention situation in Japan.
Hi,
I have been working in tech (Telecom, Semiconductor, e-commerce, e-learning and now AI/ML) companies for the last 19+ years (11 in US and 8 in India). I believe commercial interests are going un-checked and out-of-control in influencing (or shaping) our lives through technology. It is more important how kids are adjusting to the new world in their formative years. I believe there has to be a world wide movement in coming up with well articulated and explained frameworks for restricting technology intrusion in kids life. The tech interaction should gradually increase over the years until kids can very well understand how to balance use of technology. This is not possible in isolation by one or a group of parents but it needs to evolve as a framework that major corporations can adhere to.
Thanks -
Laxmikant
Hey hey. Recent Stanford grad here. Diagnosed Bipolar a while back in the midst of my college career, hospitalized for psychoses. At the time I was losing it thinking that I was constantly being monitored…watched as I’d browsed the internet. Eventually I started connecting dots all over the place, thinking I’d been selected as some kind of “chosen one”. I realize now of course that I was delusional, mistaking my information being passed around to feed me unique media as a “Wizard of Oz” behind the curtain pulling the strings.
I’d never said much about this until recently. I figured maybe this was an isolated case. Perhaps this was just due to mental illness. Since then I’d developed arguments against addictiveness in digital media (gaming/internet) and learned to recognize it through analysis. I became pretty critical, and cynical.
Recently a friend of mine hospitalized her mother. Due to my experiences we had a conversation, and I quickly learned that her mother had a very similar episode to me. Internet, psychoses, delusions, the whole package. Was it her illness? She was in her late 40s with no prior episodes. Did social media exacerbate her symptoms? My personal experiences lead me to say yes.
I’m so glad to see that Common Sense Media and The Center for Humane Technology are creating media campaigns for students/children…but what about other vulnerable populations? The addiction-prone, mentally ill, psychotic and delusion folks, and even the elderly are all at higher risk to fall prey for many of the traps that exist on the web. Should we protect them, or make safer options easier to grasp?
Many psychiatric conditions are classified as disabilities under the American Disabilities Act…to what extent should internet providers consider this? “Title IV of the ADA amended the landmark Communications Act of 1934 primarily by adding section 47 U.S.C. § 225. This section requires that all telecommunications companies in the U.S. take steps to ensure functionally equivalent services for consumers with disabilities”
/rant
Sigh.
Anyway, if you made it this far hit me up. Happy to talk and share ideas about how to make this world wide web a little friendlier.
-B
Good day, I am a computer scientist - who taught himself programming from the age 15 in 1995 - and progressed to achieve a honors degree in Computer Science at Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Over my years in my career - I consistently called myself a human-intensive computer scientist - and never thought in my lifetime - I will find people like me - who believe in the authority of humans over machine. My motto has always been that humans must have the decision power over machine hence for me there is no primary need for autonomous machines. Autonomous machines need to operate by requesting humans to OK their processes - though given the proper implementation of the rules engine - can only allow them to make decision in emergency situations.
I am currently attempting to complete my PHD thesis in the development of a quality management system for software - which if you are keen can follow at https://www.facebook.com/Q3ANGLE/ - which I am coining the Quality Triangle (Q3A) - and have been working on the first project to be implemented through the Q3A at https://www.facebook.com/schoollms/.
I look forward to being a contribute to this initiative and would like to share all my capabilities and projects.
Greetings - My name is John and I live in The Black Hills of South Dakota. I love getting my hands dirty and have developed a fully featured model-driven O/R M in Java that is only 250KB. It took about 10 years to distill it down to that size. I love coding middleware and have gotten very good with dynamic browser code.
I noticed abusive behavior in the design of applications over a decade ago and wanted to start creating something that would allow us to redesign all applications on The Internet for privacy, productivity, and thrift.
I like to think big. 
I am so glad to see movements like this one. It gets too easy sometimes to see my industry as lacking a soul or heart, but I know there are people out there who want to do good like me. That is a good feeling.
Thanks and keep up the great work.
Sincerely,
John
Amazing story. At the risk of triggering another episode (please don’t do that, it’s okay), you might not have been imagining things … in a way. AI is acting on behalf of global actors using Internet tools for manipulation. Personally, I would like to review the source code to verify. Until then, I do my best to protect privacy and realize that there are people out there who are bad, and they build systems like FaceBook that not only directly effect human cognition, but also indirectly through the empowerment of people who use our information with little oversight and without our knowledge. Thank you for sharing your story … I’m working on a project to restore federal protections to our “mail”. Mail used to be communications sealed in an envelope … now, by design, our communications are put in PKI envelopes to the FB/Google servers where they are then opened, examined, and submitted to processing for a plethora of purposes. We need the USPS badly to adopt a tenable solution to solve the problem of privacy. We behave differently when we think/know we’re being watched, and your story is a testimonial. The fact that you made it public is brave and enormously valuable to the community of people trying to shore-up the information ownership issue. Sincerely, John
Hi, I’m Zack. I’m a developer working on “positive” applications or applications informed by the science of well-being.
I studied under Martin Seligman at UPenn, I founded Ransomly.com and GratitudeBucket.com, and I have worked on the World Well-Being Project, Blue Zones, and I’m currently lecture at the UCSD Full-stack development bootcamp.
I think the problem Humane Tech is working is one of the most important today!
Hi, I am Andreas from Germany and
I’ve found that page tomorrow when I start my phone at 05:25 a.m.
Yes it starts always at 05:25 a.m. and ends at 22:35 p.m.
I hate FB and snapchat & all the other similar Websites but I was hooked by twitter 1 year ago as I create a twitter account before the elections in Germany in 2017. I have to get there that my tweets are “catching the wind” and all Smartphone & Internet is vanity & nothing more…
Smartphone & Tablet is a fountain of addiction, especially for Kids! I know Kids and Teens: They cannot work, they cannot do their homework, they cannot write, calc and read properly. BUT they can download apps and play and dominate the phones and tablets of their parents!
For all & esp. for the Christians under this community I’ve a great book to that important Topic:
12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You
Greetings
& God’s Blessing for you all!
Hi All,
I am BinuZachariah, a marking researcher turned Social entrepreneur, from India.
Being a citizen of the largest democracy in world and the country with highest number of youth population,I am very much concerned about the rising incidence abnormal & deviant behaviors as well as loss of productivity among the youth in India ,duly induced by social media& internet addiction. The impact is more formidable in India as the impact of social degeneration is directly proportional to the population growth of the country. As per statistics, India has higher number of social media users as well as internet enabled smartphone holders ,when compared to other developing countries.in the world.
I am keen on exchanging my views with the community and also finding ways and means to liberate the youth from the clutches of social media and internet addiction,ensure sound mental health and enhance their productivity. I would be glad to collaborate with others and offer my faculties to make an impact. More about me :https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbinu/
Hi there. Thanks for creating this community! I am a very concerned Dutch entrepreneur and have written a few articles about Smartphone addiction. I have often been sucked in distractions myself, but for my younger brothers I know it’s even worse, and I think that it is a problem that is very very very underestimated by most people. I hope to find more ways to contribute to make distractions a thing of the past so that humanity can take control of it’s atttention again.
Here are some of my articles
https://karsens.com/justified-dopamine/
https://karsens.com/what-if-dopamine-triggers-fuck-up-your-long-term-productivity/
https://karsens.com/facebook-heroin/
https://karsens.com/drop-whatsapp-save-40-minutes/
https://karsens.com/the-internet-connects-the-unconnected-but-disconnects-the-connected/
https://karsens.com/notification-zombies/
https://karsens.com/smartphone-attention-pollution/
I hope it will help someone.
Hey there. I’m Steffi (UX designer and design thinking coach) from Munich, Germany. I’m getting really annoyed with my own phone behaviour and I’m seeing my kids struggling to keep their device usage under control. So I’d like to collect experiences to see if there is a way to fix this.
For a face to face discussion I set up the Munich meetup group
I’m Anindita from India. I have gone through the dark phase of obsessively using social media only to realize that I was truly in an echo chamber, surrounded by information based on my preferences, content that I agreed with, and news customized to what would get my attention. I soon realized that I was just another user with click probability score, fueling ad systems, pushing me further away from reality. I wish the future to be less about personal preferences, be able to break free from personal bubbles; accept, acknowledge and embrace the differences around us.
Hey All, I’m Shathley Q. I’m interested in gradations and distinctions rather than descriptions or depictions.
Typically as a way of kinda having a laugh at it, I like to introduce myself with three designations, AB-/ENTJ/PhD. My blood type, my Myers Briggs and my educational qualification.
I’m a dog rescue guy and the Human of two puppies, a Malamut and a Wolfhound.
I worked as Comics Editor at PopMatters for the better part of a decade. That really gave me a masterclass in building attention online, and exposed me to issues of shifts in culture around personal liberty and personal liability online.
I currently consult on building attention designated audiences, audience building and brand awareness through the neurosociology of popculture.
I’m here because I’m superinterested in one thing.
Our capacities to participate in the increasingly open-access, participatory environment we’re now confronted with online is being denuded by the rational self-interest motivated choices that underpin the construction of that very online environment.
So, there’s that.
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…
Hello,
My name is Sabine and i’m a UX designer based in Paris, France.
I have to say how excited i am when i see this kind of initiative. As a UX designer i’m always confronted to all kind of design ethics choices and considering the economic reality, it can be really hard to convince some clients when they are not acting for the users interest. I trully believe that we have a real responsability and impact so i’m really happy i’ve discovered what you’re doing! 
best regards
My name is Duane Bemister. I’m retired living in rural British Columbia. My partner and I have been working on a solution to this problem for some time. The real problem is the use of advertising to finance these solutions. We will soon be introducing an alternative to FaceBook and Google. Product Description
I’m Anastasia. I’ve been a UX designer for over 25 years. I first started in screen design (coming from owning a print design business) in Northern CA just before the Internet was fully public. I have been watching screen usage and interaction patterns progress over the years, and feeling more and more concerned about what our interaction with screens and machines might lead to.
As a designer I’ve been living in the belly of the beast. Over the years I’ve been lead designer and standards consultant for many huge players across multiple industries. A couple of years ago I was fully exposed to the advertising and marketing side when I designed a data product for a major global ad firm. I have a pretty clear sense of the spectrum of inputs and influences that are involved in this discussion.
I’ve been thinking about the public health impacts of technology for 15+ years now, tracking various aspects of it as things progressed. My primary interest has been in the public health impact of growing screen usage. However I am now equally concerned about the social health issues technology is creating. I see that the discussion of ethics is always a latecomer as new technologies emerge: we can look at making of the atomic bomb and observe how we rush to develop technologies, pushing aside ethics and understanding implications, like kids in a candy store. While experience design is my specialty, I am particularly concerned with the impact of AI as it progresses and follow it closely.
I run an experience design company whose main purpose is to design experiences that support the health and well-being of humans. It is a knife-edge we’re walking.
Hi all,
My name is Cristian Villamarin and I’m the founder of Flipd a platform that’s educating the next generation to spend time away from their phones.
A few years back I gave my youngest brother his first smartphone, and within a few months, it became easier to talk to him through Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, or any other app than to talk to him face to face. At that point, I knew I needed to come up with a solution and that’s how the idea of Flipd came to me.
I’ve been evangelizing those around me to be more aware of their relationship with their technology, and I’m excited to be part of this global community that is shining a spotlight on this problem and how we can help the next generation.
Hello. From B.C., Canada, I am a developmental psychologist with three decades of experience working with families to support developmentally vulnerable children in the first 3 years. I am also an instructor in post-secondary early childhood education teacher preparation programs. I have spent almost 20 years speaking to the issue of the rapid and fundamental changes that technologies have brought to essentially change the shape of developmental environments in ways unbeknownst. I have completed original research projects on the effects of digital technology on child development, early parent-child relations, parenting & family life, and the public and often consumer-driven narratives that misuse our well-established knowledge about the early years of human development. I often speak and present on such topics at professional and practitioner conferences and to community groups of parents, early childhood educators, and related early childhood professionals. I am pleased to see this group form and look forward to supporting the goals in the group’s vision.
