Hi, my name is Sheila MacKeigan and I am based in Boston, co founder of a small designed goods business called J E N S H E but more importantly a MOM to three teens ages 18, 16 and 15.
Social media essentially erupted when my oldest started middle school, the combination of the two felt like an emotional Tsunmai hit our home.
I am curious to learn how the HT movement evolves and I support thoughtful and polite efforts to improve not only how we respond to ever changing technology but how technology responds to us as humans. Thanks.
Hi, my name is Vincent Horn. Iām an (elder-)millennial meditation teacher and podcaster. I began having conversations about the relationship between technology and attention in 2007 through a podcast called Buddhist Geeks.
Tristan Harrisās work came onto my radar a few years ago, and resonated strongly with some of the conversations I was having with Buddhist-inspired technologists who saw that the core problem with modern technologies was not in how they were being used by end users, but rather in how they were being designed without the mind in mind. Iām happy to see that Tristanās work has gained momentum, that many technologists are waking up to the fact that there are serious design flaws in their products, that we are collectively questioning the business models and macroeconomic systems that have created the conditions for these models to arise, and that there is now a Center for Humane Technology.
Hi everybody, what a vibrant start to the community. Glad to see that weāre using Discourse as itās a best-in-class discussion forum. Iām a digital strategist based in Wisconsin and have a deep specialization in online community platforms and the psychology of engaging people in digital spaces. I was along for the early days of the TWS Slack instance and only just now learned about this new platform but an glad to see it!
Hi my name is Andrew Thompson and Iām based in England. My career has been all about human-centred business transformation and design. My attention (through my new startup Synseer is now on giving employees control over their attention because we are all being bombarded at work also, not just in our social lives. This has a serious impact on productivity and the quality of business decisions due to shallow engagement, caused by distraction.
I have recently written an article on the subject on LinkedIn - a pulling together of some worrying trends and a challenge to the next generation of collaboration tools.
Iām looking forward to contributing to the debate about HT at work.
Hey all! Iāve been in education for nearly 20 years and have seen firsthand both the boon and the bust of technology on the minds of students. Currently working to complete my PhD and looking at the interactions between technology, students, and teachers.
My name is Jim. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and this is my first ever post onto something resembling social media. I am decidedly old school having never used any form of social media unless email counts. I take great pride in saying that my 14-year old daughter does not have nor want a mobile phone because of what sheās seen it do her friends. My 19-year old son only got one a couple years ago to stay connected for employment. Finally, I justify my self-appointed status of āold schoolā by the fact that I much prefer listening to my records than anything digital.
I am high school teacher in my 21st year on the job. As such, I have witnessed first-hand the effect of technology, social media, smartphones, etc. on teen-agers. It is shocking and distressing. I first noticed and began warning my students about the negative effects of cell phones and too much technology long before the advent of smartphones and social media. And, just as the rating of an earthquake becomes exponentially worse as it increases, I believe that the effects of technology/screen time/smartphones/social media is getting exponentially worse with each passing year. Anxiety levels among my students is at an all-time high. And thatās just the tip of the iceberg.
I have a video called, āA Day In The Life of An 18-year Oldā made by one of my first students in 1998. The idea was to give it to my son upon his 18th birthday to see what life was like for an 18 year old in the year he was born. A time capsule present I had no idea what an archeological treasure that video would become. To watch students in my same classroom then, before cell phones, is eye-opening to say the least. As one of my current students said upon watching the video, āWow, they actually talked to each other before class started!ā
This is my foray into my next challenge in life. I believe we can change the world. Iāve witnessed first-hand in my classes the negative effects of phones but also the overwhelming positives when I enforce no phones and āBring Back Recessā and, amazing for a teacher to say this but, āgo ahead and talk to your classmates!ā
So, Iām here to do whatever I can to help our childrenā¦ to help them understand what the āsystemā is doing to them as much as for them. As I am literally on the front line with hundreds of kids every day, I can offer great insight into what is happening with them. If you have any questions about any of this, please donāt hesitate to ask.
It has taken me a few weeks to work up the courage to āconnectā with this community in this fashion. But, itās time. Iām in. Letās do this!
Iām an expert in the use of social media in the global nuclear energy industry. Iāve done work since 2007 for clients mostly in English speaking countries including the U.S. and the U.K. My blog is https://neutronbytes.com My main concern is the ease at which technology can be used to break the boundaries of civil discourse and how to defend against efforts by parties who have divisive agendas pro or con. The loss of a consensus for constructive dialog means pressing problems of energy policy, climate change, etc., will not be resolved in a meaningful way. Iām interested in finding ways to build trust in dialog among people who ordinarily might not otherwise be on speaking terms with each other.
Rick here. I was involved in the early days of engaging and guiding people online - BBSs, etc. Then helped create digital news and other content at AOL ā the original social network after The Well and other dial-ups. Guilty of placing pure engagement over anything else ā from desktop and later to mobile content and products. The objective was to keep people online and clicking no matter what. Fast forward and now I see some of the aftermath: for instance my teen son has difficulty sleeping, worried about the chatter that continues continuously in the ether. I have some bold ideas on how to help. Look forward to talking.
Hi, Iām Diane, and Iāve been working in tech (primarily small software development companies in the Midwest) since the 1990s. I deleted my Facebook and Twitter accounts last year because of the endless conspiracy theories and vicious comments. Iām extremely concerned about the detrimental effects of the basic premise of social media ā the monetization of attention ā and was encouraged to read what techies like Tristan Harris and Roger McNamee have to say about it. Iād like to believe that the tech world includes people who put the good of society ahead of easy profit, and Iām eager to discover what the Center for Humane Technology will do next. Iād love to get involved in this effort as a tech professional.
Hi, Iām Michele Minno, Iām a software engineer, but now I work as a digital citizenship teacher in a secondary school in Ostia (Rome, Italy). Iām trying to involve my students in this big shift through a more conscious use of technology. I donāt like social media that try to substitute myself in social activities, like a game (āx sent you a hug!ā, ālet y know that you are thinking about himā). I like social media that spread my ideas or my creative content (i.e. if I post a guitar lick video on Instagram). Not our whole self, but only products of our passions should be shared online. I donāt like where software engineering took us and Iām very happy to have found this community, and to help if I can.
Hey Vincent, welcome! Iām really interested in mindfulness as an answer to distraction that comes from our use of technology. At the same time, itās sort of concerning how often mindfulness is showing up in pop culture as a self-help productivity hack. Iām glad you decided to bring your perspective to this community
Hi everyone, my name is Shawn. I previously worked in the corporate sector primarily focused on digital analytics and strategy where Iāve used digital platforms and technology to target potential customers and use split testing to manipulate customer experiences.
The realization of the potential harm that emerging digital technologies could have on us, and inspiration from folks like Tristan, led me to leave that profession and enroll in a PhD program at a global policy research center/think tank. My research focuses on potential policy solutions for the problems created by media platforms and technologies.
Iām very excited to be a part of this community and happy to be around like minded individuals who want to help shape our technology as forces for good!
Hi, my name is Allison Ochs. I am a Social Worker, parenting/teen expert. I spend my time working with parents, teens, and schools giving workshops on living and raising kids/teens in a digital world. My goal: to create awareness, give hands-on tools (for all - safe sexting is a topic) and keep teens and kids safe. Time-online, sexting, porn, personal branding, healthy relationships, and gaming are just some of the things I spend my time talking about. I love this movement and would love to help in the parenting sector.
Hello everyone, Iām Bill Chien, currently a senior at California College of the Arts studying Graphic Design. As a student who is at the beginning of his career, I have very little working experience but many experiences of collaborating with nonprofits and communities, creating design and concepts that both inspire viewers as well as celebrate authentic human quality.
Iām a fan of Black Mirror and a student of a cynical instructor who shares the same concern of the relationship between human and technology. I noticed something was changing when most of my friend and family members pulled out their smartphones during gatherings. When I first saw the short film āThis Panda Is Dancing,ā I was relieved that a group of people started to make a real difference.
Glad to see Time Well Spent movement is making progress! Iām excited to be part of this community! Although Iām not as experienced as everybody else, let me know how I can help.
Hi everybody! Nice to be a part of this community.
Iāve been researching social media troll communities for about a year. From that Iāve identified key vulnerabilities that organized trolling exploits. Also Iāve been raising awareness of Russian-et-al-social-engineering for the last 6 months via street art / social media PSAs:
Hi! My name is Mikko MƤkelƤ and I have been interested in humane technology and system ethics at least couple of decades, starting from the early days of Linux I guess. I tried to bring goal-oriented search service into life > 10 years ago, but we couldnāt find necessary resources at the time (and made many mistakes).
I however never stopped thinking about the issues of goals, life-goals/dreams as a suitable starting point for planning information systems. A couple of years ago I started to call this viewpoint as Dreams Oriented Computing. Only very recently I started to make videos about it. I currently have to work on other projects, but being on vacation in Finlandās Lapland this week, I hope to find some time to publish the next video in series.
I really wish I can sometime soon find a way to work fulltime to bring these ideas to the world.
Hi, my name is Michelle Major and Iām a new member. I heard Tristan Harris interviewed on The Ezra Klein Show and was so excited to hear about his work and the work of this movement. I see many others on this forum are in techāI am not. I work in the pharma research arena, and in addition, several years ago my husband and I opened a small fitness business, which is his full time endeavor. We have two teen/tween daughters who I see being affected by the addictive nature of technology. For myself a turning point was after the 2016 elections where I felt blindsided by the results and after reflecting, I saw that some of that was of my own doingādue to getting most of my news from Facebook. But in addition to that, I realized I would check fb ANY time I was bored for even a few seconds, and I could see that it wasnāt healthy. I took fb off my phone for several months to break my habit and it worked (for some reason it wasnāt compelling at all if I had to check it on my laptop). I now have fb back on my phone, but itās not on my homepage and I have turned off all notifications. If I feel myself getting antsy, I will only let myself check something boring like the weather, and then I can get right back to what I was doing. I just made my phone gray-scale and that is helping too! I talked to my daughters about the ways that phones and apps employ addictive techniques to keep you engaged, and we had a good discussion about Snapchat Stories. My youngest daughter decided to unfollow some friends who she liked, but whose posts always made her feel left out. She subsequently reached out to those friends to explain why she did that, and made it clear that she still wanted to be friends even though she unfollowed them. Happily, they understood and it was a very positive exchange. Anyway, I want more ideas of changes I can make in my life and to suggest to my family, and am looking forward to following the discussions.
Hi! Iām Dylan, a senior undergrad at Pacific University, Oregon. Iām graduating this May with a BA in Arts & Sciences with a focus in video and digital media production. I also love the outdoors.
This year, Iām focusing on finding out the secrets to unlocking optimal human performance within myself and those around me. Iām interested in the executive assistant position here at the Center for Humane Technology, and Iād like to get to know the community!
The name is Jonathan. Iām a Peace Corps Volunteer who recently returned to the States from Zambia. Although I was in a very rural assignment doing fish farming, Iām skilled in the use and repair of different technology. This led to me being involved in a new series of coding camps we call the Rural Coding Series as the IT Manager. Weāve done 5 camps so far with many more to follow!
Iāve worked with people who will be the next billion exposed to the technology Americans and others take for granted. Fake information/news is rampant through their existing channels and itās only going to get worst. Seeing this conversation started now is a good sign. I hope to read good discussions on here for myself and for a better tech future.
PS: If anyone is interested in asking about life in rural Zambia and technology, feel free to ask.
Iām John Kriger and excited by this coming together for this common purpose. I am the author of Turned On & Tuned Out: A Manual for Understanding and Managing Tech Dependence. Currently I lecture nationally on the Impact of Tech on Anxiety, Depression, Violence and Suicide and am working on my next book which will deal with these subjects as well as sexting, sextortion, trafficking and predatory behavior. A former sexual abuse investigator and an addictions counselor with a masters in management I see the systemic connections between all of this and am fearful of what it means to our children, families and society.
Anything you are willing to share from your experiences Iād appreciate. I believe it is through these common efforts that we will make a difference, because alone the critical mass is overwhelming. Together we can make a difference. Be well!
I had no idea what an archeological treasure that video would become. To watch students in my same classroom then, before cell phones, is eye-opening to say the least. As one of my current students said upon watching the video, āWow, they actually talked to each other before class started!ā