War on technology addiction is one sided!

3-minute quick read. 

When smart-phone was introduced by Apple –it was supposed to be a combination of iPod and phone. Facebook was also introduced to just connect girl-friends, boyfriends and so on. But today technology has engrossed our life. An average user checks his phone almost 90 times a day and spends an average 2 hours on social media.  

We are addicted. Even American psychological association APA – has recognized this as a diagnosable problem. Addiction used to be connected only with booze and smoke. Technology addiction is a deliberate attempt by technology firms. Tech firms are labelled as “Tobacco farmers in T-shirt”

This was recognized very early by Tristan Harris – a Google employee. He even made a 141 slide deck titled “A call to minimize distractions and respect users’ attention”. It was viral. Larry Page – influenced and made him a product philosopher to bring his ideas. But Harris couldn’t make any impact! His ideas mean reduced revenue for the firm, frustrated he quit and started non-profit for this cause.  

Tech Giants' hooking techniques are studied by Adam Alter, a marketing professor at Stern school of business. His background in psychology helped him to go deeper into techniques. He came out with a popular book “Irresistible: rise of addictive technology and business of keeping us hooked” -praised by the likes of Adam Grant.  

Irresistible – probed the science of addiction and outlined various hooks by tech giants. Two of the hooks are intermittent positive reinforcement and drive for social approval. Intermittent positive reinforcement is an unpredictable reward for your action. These two principles are employed in technology addiction by using “like”, “upvote”, and “tagging feature”.  

Tech giants like Facebook, Apple, and Google – have monstrous resources behind these addictions, truly making them “Tobacco Farmers”. And this war on “tech drug” is one-sided! 

[This is a review of First chapter of Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism – A lopsided Arms Race.  Watch this place!]

[Image Source: https://www.pickpik.com/facebook-app-icon-media-social-media-apps-social-network-35469 ]

Getting used to Digital Quarantine!

 3-minute quick read

We are becoming social media and mobile junky.

On average we check mobile every 12 minutes sometimes up to 96 times a day, adding to almost 35 days per year! Social media use is topping the chart with an average 2 hours 22 minutes per day. Try adding that for a year to find the lost time!

But worst is its effect on our mental health and reducing the most important psychological variable in our life – autonomy. 

This is not accidental, but tech firms are carefully introducing it like a Nicotine in Tobacco.We must block this. Andrew Sullivan has called it information addiction and you can find addiction evidence in scientific research. This is an attention economy at its worst!  

We certainly want to get value from technology innovations, but must block its detrimental effects. Often the haphazard effort like a digital sabbatical, removing apps, and notifications don’t show long lasting result. What we need is the overarching tech philosophy.

Cal Newport’s new book Digital Minimalism provides a road map of it. It introduces tech philosophy and shows action steps to adopt it in life.

The book outlines philosophical underpinnings, the aggressive intervention of 30-day digital quarantine. Then how to apply a balm of meaningful, satisfying activities. And adding carefully chosen value-adding social media activities only. Book also talks of 1600 people’s experiment of going on digital quarantine underscoring the importance of solitude, leisure, and attention resistance. It looks like a complete therapeutic package on this addiction.

I hope the book will help us to regain control of those lost 35 days per year and gain our foregone happy & satisfying life in post-Corona life!  

[This is my review of “Introduction” of Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism. Reviews of remaining book chapters will follow. Watch this place!]

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10 ways to contribute in a (Virtual) Book club!

3 Minute Quick Read.

Few toastmasters have come together and formed a small book club “Books for Self-learning. Its a virtual book club. Generally, we talk and post about non-fiction books. But what is true about most of the online or virtual community applies here too. Few members contribute posts or interact (what experts call producers) and others are spectators (consumers). For a thriving, and learning community members should contribute more and more. Here are 10 ways anyone can contribute to the virtual community.  

1. Post photo/image/Amazon or Goodreads link of your current reading. This can be done weekly or monthly.
2. Post book-review, summaries, or comments on the completed reading. Or just link from your blog/linked-in/Facebook etc.   
3. Post simply a quote, paragraph, graph or something that appealed to you from the book.
4. Post interesting stories/articles about authors, books, and publishers.
5. Post Cartoons, humorous jokes, events about books, authors in news.
6. Post lists in news. For instance Bill-Gates summer book list, Obama’s reading list, or Shashi Tharoor’s.
7. Post a question/request about something in the group. That will trigger discussion.
8. Post about book-related events in the group. Like BDB Bookclub, or Jaguar-naut online lit-fest.
9. Post about author events, or book-day, library-day or any other events related to books.
10. Post about your writings. If you are writing or planning to write a book, blog, or article, share it in the group. That will inspire others to write.
11. (Bonus tip) Post opinion poll, survey, or quiz on books, member's habits/views or attitudes. 

So what are you posting today? Post and continue Posting in future too! 

[ Image Source: https://www.pexels.c om/photo/gray-mug-on-top-of-piled-books-3150547/  ]