Showing posts with label Digital Distraction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Digital Distraction. Show all posts

Monday, May 6, 2019

Preventing Human Downgrading: A Race to the Top for Wellbeing


In the past I've written about Tristan Harris and his efforts to help guide technology to make us better, improving our lives and relationships versus technology that addicts us. (See One to Watch: The Center for Humane Technology as well as Your Phone is a Purposely Designed Slot Machine Designed to Be Addictive) Two weeks Tristan and the Center for Humane Technology held an event and announced "A New Agenda for Tech," challenging Silicon Valley leaders to "reverse human downgrading by inspiring a new race to the top and realigning technology with humanity."
 
The talk is a must watch--please make 45 minutes to do so. (If that seems long, consider that the average person spends 60+ minutes/day on YouTube--and watching this talk will make you aware of an eye-opening unintentional result of YouTube's artificial intelligence recommendation engine which affects us all and is changing world wide culture.) It's important for educators, parents, kids, politicians, technology leaders, and everyone to understand what has and is happening, and act upon it. The following email I received last week summarizing the event does a great job of concisely summarizing the content of the talk better than I can:
Introducing “Human Downgrading”
Our primary goal was to move public discourse in Silicon Valley from a cacophony of disconnected grievances and scandals ("they took our data!") to a meaningful humane agenda of actions that address the vast surface area of problems arising from technology’s race for attention. 
In last week’s presentation, we explained how seemingly separate problems – tech addiction, teen depression, shortening attention spans, political polarization, the breakdown of truth, outrage-ification of culture, and the rise of vanity/micro-celebrity culture – are actually not separate issues. They are all symptoms of one underlying problem: the race between tech giants to capture human attention, which becomes a race to overwhelm human weaknesses. Put together, that race creates “human downgrading.” 
Giving a name to the connected system of human downgrading is crucial, because without it, solution creators end up working in silos and attempt to solve the problem by playing an infinite “whack-a-mole” game. It’s like working on coral reefs, ocean acidification, or hurricanes before there was a recognition of systemic climate change. Shared language creates the opportunity and leverage to develop systemic solutions and unite the voices of concerned technologists, investors, researchers, media, policymakers, and parents. 
Human downgrading is a problem that reduces our capacity to solve all other problems. It suppresses critical thinking and nuance, makes us more lonely, and reduces our capacity to find common ground and shared values. 
The Solution?
While the problem is immense, the good news is that the solution involves one thing: better protecting the vulnerabilities of human nature. Technologists must approach innovation and design with an awareness of protecting of the ways we’re manipulatable as human beings. Instead of more artificial intelligence or more advanced tech, we actually just need more sophistication about what protects and heals human nature and social systems. To that end, we are developing a new model that technologists can use to explore and assess how technology affects us at the individual, relational, and societal levels. 
What’s Next?
This is the beginning of a long journey. Instead of a race to the bottom of “how can we most effectively manipulate you,” we must create a new a race to the top to completely reverse human downgrading. To start facilitating this transition, we are announcing four initiatives: 
Opportunities for key stakeholders to plug into working groups to take action.
“Your Undivided Attention” — a new podcast launching in June where Tristan and Aza gather insights about the invisible limits and ergonomics of human nature from a wide range of experts to address human downgrading. 
Design guides to facilitate assessment across human sensitivities and social spaces to help guide designers in redesigning their products. 
A Humane Technology conference in the next year to bring together people working on many different aspects of Human Downgrading. 
I'm thankful that Tristan and his colleagues are pushing for this. We have already seen some of the fruits of their labor. As mentioned during the video, Apple's Screen Time and Google's Digital Wellbeing tools to help users take control of their own technology and be more mindful of its use are now in place on over a billion phones. That's promising change happening already. I look forward to more to come. A while back I joined their online community forums and encourage you to do the same. Keep talking about these topics with those around you--with family, friends, and colleagues. Read more in related posts, too:
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Monday, February 26, 2018

K-12 School Years: The Opportune Time to Learn Digital Balance

Image source
When speaking with parents I have often emphasized the need for kids to learn to use technology and manage distractions during their K-12 years before they leave home as independent adults. The alternative--holding back the use of technology without parents and teachers present as guides and mentors--ultimately will hurt youth and ill prepare them for their future. I know that for some, banning the use of technology that could be a source of distraction so you don't have to deal with it seems like an easier option up front. However, the effects of doing so are worse in the long term. Basically you are robbing the student of years of experience and opportunity to practice how to use technology and balance its role in their lives.

I have read news stories of college students who spend their time on social media during class because they don’t know how to balance and focus their time and attention. Prevented from using it in their K-12 years, either through bans or lack of access, they head out into the "real world" on their own unexperienced and unprepared for managing their time, distraction, entertainment and personal use of technology in the workplace or higher education. Recently a colleague with a college aged daughter relayed a story about her classmates watching Netflix during lectures. His daughter realized that these students are literally paying hundreds of dollars per class to sit and watch Netflix episodes.

For today’s students as well as adults, this also means balancing distractions that come with access to technology available on pretty much any device used. The lines between use of technology for work and play for adults, or school and play for kids are ever more blurred. Texting, Snapchat, Instagram, video games, and more can be seen simultaneously while trying to focus on work or school. Learning to balance this is essential for success as an adult, but necessary to learn well before then.

Recently when speaking with a parent he mentioned that learning this balance should all come before high school, since high school is the time where grades are official and count on a student's transcript. As early as freshman year, grades can determine one’s future opportunities. Grades prior to that for the most part don’t really have such an effect, so it is a better time to make mistakes that might result in a poor grade. With this in mind, the elementary and middle school years are therefore the opportune times to work on mastering the skills needed to focus on tasks and set aside disruptions to have them in place for high school and beyond. I’d rather have my own children learn this as they are forming their study habits and learning to manage their smartphone and technology access with adult guidance than graduate without these important skills.

In the past I’ve written about the benefits of a gradual release for kids when it comes to using technology. Learn more about the best time to get a smartphone, when to start social media, help kids prevent FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), prevent distractions, be a digital mentor and more below: 

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Monday, January 1, 2018

New Year's Resolution: Spend Quality, Influential Time in Relationships

Weeks of influence in a child's life before high school graduation.

Happy New Year!

I’ve been making New Year’s resolutions since I was a kid. Most of the time, I follow through with them and have implemented changes that have stuck for the long term. Years ago I would write them down on a sheet of paper or Post It Note. More recently I have been keeping the list on my phone. Sometimes I’ll even add to this list of resolutions to be considered for the following year. Maybe that’s extreme, but I guess I share this to simply point out that I take resolutions seriously. Last year I had five, and have done each fairly well for the past year that I've made the changes into habits.

For this year, one of my resolutions is to focus on spending quality time in my relationships with others. I'm not intending to simply increase time spent with others, but focusing on making it quality. First and foremost, I am thinking of my own family. As our oldest daughter is now a senior in high school, we are faced with the reality of how little time we have left with her under our roof as part of our daily interactions as a family. I know people say time flies, but it’s hard to imagine that when you have a toddler or younger kids. Now as our daughter decides on a college and her future, I not only want to spend more quality time with her before she’s gone but focus on doing the same with our other three kids and my wife, too.

Recently at church the youth leaders had a display of marbles in a jar representing four different aged kids (see photo above). Each marble equaled how many weeks of influence we have on our kids before high school graduation. It really struck me seeing this limited time represented visually. I think the display was extra meaningful as three out of the four sample jars of marbles displayed were the exact ages of my own children. As I reflect on spending quality time with others, I'm thinking about making it influential time. Not that every moment has to be memorable, but I hope by making the effort to spend more time, make it quality, and be focused on our time together it will be meaningful.

I'm resolving to spend more quality time in my relationships with others beyond my family, too. I hope to strengthen relationships with friends and co-workers, making more effort to spend time together, even scheduling it. As part of making this happen with both friends and family, I will continue my efforts to limit digital distractions that I've written about in the past, such as my 2015 Resolutions: 3 Ways to Cut Back on Digital Distractions. Over the past years I've shared those tips often and have had so many people tell me they, too, have found this advice so beneficial. If you haven't done so yourself, please try it!

Many other posts I've made related to having a healthy balance in our lives around our use of technology can be good New Year's Resolutions, too. Check them out:
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, December 25, 2017

#DeviceFreeDinner: Will Ferrell PSAs on Common Sense Media

Common Sense Media's PSA about #DeviceFreeDinner
Winter Break is a great time for families to to be together, hang out, relax, and get reenergized for the second half of the school year. This week all of our students and teachers are off, spending time with family and friends. With schedules that likely aren't as busy, hopefully families will have more time to be together at the dinner table, too. In the past I've written about the importance of tech free family dinners focused on gratitude and being where your feet are as well as the importance of being a Digital Mentor for kids. 
Common Sense Media launched a great campaign about a year ago related to these topics called #DeviceFreeDinner. If you haven't taken a look at their tips and suggestions, please do so. Kudos to them for spending time and energy on this campaign to bring it to the attention of a wider audience. Recently they added some celebrity presence to this message by creating public service announcements with Will Ferrell. There are four short public service announcements you can watch on their site.

 Hopefully you aren't reading this at the dinner table with your family! Since you are reading, take a moment to reflect on you own use of tech while around others. If you are on someone who is on a device during meals with family and/or friends, make a New Year's Resolution to change this habit. Reflect on modeling this tech etiquette both for those you know as well as being a digital mentor and role model for strangers seeing you interact with (or be distracted from) others. 

Many other posts I've made related to having a healthy balance in our lives around our use of technology can be good New Year's Resolutions, too. Check them out:
    Posted by at No comments:
    Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    Monday, October 2, 2017

    Top Tips for Educators to Help Students & Parents with Technology (video)

    A few days ago I had the opportunity to join Mathew Meyers once again for a presentation about technology. Specifically, our presentation was designed to help teachers understand ways to help students and their parents use technology in a balanced and appropriate way. This conversation is one that I’ve had in the past with Mathew—last spring we recorded two parent webinars on this topic. (Watch Part I or Part II of Parenting in the Digital Age). In this latest presentation, we cover some of the same topics with teachers that we addressed with parents, but focus more from the perspective of how teachers and educators can help students and parents. A more detailed outline is listed below.

    We all want our students to have safe, healthy, and responsible relationships with technology. Mathew points out that
    “adults don’t have a template for this—we really are historically blind with how we lead people into a safe, healthy relationship with technology. Parents and educators don’t have the wisdom of those who came before us in regards to how to raise kids with technology. We need to be thoughtful and mindful about how we are engaging with technology. It is resetting how we do relationships, human development, important to be thoughtful so the the implications aren’t detrimental to our future.”  
    The K-12 school years are the opportune time to help students learn to have  healthy relations with the technology in their lives, and educators play a critical role in helping with this. As the lines between personal and school related technologies becoming increasingly blurred, it is more important than ever that today’s students hear about these topics in the school setting. 

    Watch the presentation recording in full or skip ahead to a section:

    Introduction

    Staff-Student-Parent Triangle
    Parent Anxiety, The Device is Not the Problem, the Importance of Alignment and Working as a Team to Help Students, The Power of a Phone Call vs. Email

    Screen Time & Balance
    Entertainment vs. Educational Screen Time

    Attention & Focus, Addiction
    Two Different Attention Systems
    Turning off notifications
    Addictive apps like a pocket slot machine

    Stopping Cues & Natural Consequences
    Humans are finite, but technology/computers can work forever
    Look for logical breaks, incremental time
    Using Apple Guided Access
    Address the behavior vs. taking away technology
    Allowing failure, letting go

    Modeling & Personal Balance
    Being present—be where your feet are

    Relationships & Social Media
    FOMO vs. JOMO
    What age should a child get a smartphone?
    What age to start using social media?
    Relationships, Connection, and Rice Cakes

    Next Steps
    Resources
    Mathew’s blog, Relationships That Heal

    Also, if you are in the Minnetonka area, check out Mathew’s upcoming parent workshops on Teens & Technology through Minnetonka Community Education: 
    • October 10 - What Kids Do on the Internet and its Impact on Development
    • October 17 - Identify Strategies to Keep Technology from Controlling Your Family
    • October 24 - Taking Back Control – Create a Family Digital Strategy
    Related posts: 

    Posted by at No comments:
    Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)