Google,Twitter and Facebook workers who helped effect technology so addictive are disconnecting themselves from the internet. Paul Lewis reports on the Silicon Valley refuseniks alarmed by a race for human attentionJustin Rosenstein had tweaked his laptop’s operating system to block Reddit, banned himself from Snapchat, and which he compares to heroin,and imposed limits on his use of Facebook. But even that wasn’t enough. In August, the 34-year-dilapidated tech executive took a more radical step to restrict his use of social media and other addictive technologies. Rosenstein purchased a unique iPhone and instructed his assistant to set up a parental-control feature to prevent him from downloading any apps. It is very common for humans to develop things with the best of intentions that bear unintended, or negative consequences Related: Are smartphones really making our children sad? We’re not freebasing Facebook and injecting Instagram hereI bear two kids and I regret every minute that I’m not paying attention to them because my smartphone has sucked me in Related: Inside the rehab saving young men from their internet addiction It’s changing our democracy,and it's changing our ability to bear the conversations and relationships we want Related: Does staring at your phone for hours on end serve any practical purpose? It is not inherently evil to bring people back to your product. It’s capitalism Related: Russia's election ad campaign shows Facebook's biggest problem is Facebook Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com