Gadgetory

is technology dangerous well some former Google and Facebook employees think so and they are now on a mission to save the world from the tech addiction monster they helped create this new alliance is called the Center for Humane Technology it is made up of former Silicon Valley investors and employees the goal is to lobby tech companies to not purposefully manipulate our lizard brains to keep clicking to the next video the next link get another like scroll through someone else's perfect Instagram life segregating us into fragmented echo chambers sucking our attention and affecting our behaviors as a society co-founder Tristan Harris spoke about it on CBS this morning we talk about addiction we tend to think oh this is just happening by accident culturally like what are the kids doing these days but we miss it and as I know but the truth behind the screen the truth about what's happening on the other side of the screen is that this is happening by design there's a whole bunch of techniques that are deliberately used to keep the autoplay watching on video on YouTube to keep you watching the next video or streaks and snapchat to keep kids hooked so they feel like they have to keep this streak going and all parents know about this and so we have to raise a public conversation the group has a few ideas on how to change the world first and get apples Samsung and Microsoft to make gadgets that help minimize screen time to protect us from constant distractions second lobby the government to create more protections for consumers and on top of that it is launching an ad campaign called the truth about tech which is targeting 55,000 public schools in the US the coalition is not the first to speak up about the problems of social media during a recent speech at a university campus one former Facebook vice-president so the network is eroding the core foundations of how people behave and one of Facebook's founder Sean Parker he spoke about the way Facebook is designed to exploit us saying quote god only knows what it's doing to our children's brains and in January Apple investors have called upon the iPhone maker to do more to protect children from being addicted to devices Facebook did address the concern in a blog post promising to look more into the issue but groups like the coalition want to keep the conversation going beyond just clicking a thumbs up on a newsfeed post I'm Bridget Carey you can read more about the coalition at cnet.com and be sure to chime in on the comments to share your thoughts on tech addiction and if you're doing anything to change your habits