There are many reasons to be concerned about . Maybe you have friends who can’t hold a conversation without reaching for their phones. Maybe you have neck pain from wasting too much time online. Maybe you have a gut feeling that we’re helpless against the barrage of endless notifications and addictive platforms in our daily lives. screen addiction These all ring true for me, at least. But I don’t think we’re helpless, and I don’t think “screen addiction” is exactly what we should be fighting. I believe that people building consumer-facing platforms can turn these screen-related problems 180 degrees by focusing on their content. When platforms are filled with valuable content for users, screen addiction will no longer be relevant. I’ll elaborate — but first, I want to back up a bit. The current state of technology is kind of ridiculous Today, we have free, instant access to the most comprehensive of history. We have the ability to to anywhere in the world. We can with people in our lives no matter where they go. Hell, we can even to our doors if we tap our phones in a certain way. encyclopedia virtually travel stay connected teleport groceries Screens are granting us luxuries we wouldn’t have dreamt of 20 years ago. So how come they’re ? ruining our lives You are the product and you are losing An important distinction to note is that screens aren’t it’s that they’re making our lives . Worse enough so that, despite all the amazing innovations that we can access through screens, we’re still complaining about them. not making our lives better — worse Our kids start playing video games and can’t stop. Our teens are getting less sleep, more obese, and more lonely . Our is suffering due the the time we spend on social media. We can’t eat at a restaurant without instinctively checking our phones. But we can’t fight it, because in exchange for all the free content online, we’re paying in our attention. than ever mental health What consumer-facing tech companies want from you is to use and love their product. Within products that are content-reliant, that profit the longer you stare at them (i.e. social media and sharing platforms), that means platform designers spend their days prototyping and testing every detail of a product, from the curviness of a “read more” button to the number of notifications you’ll receive, all in order to optimize your experience (i.e. for in your brain). dopamine hits There are many seemingly benign features that are wickedly effective in keeping us — think Netflix’s autoplay from episode to episode, Instagram’s bottomless feed, or even the variable “rewards” (likes, comments, etc.) we collect when we get a notification from Facebook. If you don’t think they’re working, look at the stats: in 2018, 40% of social media users reported that they would find it difficult to stop using social media, up from 28% of social media users just in 2014. It gets harder and harder to “just set your phone down” when every app on your phone has been carefully crafted into a different high-tech drug to try. hooked 4 years ago Netflix makes it easier to keep watching than to stop. We, as consumers, would not win a war against technology. The future of tech is at stake The fact that we the products we use are manipulating us isn’t helping the tech industry at all — it adds to all the scrutiny around Silicon Valley concerning privacy, security, and the impending sense of . know dystopian doom But for those of us in the tech industry, we would be lying if we said that we’ll stop building addictive products. In fact, we’ll be working on more and more attention-grabbing products as more people spend more time on their devices. But if users of some product X gradually start to feel that their behavior is being manipulated (or if they, say, read a about why X is making their life worse) this could push them over to quit. Remember ? Even (or perhaps especially) the biggest companies aren’t immune to public backlash. This public distrust around tech has the biggest potential to . Business Insider article #deleteFacebook weaken the industry That’s why I believe we need to go back to the heart of what we’re building. I believe that (that means anyone from an engineer, designer, PM, to a data scientist, content strategist, executive) And an extremely significant but oft-overlooked aspect is focusing specifically on people building consumer-facing platforms need to feel the responsibility of creating something that is hooking people on. worth the content on their platform_._ “Every Way Kylie Has Changed Since Becoming A Mom” Sorry Kylie Jenner, but I’m not going to gain much by spending my virtual time with you. Snapchat’s Discover isn’t helping — a few months ago, I clicked on a few selfie videos of celebrities doing boring everyday things, and now that’s all I see. Keeping up with the Kardashians — Snapchat style But Snapchat is clearly doing something right, if it’s American teens’ . But maybe if you’re a Snapchat user, you already understand the over the redesign caused by the decrease of focus from your actual friends. I’m guessing that with increasing pressure to monetize and redefine their role as a “camera company” (whatever that means?), Snapchat really wants to show me more Kardashian videos. app of choice backlash Let’s be clear: the fact that Snapchat is trying to form more partnerships and introduce new opportunities for cash flow doesn’t directly bother me. What bothers me is that the content that they’re trying to get me to watch . I trust that they know what direction they want their business to head. sucks But it’s not just Snapchat. Other examples: YouTube has a ton of great quality content, but I always see the same kinds of talk show segments, BuzzFeed videos, and “YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN…” clickbait on the homepage. Facebook has been ridiculously useful for organizing events and reconnecting with old friends, but my newsfeed now 95% GIFs and meme videos that make my CPU fans go wild. Not that this content is inherently malicious or evil or even , but in the longer term, I feel awful after wasting hours on them. that bad Snapchat’s users wouldn’t be so angry at the redesign if the stuff on Discover was as interesting or relevant as their friends’ Stories. People wouldn’t see and as enemies against their hard-earned free time if they saw more valuable content. YouTube Facebook This is a content problem. Content is the main distinction between products that are worth being hooked on, and products that are worth being hooked on. A content problem can’t be solved like a bug fix. It relies on constant effort from the people building the platform to promote valuable content. not First, what is “valuable content”? Before I define anything, I just want to acknowledge that this is purely my overarching idea of what makes content valuable. I think it’s important for people working on different platforms to explicitly define their specific idea of “valuable content.” extremely Okay, back to it: In general, I believe that content (whether it’s in the form of a video, a scrollable feed, a game, an informational app, a collection of writing, a VR environment, or really anything else imaginable) is valuable if it benefits the user’s health and happiness in the long term. More specifically, some ways to accomplish this include: facilitating meaningful social interaction, supplying educational value, incentivizing healthier habits, or promoting productivity. I’ll expand on these below. We don’t talk anymore is anything that allows you to form closer relationships with others. Often, that means that the platform must bring you together with others, face to face, which provides more interpersonal communication. Today, we’re lucky to have various messaging channels to communicate with our circles, but we become when we allow these channels to replace offline communication. But products that aren’t purely intended for facilitating in-person interactions can still encourage in-person interactions. Imagine if a social media site had a “Form a meetup” checkbox next to its “Post” button, so you can choose to post something that could lead to a fulfilling conversation in real life. Meaningful social interaction rewarding less happy To live is to learn… Important fundamentals along with top-tier instruction on specialized academic areas are readily . But even on more general social platforms there are a ton of opportunities to disseminate interesting information — I love watching TED talks on YouTube for example, and I’ve learned some really interesting facts even in the jungle that is . From the bottom of my nerdy heart, I believe that integrating educational content on creative platforms has potential to make learning infinitely more fun. But it goes past that — when people read others’ insights, ideas and stories online, they broaden their own perspectives. And in a world with so much division and prejudice, educating each other should be an immediate concern. educational available online reddit The health craze can be virtual The category of platforms that make you includes anything that improves your quality of life in the long term. On the health side, it can be anything relating to nutrition, , exercise, or even emotional or stress management. Especially as screens encourage many unhealthy habits — sitting excessively, neglecting sleep, neglecting ourselves — this is becoming increasingly important if we want to avoid racking up medical issues. more healthy sleep support Getting shit done Products that help us be allow us to spend more time doing what we care about. Something that eliminates the hassle of mindless everyday tasks makes you more productive. Something that helps you clarify and prioritize your goals makes you more productive. Something that allows you to communicate crucial information with others makes you more productive. Even pure entertainment can make you more productive by giving you a much-needed break, but all the autoplay/bottomless feed-esque tricks the keep you hooked for hours could counteract its benefits. In that case, the only case for supporting productivity is simply to reduce those willpower-draining features. There are a lot out there about why and how to do that. more productive of interesting articles How to solve the content problem Okay, these ideas sound nice and wholesome — but how can we turn them into reality? The answer: Platform builders need to work on both the , and the in order to create an environment where valuable content is widely available and accessible. platform itself platform’s content 1. Improving the platform itself This is undeniably very different across different platforms. The following are general ideas to make platforms more conducive to content that is relevant and valuable to each user. “Advanced Options” Giving users more options to customize their content is usually a good idea. That doesn’t mean you have to induce decision fatigue by giving users 30 different checkboxes to click when they first register — you can keep that sleek, user-friendly interface but also make easily accessible advanced options available for people to truly be in charge of what they see. Basing content off of content you’ve already seen is not always reliable — if someone goes on a clickbait spree, that doesn’t necessarily mean that their primary interest is clickbait. Customization options are invaluable to anyone who wants to have any degree of control over the content they see. Curation and diversified default content When I see that stand of as I hungrily walk into Safeway, I’ll think: But while getting a bag of marshmallows won’t necessarily encourage me to add even more marshmallows to my grocery basket, watching gaming videos set me on a path to more gaming videos, especially through recommendations. Smashmallows there’s no harm in getting some! will The tone of our online browsing is set from the very first thing we click on — that’s why default content is so important. Furthermore, the content that most people engage with is usually the most valuable content. So that’s where curation by real humans comes in. not Not-so-curated content on my YouTube homepage I would trust a human over any algorithm today to pick interesting, relevant content that can actively benefit me. Platforms should have content curators pick content synonymous with the mission of their platform, and then increase the rankings of that content on their default and recommended features. Finding good content is so hard and time-consuming for us as consumers to do, which is why platforms themselves should bear some of the burden. 2. Improving the content itself If valuable content is hard to find, then it’s even harder to produce. The content that people contribute most to public platforms isn’t necessarily the best content. On YouTube, if it’s easy to get more views with clickbait, why not make clickbait? Awards and incentives There needs to be a push to create more diverse content, and the platforms themselves are in the perfect position to do that. Right now, YouTube has for people with high subscriber counts and a to monetize videos. They even sponsor , which had over attendees in 2017. Platforms have so many opportunities to recognize content contributors, which means that they have many opportunities to recognize people making more diverse and valuable content, in addition to purely popular content. awards partner program VidCon 30,000 VidCon 2018 (photo credit: VidCon YouTube channel) Another example: Yelp has encouraged many people to leave high quality reviews and photos of local businesses by setting up an for contributors who are especially active. If Yelp can make people write long paragraphs about their local florist, other platforms can encourage the kind of content they want too. Elite program But this is only the tip of the iceberg. There is an infinite number of ideas that content-reliant platforms can use to improve their content over time. Action items A platform with “valuable content” is just a broad end goal. Individuals and companies must consciously define what exactly valuable content looks like for their own platform, and then implement ways to incentivize more of it. To anyone who takes any part in a building a platform, whether it’s engineering, design, leadership, marketing or anything else, . And even if you don’t have a say in any platform, please start thinking about how to actively push for valuable content please spread the discussion so that those who do can make their products worthwhile to you as a user. Why should platform builders even care? I haven’t yet really addressed the awkward question of: It’s hard to see any financial incentive for promoting “valuable content” when users will just as easily consume any other content. why should people working on a platform be responsible for all this? If you’re concerned about what the future might look like, if you believe that there’s even the slightest chance the world could get from the new technologies we’re building — then you have your answer. Without pressure from the builders of the platform, platforms will continue to look the same, make the same mistakes, incur the collective anger of the public after it has interfered with their lives enough, rinse and repeat. worse I truly believe that the most sustainable consumer is not composed from virality or novelty — they stick around because they are innovations that really make our lives better. Look around you — we still use blenders but we don’t use . Similarly, making platforms conducive to valuable content is key to ensuring its success and longevity. technology Juiceros A final analogy Let’s first look at some alarming facts about our relationship with screens. A man in Taiwan from exhaustion after playing video games for three days straight. Studies have shown that people addicted to the Internet lose matter in the “processing part” (grey matter) of their . We spend over each day on social media and pay an average of per year for technology and communication devices. died brain 1.5 hours $2300 Surprisingly, though, pose similar dangers to us. cars Cars cause millions of accidents every year. Accidents on the road are the of death in Americans aged 10–19, and traffic pollution has actually been shown to in children. We spend around in cars every day and spend over on gas per year. leading cause slow brain growth 50 minutes $2000 But no one would ever say that we’re addicted to cars. This analogy might sound crazy, but we can’t deny that using cars comes with its risks and drawbacks. But we don’t strive to find solutions to “car addiction” because cars solve a significant problem in our lives: they make our commutes much more efficient and our lifestyles possible. Screen addiction in its purest form — spending too much time on our devices — is not the biggest problem. It’s the habit of consumer-facing platforms to promote time-wasting content that’s the problem. But I believe that this problem can be tackled with everything I mentioned above, and also much, much more. Maybe this is awfully optimistic of me, but when the content problem is better solved — when the platforms and products we use are indispensable in supporting and improving our daily lives — I hope that “screen addiction” will sound as ridiculous as “car addiction.”
