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Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

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Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#31

Post by okmokmz »

twodave wrote: post #25
Bakary wrote: post #6

In my own experience struggling with addiction I've found that it is a symptom rather than a cause. Once you craft a life that is actually stimulating the tech loses its hold over you pretty quickly, if not instantly (for example when you go on a weekend outing in nature and completely forget your phone). Of course, the time and energy wasted due to the dysfunctional behavior presents a chicken-and-egg roadblock agai…

There are definitely nuggets of truth to what you say, but I can say first hand that often the biggest challenge (after admitting your flaws, of course) in battling addiction is determining what exactly it is that I am missing. If things are going well in my life generally (marriage, work, friends, spiritually, etc) and yet I still feel the pull to this coping mechanism, why is that?! I don’t have any latent trauma t…

Having a support system, and things in your life to focus on outside of your addiction, such as marriage, work, friends, spirituality is certainly important in recovering from addiction, but it is not a cure. It's perfectly normal to experience feelings of wanting to go back to what you were addicted to, especially in times of stress, sadness, or any other emotions you have a hard time handling. Relapsing, or feeling as if you want to go back to your addiction, is not a failure. As most recovering addicts will tell you, relapse is just another part of recovery

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#33

Post by okmokmz »

CPLX wrote: post #19
Bakary wrote: post #6

In my own experience struggling with addiction I've found that it is a symptom rather than a cause. Once you craft a life that is actually stimulating the tech loses its hold over you pretty quickly, if not instantly (for example when you go on a weekend outing in nature and completely forget your phone). Of course, the time and energy wasted due to the dysfunctional behavior presents a chicken-and-egg roadblock agai…

Yeah I dunno about that. A month or so ago, I took a two week trip across France and Spain, it was one of the most lovely experiences of my life, staying in great places, eating amazing food, etc. It was honestly about as wonderful and stimulating of an experience as I've ever had. About halfway through it I started to realize that I was still attached to my phone. I was sitting on trains reflexively checking Twitter…

It can take substantially more time than a 2 week trip to break addictive actions that you have been taking and conditioning yourself to perform over a long period of time. I agree, however, that sometimes establishing controls to limit or block your behavior initially can be helpful in breaking out of the cycle, and isn't necessarily self defeating so long as you are not depending on it entirely

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#34

Post by b_tterc_p »

kurthr wrote: post #28
jon_richards wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I predict that one day we'll all have our AI best friend. They'll teach and socialize us when we're young, guide and consol us as we grow, and protect us from misinformation and adversarial AIs throughout our lives. Picking the brand of AI for your kid will be the most important decision you ever make for them.

I suspect that your parents will choose for you, and the majority will be ad supported.

I would wager less ad based, more political / religious / nationalist indoctrinated AI personalities.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#35

Post by mbrock »

beaconstudios wrote: post #29
mbrock wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Buddhist perspective seems to be that we suffer from a general addiction ("craving"). Meditation is supposed to shine a light on that. Since few people ever just sit down without entertainment or work, the meditation posture becomes a way to notice (and subdue) one's constant tendency to reach for something to enjoy or accomplish. This craving comes as part of "attachment", the way our minds are hooked up into al…

I totally agree. I think this constant need to be doing something is one of the voids that needs to be filled, and it seems to be largely cultural and driven by consumerism. Meditation is a great way to tackle that and many other voids, I regularly find myself feeling much more emotionally levelled out after having meditated successfully.

On the other hand, in some way I think the Buddhist rhetoric—probably especially in the West—can tend to exaggerate in making it seem like the original sin.

Which it probably is if you're striving for the kind of nirvana that Buddhist monks strive for...

But "laypeople" shouldn't get meta-anxious about it and try to achieve a mental peace that's impossible in their life situation.

Even in Zen they have the saying "no work, no eat."

But yeah, maybe we spend 98% of our waking life in attachment, when a better ratio would be, say, 80%?

And the insidious thing about "tech" is that it's constantly available. It's almost like having a schizophrenic voice in your head that interrupts every quiet moment.

I think everyone has their own little ways of getting some daily quietude, but I do also think that with the current state of advanced distraction technologies, it's not rare for someone to spend a whole day "online."

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#36

Post by cerealbad »

smartphones are in their smoking is cool so do it everywhere phase. the novelty will wear off. i enjoy patiently waiting in silence. if i am travelling on public transport, or sitting in waiting room, or standing in a long queue, i find my personal quiet contrasted by the various background noises relaxing and beneficial. i can remain aware of my surrounding/map, people and objects, clocks and time, scenery. i can play memorization, prediction or pattern games, revisit some old problem or simply turn my brain off and let the time pass without incident.

am i a silence addict? if i enjoyed striking up conversations with strangers everywhere i went and talked their ear off in a friendly manner, would i be a social addict? some people enjoy looking at text and images on a screen during downtime in their day, it's a habit. a potentially useful one that helps connect to a world outside of immediate physical space, should _we_ disincentivize public escapism? what about reading or drawing in public then? perhaps it's dangerous if people look at each other too much. and why don't _we_ standardize clothing so that everyone feels more equal. and do _we_ really need so many words, how about _we_ reduce it down to a few hundred useful ones and just stop teaching the others. who is we, we is us, and us is we.

if you give people freedom to do a lot of different things, they may not make good individual choices which can lead to bad collective actions. if they were individual choices they will be individually self-corrected. do you value freedom or outcomes? because you're going to need a big hammer to get all your outcome nails nice and flat. alternatively you need to build your civilization on a different moral foundation, something like social harmony or public good. you might find a strong central government, no immigration, with an insulated and culturo-ethnically homogeneous population with a tendency towards being socially and fiscally conservative, family oriented and not prone to large unfunded liabilities in domestic ponzi schemes and international military escapades; as pre-requisites to your social engineering utopian fantasies. america is about fuck you and fuck you too.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#37

Post by maxxxxx »

jeffbarg wrote: post #5

"While Apple, Google, and Facebook are beginning to offer tools to better understand how much we use their devices and services, those companies can’t viably fix technology addiction because their businesses prevent them from doing so." Apple's business doesn't. I think Screen Time and App Limits will likely become two of Apple's main competitive advantages going forward because of it -- there's no way Google or Face…

"Apple's business doesn't. I think Screen Time and App Limits will likely become two of Apple's main competitive advantages going forward because of it -- there's no way Google or Facebook could offer such a product for their services in any meaningful way without destroying their core business. "

Sure Apple depends on screen addiction too. Why would somebody buy a $1000+ phone and then not use it?

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#38

Post by bluntfang »

twodave wrote: post #25
Bakary wrote: post #6

In my own experience struggling with addiction I've found that it is a symptom rather than a cause. Once you craft a life that is actually stimulating the tech loses its hold over you pretty quickly, if not instantly (for example when you go on a weekend outing in nature and completely forget your phone). Of course, the time and energy wasted due to the dysfunctional behavior presents a chicken-and-egg roadblock agai…

There are definitely nuggets of truth to what you say, but I can say first hand that often the biggest challenge (after admitting your flaws, of course) in battling addiction is determining what exactly it is that I am missing. If things are going well in my life generally (marriage, work, friends, spiritually, etc) and yet I still feel the pull to this coping mechanism, why is that?! I don’t have any latent trauma t…

>If things are going well in my life generally (marriage, work, friends, spiritually, etc) and yet I still feel the pull to this coping mechanism, why is that?!

dopamine receptor abuse by these giant companies with a large line item for psychological research.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#39

Post by maxxxxx »

Nasrudith wrote: post #26

We used to have far more focus rooms - they were called offices. Tech is a convenient scapegoat for environments unconducive to focus and lack of interest in the task. It can also help with emotional state management which is useful over just banging your head against the wall. One use I find for HN is that it is usually pretty good at getting me in a rational and focused state of mind - it is similar to the benefit…

I definitely notice that. In my cube farm it's so loud that I often can't focus so I start reading Hacker News or stare at my phone as distraction. When I work from home I actually work because it's nice and quiet.
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