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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

#61

Post by dsfyu404ed »

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…

Agreed. Nobody ever says "my life was so fulfilling before I got addicted to X"

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#62

Post by 98Windows »

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…

I live in a dysfunctional world in which having a smartphone is really useful. I don't think that's going to change any time soon.

So the least I can do is instruct my smartphone to limit my usage of certain things which I find reduce my quality of life but are very distracting.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#63

Post by chiefalchemist »

dwaltrip wrote: post #53
chiefalchemist wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bakary said: "In my own experience struggling with addiction I've found that it is a symptom rather than a cause." You said: "but there are other people who need to take affirmative steps towards abstinence, and avoid certain people places and things, as they say." To clarify, you each are saying two different things; with Bakery addressing the disease, and you common symptoms (of failed attempts at trying to cure sy…

That could be the case for some people. For many others, there probably isn't some other root cause. It's the damn phone (and the apps on the phone) that is causing the problem.

Well. Um. But... craving an unnatural amount of attention __is__ a root cause. Wanting to seek conflict __is__ a root cause. Seeking to reconfirm my confirmation bias __is__ a root cause. FOMO __is__ a root cause.

The device enables these things - take the device away and they will still exist - it does not create them.

It doesn't make sense to blame the device for what is ultimately a human behavior issue. The abuse of the device __is__ a red flag for "we have a problem here" and that problem is not the device. "Curing for the device" will not solve the root problem(s).

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#65

Post by kaffeemitsahne »

ddtaylor wrote: post #60

Having worked on a product for 3 years that attempts to target this market I can tell you the sad reality, is that nobody really cares. Sure, there are clickbait headlines and companies/parents will feign interest, but when it comes to actually paying for a product or making any tangible change to usage habits, our numbers prove that nobody even tries. For full disclosure our product turns the Internet off until they…

Just because not many people liked your product doesn't mean nobody cares about the problem.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#66

Post by sooheon »

ddtaylor wrote: post #60

Having worked on a product for 3 years that attempts to target this market I can tell you the sad reality, is that nobody really cares. Sure, there are clickbait headlines and companies/parents will feign interest, but when it comes to actually paying for a product or making any tangible change to usage habits, our numbers prove that nobody even tries. For full disclosure our product turns the Internet off until they…

Maybe the target should be adults getting it for themselves? Think AA more than parental control.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#67

Post by maxxxxx »

jacquesm wrote: post #57

It's hard to deal with addiction when the opposition has armies of psychologists working together to make the experiences you have online as addictive as possible.

Exactly. People always treat things like addiction as a sign of a weak character but there are many, many very intelligent people working on exploiting very weakness of human personalities. Things are totally stacked against the individual.

It's pretty sad that a lot of the best and brightest software engineers of our generation are working at places like Google and Facebook whose ultimate purpose is to push as many ads as possible.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#68

Post by mrfredward »

jon_richards wrote: post #23
666lumberjack wrote: post #7

It seems inevitable to me that as ML-based algorithms get better at exploiting the quirks in our monkey brains and keeping us on platforms for longer and longer periods, somebody will need to develop a counter-algorithm that lives in a browser extension or (somehow) on your device and is able to recognize unhealthy engagement patterns and make you aware of them. Actually implementing such a thing in a way that's perf…

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.

The ultimate bubble. Your "friend" won't ever disagree, nor share any viewpoint other than what parents want the child to hear. The only interesting point will be to see what the "friend" chooses to do when the parents and the child disagree.

AI "friends" could be terrific in teaching children, but there is a danger in consumers taking the short-sighted approach and buying the A.I. which is most likable. Imagine how spoiled kids will be when most of their "friends" always agree and serve them like butlers. People love to pay for indulgence, but never want to pay for tough-love.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#69

Post by harryf »

mrfredward wrote: post #58
goplusplus wrote: post #21

The idea of productizing tech addiction recovery funded by the VCs which fund tech addiction enabling products seems slightly disingenuous.

VCs invest to make money, and I just can't see what the revenue model would be. There's no ad revenue to be had in convincing people to stop looking at their phones. Get people to pay for an app? Any price other than free means crossing a pretty major psychological barrier.

Parents would pay. I'm a parent and have already paid for services to help me manage my kids phone addiction

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#70

Post by mbbutler »

goplusplus wrote: post #21

The idea of productizing tech addiction recovery funded by the VCs which fund tech addiction enabling products seems slightly disingenuous.

Reminds me of this tweet:

SOCIALIST: late capitalism has created a moral rot that pervades our entire society NEOLIBERAL: but imagine if we monetized the rot

https://twitter.com/trillburne/status/750721471157198848?lan...

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