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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

#101

Post by yashap »

loceng wrote: post #88
wccrawford wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a gamer and about as attached to tech as you can be without actually having mental issues over it. My wife and I recently bought a house and I've been finding that I'd rather spend time fixing it up than playing games or doing other stuff with electronics much of the time. That doesn't mean that I've quit wholesale, though. I eventually get physically or mentally tired and want to just relax, and it's back to the…

The private market will do a far better job fixing the status quo than the government or industrial complexes will. Some "random guy that's making a startup" presumably would do things to be safe, and ethical, no? You can make generalizations and assumptions otherwise, though that isn't very helpful. If you've ever had the displeasure to experience the healthcare system, you'd learn too that "professionals" are indoc…

Anecdotal evidence, but I personally know quite a few people with mental health issues who’ve found psychiatrists very helpful. I don’t know anyone who has received significant help with mental health from a tech startup. Startups are great, but they aren’t the answer to everything.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#103

Post by blueyes »

Unfortunately, we're in a system with asymmetric incentives for product development. Products that addict us get more of our time and attention, and therefore higher DAU, VC funding and ad dollars. Products that help us fight addiction are in a negative feedback loop. The better they work, the less we need them or pay attention to them. The gains that users realize from addiction-fighting apps are external, often in the analog world, and by definition harder to monetize and monitor, because they have left the platform.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#104

Post by abhiminator »

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 recall the studies showing the difference between Vietnam veterans who got hooked on dope and those who didn't, as well as Bruce K. Alexander's Rat Park experiments.

Here's a well made video [0] on this exact topic from, "Kurzgesagt," a YouTube channel.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8L-0nSYzg

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#105

Post by TeMPOraL »

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…

> 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.

But were they really?

The thing I'm no longer afraid to admit about myself - I don't enjoy such stuff. I don't derive much pleasure from views of nature, don't like typical tourist destinations (for instance, last year I went to Pripyat, and liked it much better than Lviv or Kiev). I don't enjoy eating local cousine, I prefer regular commercial-grade pizza, thank you. I tried pretending that I like "normal" things for a long time, but this cognitive dissonance isn't worth it.

I still agree with GP here - if the things you do are fulfilling, you'll be less inclined to pick up the phone. For me, it won't be France or Spain, but it will be a programming side project. It won't be hiking, but it will be going out with an air gun and shooting a bit. I don't feel an addiction to tech then, but get me back to the office, and suddenly the addiction is back too.

To be clear: I'm not discounting the addictiveness of consumer-oriented tech - but I do feel that it's often easier to break the feedback loop by fixing the other end of it.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#106

Post by jacksnipe »

loceng wrote: post #88
wccrawford wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a gamer and about as attached to tech as you can be without actually having mental issues over it. My wife and I recently bought a house and I've been finding that I'd rather spend time fixing it up than playing games or doing other stuff with electronics much of the time. That doesn't mean that I've quit wholesale, though. I eventually get physically or mentally tired and want to just relax, and it's back to the…

The private market will do a far better job fixing the status quo than the government or industrial complexes will. Some "random guy that's making a startup" presumably would do things to be safe, and ethical, no? You can make generalizations and assumptions otherwise, though that isn't very helpful. If you've ever had the displeasure to experience the healthcare system, you'd learn too that "professionals" are indoc…

> If you've ever had the displeasure to experience the healthcare system, you'd learn too that "professionals" are indoctrinated in a system that doesn't update their knowledge, keeps their knowledge in silos, and overall is inefficient and not getting people access to the most recent/best information/knowledge.

This is crankery. Not all doctors are the best medical practitioners, but I will always trust a random medical doctor more than a random “health” startup.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#107

Post by buboard »

beat wrote: post #93
buboard wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought about it , but those came about recently, when cigarettes are known as an active health hazard. So it's more like a health product. We are not yet at the point that tech addiction is considered a health hazard, and imho it will never be, because tech adapts, evolves and improves productivity, and at any give point tech-less life will be a poorer alternative.

Tech is absolutely a health hazard. Driving while texting is measurably as dangerous as driving drunk. It kills people.

Easily solvable with voice recognition or just calling people on hands free. Cutting out usage of phone for that is overkill.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#108

Post by mikeleeorg »

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…

I looked up a bunch of similar products about 5 years ago. Just last month, I looked them up again, and found that many don't exist anymore.

It's definitely a tough market. I suspect that it will be the larger corporations with enough revenue that can release such products into the market - and probably even release them as free features of an existing suite of products (e.g. iOS with Downtime, Disney's Circle[1], etc), as opposed to a standalone product.

[1] https://meetcircle.com/time-limits

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#109

Post by ddtaylor »

kaffeemitsahne wrote: post #65
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.

I think most of the "caring" is a token effort. Too many businesses benefit from tech/mobile addiction. It's a form of green-washing IMO.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#110

Post by ddtaylor »

mikeleeorg wrote: post #108
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…

I looked up a bunch of similar products about 5 years ago. Just last month, I looked them up again, and found that many don't exist anymore. It's definitely a tough market. I suspect that it will be the larger corporations with enough revenue that can release such products into the market - and probably even release them as free features of an existing suite of products (e.g. iOS with Downtime, Disney's Circle[1], et…

Two of the big players in the space are Disney and Xfinity, both of which IMO don't have much to gain by actually reducing screen time.
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