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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

#171

Post by eswat »

maxxxxx wrote: post #37
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?

Think a smarter, more sustainable usage model phone companies should depend on is controlled use, not addiction.

You eventually just get an unhappy userbase that’s about to burn themselves out of your ecosystem with the latter. Think this is what the OP is hinting at since Apple has pricing models that are less reliant on the latter.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#172

Post by __blockcipher__ »

CPLX wrote: post #154
MetalGuru wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible that many heroin addicts have "holes" in their life that they fill, but it's also pretty much a certainty that if you take a random person and unwittingly feed them heroin for awhile telling them it's harmless, they're going to have withdrawal symptoms if they stop. What point are you even making here? You know there's a difference between physical dependence and addiction, right? Someone who isn't a he…

> Someone who isn't a heroin addict can easily stop taking it if they are weaned off. That's a bit dubious as a blanket statement. Perhaps you're creating a distinction without a difference? My point pretty much sums to "addictive things are addictive" Yes, addiction is more nuanced than that, some people are exposed to addictive things and don't get hooked. But it seems like people in this thread are trying to advan…

>Perhaps you're creating a distinction without a difference?

There is certainly a difference. Your body, physically, will be fine without heroin. But emotionally, you feel empty without it, and as soon as some emotional trauma - stress, sadness, fear or despair rears its head, you relapse. I guess you could argue that emotional need is no different than physical need, but I don't think that's quite the point you're trying to make

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#173

Post by __blockcipher__ »

AlwaysRock wrote: post #49
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…

This is what I've realized about myself and addition. I get into new things fast and tend to over commit or over indulge early on and once I realize it pull back. I've got it under control now because I realized my excessive drinking or drug usage was in large part because I was bored. Shit television or movies are much more entertaining when drunk or high. Social engagements that are not mentally stimulating to me a…

Thanks for sharing. I resonated with a lot of what you said. That's all, I have nothing to add :)

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#174

Post by munificent »

> The real answer to solving technology addiction is the answer to sustainably solving most problems: innovation spurred by capitalism. A new group of businesses needs to emerge that gives us the choice to help ourselves and rediscover the benefits of disconnection.

> Dieting may be the most helpful analogy here. In the US, many of us have poor diets either on occasion or frequently. Few of us have the discipline to eat well for long periods of time to optimize our health. When we gain too much weight, we pay for a personal trainer or a diet program or a book or an app to get us back on track.

Is this article real, or a brilliantly crafted satire of Silicon Valley VC culture?

The weight loss industry is worth $66 billion and obesity in the US has never been worse than it is today. Arguing that we should let unfettered capitalism solve tech addition like it's solved obesity is... I don't even know how to finish that sentence it's such an inane fly-in-the-face-of-reality statement.

> People that use those solutions to effectively curb negative habits will end up happier and more prosperous than others, just like it’s always been. How’s that for incentive?

Completely insufficient is how it is. If long-term incentives were enough to prevent people from making poor short-term decisions, we wouldn't have addiction or obesity in the first place.

The tool that has been effective at getting a large number of people to make choices that favor long-term outcomes over short-term ones is culture. By attaching a heavy negative moral weight to a poor short-term choice, we leverage the emotional wiring people already have so that they are able to push against their urge and do what's best for their long-term health and for society as a whole.

Cigarette use has cut in half over the past fifty years. That didn't happen because tobacco startups invented innovative technology, and it didn't happen because we outlawed them. It happened because we shifted the culture. Instead of cigarettes being cool, sophisticated, and intellectual, they are gross, selfish, and dirty.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#177

Post by konschubert »

Avamander wrote: post #158
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've been one of those people who have had the unfortunate luck to have a computer with parental- or time controls. It pretty much only shifted my screen usage to other devices e.g. TV and got me into cybersec because I wanted a way around those restrictions.

Well, if it got you inti cybersec then it worked exactly as intended!

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#178

Post by sethammons »

ip26 wrote: post #131
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…

actually improving our house has proven even more enjoyable Plus you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. That was what completely killed my interest in any amount of game grind- it hit me mid-game that if I spent that time grinding my actual corporeal self, I'd have something to show for it after. I've since improved my AeT mile pace (your "all-day" level) from around 15:00 to 10:00ish. (My dream/goal is to get to…

Yes! I don't like games that grind. I have more important things to do with my time. I'll put _some_ time into some grind-y games. I like hearthstone, but don't grind. I play ~5-10 minutes a day. I like diablo, but I get maybe an hour or two a month in usually. I never keep up with everyone. If the game is more adventure and skill based, it grabs me longer, but if I feel the grind, I lose interest fast.

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#179

Post by bluntfang »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #125
bluntfang wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I prefer regular commercial-grade pizza Have you considered you like commercial grade food because of the possibly addictive ingredients they use, like excessive sugar and salt?

I have considered it and, seeing such pizza made many times, I discounted it. They use the same ingredients you'd buy to put in your sandwitch; the same ingredients you get in "local cousine" when you travel.

I don't think you're talking about commercial grade pizza then. Do you mean something like Pizza Hut/ Papa John's or a local pizza shop?

Re: Solving Tech Addiction Is an Underappreciated Market Opportunity

#180

Post by WalterSear »

hollerith wrote: post #135
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…

(1) Professional help for addiction tends to be very expensive; in contrast, even buying a "specialty" smartphone to replace one's existing smartphone would cost much less. (2) Even those who can easily afford the best professional help, e.g., Ben Affleck, end up having to go back into an in-patient addiction treatment center multiple times (3 times so far for Affleck, the first time's being in 2001), which casts dou…

Not relevant, since the fundamental issues still aren't being addressed. By and large, dysfunction will just find a different way to manifest itself.

Moreover, treating the symptom without treating the disease will be an inordinate struggle until the underlying issues are understood, processed and addressed. This will leave most of the afflicted no better off, and in some ways, significantly worse for the failed effort.

Mental health is costly and difficult. There is no shortcut around this. You can't replace it with an app, or we would have replaced it with a book.

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