Employees at Google, Twitter and Facebook are detaching themselves from the Internet, indicating a possible technology addiction outbreak. Here is why well-renowned pundits believe lifeloggers are likely to become humanity’s biggest sanity threat.
How much is a ‘Like’ on Facebook worth?
According to the mastermind behind this minimalist Facebook feature, the seemingly innocent button could be the end of the world, as we know it. Justin Rosenstein has cleverly separated his personal life from his private one, by eliminating technology communication platforms altogether. Even more, when Rosenstein purchased his new iPhone, he distinctly asked his assistant to install a PG-13-like feature, making it impossible for him to download any apps whatsoever.
What was known as the ‘awesome’ button a decade ago, is now becoming the criterion for acquiring affection and waiting to be accepted by society. This got not only Rosenstein but other Silicon Valley prodigies on high alert. Just how much organic communication are we willing to sacrifice, just to make ourselves society’s favorites?
Now, Silicon Valley chiefs are indicating that the so-called ‘attention economy’ could be a road to hell paved with good intentions. While every technological accomplishment was intended to boost humanity and alleviate its everyday life, what has happened is a general dystopia, ultimately raising concerns regarding the future of genuine human connection.
Through a staggering statistical report, Rosenstein learned that people look in their phones 2,617 times daily. This has turned the ongoing technological competition into a massive epidemic.
Consequently, the existing IQ in humans is dropping at an alarming rate. As per a recent study, Smartphones have become beyond dangerous for the humankind, ultimately resulting in cognitive irregularities, even with the gadget turned off.
However, in a society where social media have become the main modus operandi, it is difficult to steer clear of all sorts of ‘smart’ devices.
The fanaticism caused by the ever-plain ‘Like’ button, soon infected almost every other social platforms, such as Twitter and Instagram.
What is more intriguing is that, while all these technological brainiacs have helped humanity get addicted to their ‘helpful’ products, they choose to send their children to private Silicon Valley schools, where respective ‘intelligent’ devices are strictly banned.
Things got even more hypocritical when all programmers and geeks recently attended a tech conference in San Francisco. What they did was, they paid $1,700 each, only to get educated on how to get more customers ‘hooked’ on their booming businesses.
Heck, the face behind this conference, Nir Eyal, has even made a whole career out of it.
Eyal assures that people’s online activity is under no circumstance coincidental, but is a well-contemplated marketing strategy designed by social media heads.
Still, at the 2017 Habit Summit, Eyal offered an eye-opening approach to the issue for the first time ever, talking about the way social media has pushed people into a sociological oblivion. Nonetheless, he noted social media designers are not to be blamed for the way people abuse these Internet privileges.
By the end of his speech, Eyal pointed out that he is using a Chrome extension, also referred to as DF YouTube, as well as an app called Pocket Points, both of which are intended to control and monitor your online activity.
Eyal does not support the general opinion that technology is intentionally toxic. To remedy the problem, he urges all Internet users to install an outlet timer connected to a router, which prevents Internet access at a particular time during the day. By doing so, Eyal believes we can remain in control of our lives.
Tristan Harris, a former employee at Google, is certain that the human mind can easily be hijacked, meaning people are deprived of their free will, regardless of their intentions to act otherwise.
Harris is also convinced that people are generally unaware of just how much impact Silicon Valley designers and technological pros have on humanity and their day-to-day online presence.
Furthermore, Harris stands against the tide of technology companies, laying out the basic and ugly truth of modern-day living, saying it is directly dependent on our basic way of thinking and processing information. In other words, Harris warns we have unwillingly become prisoners of a virtual society created by some of the greatest technology engineers.
As Harris further explains, each and every online platform, from LinkedIn to YouTube and Netflix, turns customers into downright Internet slaves. In such way, we become deprived of the opportunity to carry out our free will to choose.
Moreover, by accidentally submitting ourselves to the Internet, we have become masters of own destruction. Without being allowed to have a say-so in our Internet preferences, we have set ourselves up for failure. Think of it this way: People are getting obsessed with the ‘Like’ button, ultimately seeking approval of others. When this approval is lacking, we become desperate and even more determined to seek public affection. Ultimately, this never-ending need to be appreciated online is poisoning our overall, organic existence.
Harris is certain, though, that companies did not purposefully cause such an addictive online podium. However, the curious nature of humans might be the triggering our own collapse as a society, the repercussions of which we are just beginning to experience firsthand.
Even though there is a general necessity to restrain the manner in which Google and Facebook affect us as a society, we cannot be as delusional as to expect this to actually happen. It goes without saying, humanity has proved itself to be the weakest link in this whole equation.
Eventually, what is most likely to happen is for us to become unable to take charge of our own minds, thus allowing social media outlets to grow into the ultimate masters of puppets.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.
