Giving Compass' Take:

· With the rise of accessibility and ease of technology, it was only a matter of time before society formed a tech addiction. AEI discusses the behavioral research behind these habit-forming platforms and explores the idea of using tech as a force for good.

· Can technology be used to increase community involvement? How can technology be used to encourage healthier lifestyles?

· Read more about the role of technology in society. 

Recently, the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to “Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet CEO Larry Page to probe the companies’ representation of third-party access to consumer data, and the collection and use of audio recording data as well as location information via iPhone and Android devices.” The two companies are the latest Big Tech firms under the congressional spotlight, but while Congress has these executives’ attention, it might be useful to ask them if we can turn today’s internet-based, attention-sucking devices, apps, and social media feeds into a power for personal and social good.

In 2007, Stanford University offered a research and design class that became known as “the Facebook class.” It was a great success: Students created applications for Facebook that had 16 million users and generated $1 million dollars in advertising revenue after 10 weeks. Members of the class, using a model of human behavioral change created by “its instructor, BJ Fogg, became Silicon Valley legends. Graduates went on to work and design products at Uber, Facebook, and Google. Some even started companies with their classmates.”

Fogg directs the Persuasive Tech Lab at Stanford, which aims to “create insight into how computing products — from websites to mobile phone software — can be designed to change people’s beliefs and behaviors. [Its] major projects include technology for creating health habits, mobile persuasion, and the psychology of Facebook.” But as Wired notes, Fogg and his behavior model are in the “crosshairs of our society-wide conversation about phone addiction.” Critics say that tech companies have leveraged psychological principles to capture human attention as they try to keep users “coming back.”

Read the full article about society's tech addiction by Shane Tews at AEI.