About Time Well SpentWe are a building a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a humane future where technology is in harmony with our well-being, our social values, and our democratic principles.Our society is being hijacked by technology.What began as a race to monetize our attention is now eroding the pillars of our society: mental health, democracy, social relationships, and our children.Time Well SpentTW$_33524eda-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec8073068471Time Well Spent TeamWe have built a world-class team of former tech insiders and CEOs who intimately understand the culture, business incentives, design techniques and organizational structures driving how technology hijacks us.We've convened top industry executives, advised political leaders, and raised awareness of the problem to millions of people through broad media attention. Building on this start, we are advancing thoughtful solutions to change the system.Tristan HarrisTwitterGoogleSnapchatSnapchat turns conversations into streaks, redefining how our children measure friendship.InstagramInstagram glorifies the picture-perfect life, eroding our self worth.FacebookFacebook segregates us into echo chambers, fragmenting our communities.YouTubeYouTube autoplays the next perfect video, even if it eats into our sleep.Technology is in harmony with our well-being, our social values, and our democratic principles._3352501a-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec8073068471To create a humane future._335250ec-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec8073068471Well-BeingWhat we feel as addiction is part of something much bigger.There's an invisible problem that's affecting all of society.Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google have produced amazing products that have benefited the world enormously. But these companies are also caught in a zero-sum race for our finite attention, which they need to make money. Constantly forced to outperform their competitors, they must use increasingly persuasive techniques to keep us glued. They point AI-driven news feeds, content, and notifications at our minds, continually learning how to hook us more deeply -- from our own behavior.Unfortunately, what's best for capturing our attention isn't best for our well-being:Snapchat turns conversations into streaks, redefining how our children measure friendship.Instagram glorifies the picture-perfect life, eroding our self worth.Facebook segregates us into echo chambers, fragmenting our communities.YouTube autoplays the next perfect video, even if it eats into our sleep.These are not neutral products.They are part of a system designed to addict us.AttentionThe race for attention is eroding the pillars of our society.Mental HealthThe race to keep us on screen 24/7 makes it harder to disconnect, increasing stress, anxiety, and reducing sleep.ChildrenThe race to keep children's attention trains them to replace their self-worth with likes, encourages comparison with others, and creates the constant illusion of missing out.Social RelationshipsThe race for attention forces social media to prefer virtual interactions and rewards (likes, shares) on screens over face-to-face community.DemocracySocial media rewards outrage, false facts, and filter bubbles -- which are better at capturing attention -- and divides us so we can no longer agree on truth.TruthThe whole system is vulnerable to manipulation.Phones, apps, and the web are so indispensable to our daily lives -- a testament to the benefits they give us -- that we've become a captive audience. With two billion people plugged into these devices, technology companies have inadvertently enabled a direct channel to manipulate entire societies with unprecedented precision. Technology platforms make it easier than ever for bad actors to cause havoc:* Pushing lies directly to specific zip codes, races, or religions.* Finding people who are already prone to conspiracies or racism, and automatically reaching similar users with “Lookalike” targeting.* Delivering messages timed to prey on us when we are most emotionally vulnerable (e.g., Facebook found depressed teens buy more makeup).* Creating millions of fake accounts and bots impersonating real people with real-sounding names and photos, fooling millions with the false impression of consensus.Meanwhile, the platform companies profit from growth in users and activity.AdaptationWon't we just adapt? Four reasons why it's different this time.People always worry that new technology will harm society. Four distinct forces make today different from anything in the past, including TV, radio, and computers:IntelligenceArtificially Intelligent -- No other media employed supercomputers to predict, a myriad steps ahead of our mind, what it could show to perfectly keep us on the screen. Influence24/7 Influence -- No other media steered two billion people’s thoughts 24/7 -- checking 150 times per day, from the moment we wake up until we fall asleep.Social ControlNo other media redefined the terms of our social lives: self-esteem, when we believe we are missing out, and the perception that others agree with us.PersonalizationNo other media used a precise, personalized profile of everything we've said, shared, clicked, and watched to influence our behavior at this scale.AutomationExponentially-growing platforms are easily exploited.As content grows exponentially, platform companies rely increasingly on automation:YouTube automates billions of videos to play next for 1.5 billion users.Facebook automates millions of ads shown to 2 billion users.Twitter automates showing millions of #trending topics to hundreds of millions of users.Unfortunately, these automatic algorithms are easily gamed to manipulate society at a massive scale, because platforms lack the capacity to reliably check for conspiracies, lies, and fake users.ChangeProfiting from the problem, platforms won't change on their own.We can't expect attention-extraction companies like YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, or Twitter to change, because it’s against their business model.Platforms would lose money if they solved the problem:Facebook would lose revenue if they blocked advertisers from micro-targeting lies and conspiracies to the people most likely to be persuaded. Twitter's stock price would fall if they were to remove the millions of bots on their platform, which academics estimate at 15% of their user base. Facebook would lose revenue if their tools didn't allow advertisers to automatically test millions of variations of content -- word choices, color, images -- to capture the most minds.So we have to change the rules of the game.MindfulnessTHE WAY FORWARD -- In the future, we will look back at today as a turning point towards humane design: when we moved away from technology that extracts attention and erodes society, towards technology that protects our minds and replenishes society.ReplenishmentCollaborationWe need your help.Together, we can get technology platforms to stop hijacking our minds, and to start putting our well-being first.DevicesChange device design._3352527c-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec80730684711Technology MakersCalling All Technology Makers.We want you to re-imagine your products to put our best interests first.AppleApple and Google: Let's re-imagine the device.With every design choice, let's think about what's best for people, not what's best for grabbing eyeballs.GoogleSamsungMicrosoftApple, Samsung, and Microsoft can help solve the problem, because keeping people hooked to the screen isn’t their business model. They can redesign their devices and core interfaces to protect our minds from constant distractions, minimize screen time, protect our time in relationships, and replace the App Store marketplace of apps competing for usage with a marketplace of tools competing to benefit our lives and society.DisconnectionDesign devices to help us disconnect without missing something important._33525358-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec80730684711.1SleepDesign devices to help us fall asleep on our schedule._33525420-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec80730684711.2ExpediencyDesign devices for quick in-and-out uses, not endless interactions._33525682-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec80730684711.3Business ModelsPressure technology companies toward humane business models._33525808-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec80730684712GovernmentsGovernment Advocacy -- Governments can pressure technology companies toward humane business models by including the negative externalities of attention extraction on their balance sheets, and creating better protections for consumers.Techology CompaniesConsumersWe are advising governments on smart policies and better user protections.ChoicesDesigned home screens to promote off-screen choices, not just on-screen choices._335258da-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec80730684712.1NewsDesign news feeds to reward the most in-depth reporting, not most clicks_335259de-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec80730684712.2Goal AwarenessTransform public awareness so that consumers recognize the difference between technology designed merely to attract attention rather than to support realization of our goals._33525aba-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec80730684713ConsumersPublic Pressure --Consumers don't want to use products that they know are harmful, especially when it harms their kids. ParentsKidsWe are transforming public awareness so that consumers recognize the difference between technology designed to extract the most attention from us, and technology whose goals are aligned with our own. We are building a movement for consumers to take control of their digital lives with better tools, habits and demands to make this change.Coordination & SocializationDesign social media to reduce loneliness and made it easier to coordinate with others._33525b96-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec80730684713.1Non-ExtractionEmpower employees to advocate for non-extraction based design decisions and business models._33525c90-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec80730684714EmployeesEmployee Action -- Talented employees are the greatest asset of technology companies -- and the ones companies are most afraid to lose. Most engineers and technologists genuinely want to build products that improve society, and no one wants participate in an extraction-based system that ruins society. Technology CompaniesEngineersTechnologistsWe are empowering employees who advocate for non-extraction based design decisions and business models._33525d6c-d2ef-11e7-82b1-ec80730684712017-11-26http://www.timewellspent.io/OwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net