How often do you check your phone? Do you feel addicted to it? According to former Google product philosopher Tristan Harris, we check our phones 150 times per day, on average, and yes, we’re addicted. He explains why and proposes a solution in this July 2016 essay in Spiegel Online.
Read it here: Harris, “Smartphone addiction: The slot machine in your pocket”
- Harris concludes his essay by arguing that we should have smartphones that put “our minds, not our impulses, first.” What does he mean? Summarize his argument. Is his argument persuasive? Why or why not?
- Harris mentions more than once that he is a magician. Given his topic and his position, does his status as a magician enhance his authority? Why or why not? Should he have said more about the connection between magic and smartphones? Why or why not? Explain your reasoning.
- A key element of Harris’s argument is the distinction between “time spent” and “time well spent.” What is that distinction? What remedy does Harris propose to ensure that smartphone users’ time is well spent? How realistic is his proposal? Why do you think so?
- Read (or re-read) Nicholas Carr’s essay in Chapter 17 of your text. Does Harris’s essay support Carr’s or could it be considered counterevidence to what Carr is arguing? Why do you think so? Point to specific passages in both essays to support your conclusion.
- According to Harris, “App designers play your psychological vulnerabilities in the race to grab your attention.” Assuming that this assertion is correct and that the situation is undesirable, with whom should the solution lie? Individual smartphone users? App designers and developers? Both? Neither? Write an essay in which you address these questions, using Harris as your They Say.
They Say I Blog 
Ffyon’s assertion on how smartphone technology has affected us today is true. Today, our culture has been dominated by technology and its advances. With the introduction of various competing smartphone industries such as Apple and Samsung, the majority of the population owns products from both companies. Even with young people today, regardless of age, smartphones are owned and the concept of social status over social media is introduced. Harris also points out this argument as well because he believes that all people today desire that sense of belonging anywhere, whether it be online or in real life. That sense to just follow a crowd has caused people to focus more on what is digital rather than what is actually occurring. This, in turn, results from the smartphone addiction which draws all attention to the screen that sits in everybody’s pockets. Tristan Harris’ comparison of smartphone addiction to his experiences during his career as a magician supports his statement on how extreme the phone addiction is. When people see magic happening, they are drawn into it and will not lose interest until they find out everything there is to know about the magic trick. Now, when people see different features and apps on a phone, they want to explore everything on it until there is no more to see. Technology has become so powerful in everyday life that putting down the phone takes self control and effort never put forth before by these people. Like Harris and his magic tricks., the smartphone knows how to get the viewer’s attention which ultimately makes checking the phone habitual instead of a simple time-killer activity. Many people check their phones just for the sake of feeling that they are important; that their selfie was good enough to get those likes. Ultimately, the best way to fix this problem is to think more and use a phone less. With the brain operating, there would not be room for a phone to take over one’s mind altogether.
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I agree with Harris. we check our phones more than we eat, talk and sleep. it seems as if our phones are becoming a more intricate part of our lives as the days move forward. In some cases, we do need to use our phones, for example; phone calls, texting, and emergencies but everything else is the reason why we’re so addicted to our phones. Phones make life easier but they also cause a lot of problems. And never forget, you’re not as private as you think you are.
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In this article, writer talks about our addiction of using smartphones on daily basis. He says that normal person check their phone at least 150 times a day. He compares a mobile phone to slot machines. Just like a slot machine, we always expect some good surprises from our phone. Sometimes we check our phone unconsciously. Today smartphones are becoming more addictive because of new different kind of applications they are creating. Such as social media, gaming application, and other news application, etc. It is all happening because of the smartphone companies race with each other. Instead of stopping this they are releasing new shiny phones each year. After so much involving in this addiction, we cannot stop this but we can slow it down. We should stop checking our phone every 5 minutes and start to live in real world.
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I completely agree with Harris that smartphones and addictive and they are just slot machines put in our pocket. Harris states that people check their phones 150 times a day and I find that troubling as I am also a victim of it. I believe that phones and social media is taking control of our lives as we live of them and spend most of our free time on them. He said that social networks such as Facebook make most of our choices for us with their suggestions. I think people should try to not invest too much of their time on social media and stay offline as much as they can.
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I believe that Harris is right because we do check our phones more than anything else. For a person to get in touch with me i advise them to to text me because when i get a text i reply back faster because im on my phone most of the time. Texting and driving is not good because thats the reason for so many accidents. I have my phone set up to where when im driving i cant receive any text messages and calls. I dont think our phones should control teenage lives as much as it does but it does anyways because of social media now days it has kinds of advertising and different things. The quickest way for many people to get a hold of friends is usually through social media.
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When Harris says we should have smartphones that put “our minds, not our impulses, first.” He means that designers of current technology have designed their apps, newsfeeds, webpages, etc. for us to keep coming back impulsively. We are encouraged to use technology, as in their app, webpage, etc., and only theirs to fulfill all of our needs. They have even designed their programs to reward us when we frequent their technology. A reward could be something as simple as a like on a photo on Facebook. Harris’s argument is very persuasive because he uses examples of platforms that most people frequent and he relates his experience as a magician to his argument.
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Awesome
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Phones, like other pieces of technology are neither good nor bad. How we choose to use the technology will determines whether it’s good or bad. As for app designers targeting people, you can’t really blame them. Everyone needs to make a living some how, and developing an app that is appealing to audiences/addictive is no different then other companies such as Bud light who do lavish ad campaigns to draw in the masses. Self control is the key to not becoming addicted.
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I believe that we spend way to much time with our phones and I agree with Harris on mostly everything that he said. We are so enticed to our phone that we are always making sure that we have it. Looking at a phone screen is the first thing we usually do every morning is to see if we have any notifications. We need to try to use our phone less.
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In the article Harris is talking about how people are addicted to cell phones and social media and I believe that is so true. Everywhere you look people have their phones out looking at them weather it be in the grocery store line or the doctor office. It is a habit for me and it is a really big distraction that i need to work on myself. There are so many different things to look at on line or on social media that it takes up a lot of everyones time and they may miss something important.
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Your Own Personal Slot Machine. Tristan Harris On Smartphones Addictions.Harris describes how we have to check our smartphones at least 150 times a day.This is true, have you ever forgot your phone at home and totally felt like you wasn’t completely dressed or like something is missing.Having your smart has become apart of our daily routine and without it sadly we are lost.
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In the article by Tristan Harris, “Your personal slot machine” he argues that the addiction to Iphones is not due to our own personal faults but to the set up of the Iphone, which is meant to hijack your attention. He compared the way the iphone is set up to a slot machine- you swipe and receive a “prize”. I do agree to a certain extent. I do know that phone companies and makers of the Iphone have a plan to get more and more people to buy, to keep updating, to have the best. They achieve this by finding ways to bring attention to the phone and get you to never take your eyes off it. But also at the same time, the people are to blame for letting themselves get completely corrupted by the Iphone. Therefore, according to uses and gratification theory People use media for acquiring knowledge, information etc., Among the audience some of them have intellectual needs to acquire knowledge this is not common to all only certain people have their need, each person have a different need for e.g. quiz programs on TV, in order to acquire knowledge and information you will watch news to satisfy the need, search engines in the internet, they make use of these to gain more knowledge. Particularly for the internet search engine they can browse for any topic under the sun with no time restriction.Despite the evidence provided from media effect researchers there is still a large amount of controversy. It could be argued from criminological perspective such as rational choice theory which argues that individuals are rational choice makers and pleasure-seeking individuals therefore the actions they partake in are calculated to benefit them and free will is favoured (Beccaria,1764.)
Despite the evidence provided from media effect researchers there is still a large amount of controversy.Therefore, in contrast to the traditional way of explaining media effect on individuals, the uses and gratification model (Blumer and Katz, 1974) claims that the audience combines of inquiring individuals and that the media they use is selected to suit their needs. Furthermore, the audience is seen as active rather than conforming victims.
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In Harris’s essay, he concludes that in this generation we are all indefinitely addicted to our phones and the makers of technology know it. He state “The average person checks their phone 150 times a day.” We do this for a sense of assurance. There is no dire reason we need our phone, but we are so psychologically attached to it. It is how we communicate, game, inform ourselves, and so much more. He compares our phones to a slot machine, we keep digging and scrolling to see what will pop up next and we can’t get enough of it. He suggests that we should use this technology for our minds not our impulses, and use our phones for only what matters.
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I agree with Harris’ argument that technology can be very addictive due to the immediate rewards it provides to our minds, much like slot machines, and that the reason for this is because of the nature of the design of cellphones and apps. As pointed out by Harris, the design of our technology always keeps us coming back for more. This is because we get approval from it, we are afraid of missing out on something if we do not consistently check Facebook, Instagram, twitter, etc., and it continuously provides a stream of entertainment without any effort on our part with autoplay functions on Youtube and Netflix, for example. These are clear truths about the design of modern technology, but I do not believe that the designers of all of the apps and devices we use are completely to blame for the high rates of addiction to technology in our society today. Everyone has the freedom to limit their technology use, and I don’t think that our only options to protect ourselves from getting addicted is to completely unplug or to have major changes in the way technology is designed an Harris proposes. The reason apps and the “newest” devices are so widely popular is because they are fun, entertaining, and useful. I believe that this is what designers are trying to do rather than trying to make them as addictive as possible. As much as I enjoy using the apps on my phone, I recently decided that I needed a break from some of them, so I selected a few apps that I find I spend most of my time on when I am using my phone and did not use them for ten days. Once the ten days were up, I noticed that some of the apps I consistently used before were not quite as interesting anymore and I checked them less often. This was a simple challenge I completed and it helped me moderate how much I used my technology. I think that dropping the rates of addiction to technology needs to begin with the users rather than the designers. By building up our willpower and living by principles of moderation, technology can continue to be a useful, fun resources in our lives that is not completely taking over our lives.
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Tristan Harris believes on average, people check their phones 150 times a day. While over a hundred times may seem like a lot, people rarely stop to think that they may be addicted. Using our smartphones has become so common, we all have a need to check what notifications we have received if we were away from them for a certain amount of time. Through his 2016 essay, Harris not only explains how often we check our phones, but what apps seem to do for us to keep us interested. Notifications, matches, emails, updates, posts, anything to assure we are checking up on every app we have installed. And even when we don’t have notifications, apps including Facebook alert you if friends post a picture of you to ask if you would like to tag yourself. While smartphones include many features such as helping us to choose where to eat, they glue us to our screens by including more suggestions. We continue checking out new places to visit and never realize how much longer we stay on these apps for no reason.
Additionally, Harris discusses an alternative to avoid wasting our time which involves developers giving options to program a specific time to check apps, get notifications and when we want to avoid ads from persuading us to keep watching videos. He then concludes, stating,“we need our smartphones to be exoskeletons for our minds and interpersonal relationships that put our values, not our impulses first”.
Reading this article not only informs us about how much app developers have created to get users hooked, but also how many times we check our phones for no reason at all. This was a wake up call to use time wisely instead of wasting it by scrolling through what others post. Harris includes in his article that he is a magician and explains how magicians give people free choice, meanwhile all of the options are in his favor. Smartphones are programmed to control our minds and we shouldn’t allow media to take over so drastically. We may believe we are controlling our use of social media, yet we still have the urge to scroll through our feed after missing recent posts. We think that spending an hour away from our devices will deprive us from knowing what everyone else has been up to. Children nowadays are entertained by screens instead of going outside to play and move around. Technology improves every day and should be both educational and beneficial, which is why people should learn to control their impulses. There should be a balance between our own lives and social media. Studying seems to have become more difficult for students because they can zone one out for a minute to go on Twitter until half an hour goes by and they never went over any notes. The future may be technologically focused, but as individuals we should learn how to put ourselves first and not influence our upcoming generations to believe media has to be our main concern.
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In the Article by Tristan Harris “your personal slot machine” he basically compares our smart phones to slot machines and compares how they’re both similarly addictive, and I strongly agree with him on his reasonings such as “If you want to maximize addictiveness, all tech designers need to do is link a user’s actions (like pulling a lever) with a variable reward. You pull a lever and immediately receive either an enticing reward or nothing. Addictiveness is maximized when the rate of reward is most variable.” Our phones are like little slot machines that give off the same suspense and reward that slot machines give us as stated in the article “When we pull our phone out of our pocket, we’re playing a slot machine to see what notifications we have received. When we swipe down our finger to scroll the instagram feed, we’re playing a slot machine to see what email we got. When we swipe faces on dating apps like Tinder, we’re playing a slot machine to see if we got a match.” The apps on our phones are designed to keep us addicted to them, and to always constantly be checking your phone with notifications and refreshing your feed to keep you on your phone.
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