I strongly agree with the author about the importance of an individual autonomy over attention. I also agree with the author that these tools create an opportunity to empower individual autonomy to a degree never seen before. And I get out of bed everyday to make sure that these tools are used that way.
My tools:
You help people get addicted to apps and then with the other hand you help them cope with their addiction so it doesn't get to a breaking point where they actually quit the app. And this is what you are so proud of that gets you out of bed every morning?
Interesting people out there...
I don't understand what the other thing, Space, does. Does it just interrupt social media apps periodically? It seems more like an attempt at viral marketing for Dopamine than something that's intended for real people to use, but I can't tell what it does and I'm not on iOS.
When I tap it it loads the browser on a page saying "breath with me" for a second or two, and then loads the twitter app.
I can imagine 1) needing the breath and that working out, 2) ditching the process of loading twitter if i'm asked to breath
both would be good outcomes
There's a third benefit too. Putting a lag between the action and the reward rewires the brains wanting system. That itch at the back of your brain or the impulse to reach for your phone at the briefest hint of boredom doesn't have to be there. Using space will kill that wanting impulse.
You may find my other comment on this post interesting or boringly obvious. I'm fascinated by what you're doing here but right now I'm not sure whether I love you or hate you.
It should be easy for a person to add and remove habits from their life. The Dopamine API makes app more effective at creating habits so that users can add them. Space makes it easy for users to out down habits that they wish they didn't have.
Brainstorming: Suppose you must enter a random 3 digit code for an early "unlock" of no-distraction mode. The only way to get the code is to watch a blank screen for 2-3 minutes, where each digit is briefly visible at an unpredictable time spread out through the duration.
The task would be relatively easy, yet also force the user to have a bit of "uncomfortable alone with their thoughts" time while waiting for the next digit to appear.
> Brainstorming: Suppose you must enter a random 3 digit code for an early "unlock" of no-distraction mode. The only way to get the code is to watch a blank screen for 2-3 minutes, where each digit is briefly visible at an unpredictable time spread out through the duration.
Hold on a second here. You want people to stare at a blank screen as a form of introspection. Additionally you want them to pay attention to that blank screen to see if a number briefly appears then remember that number while staring and being introspective. Good lord you think that task is relatively easy?
Also what is this "uncomfortable alone with their thoughts time"? Do people shower with their devices, are people literally never without these things? More importantly are you uncomfortable in your own head? I'm seriously confused by this to the point of being indignant and I'm only 25.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.googlecode...
>MindBell rings periodically during the day as a mindfulness bell, to give you the opportunity to hold on for a moment and consider what you are currently doing, and in what state of mind you are while you are doing it.
It is actually quite effective for me in halting briefly my careening thoughts. May seem silly to some.
This is about a user who already enabled a "distraction free" time on their phone, and how you might design a bypassing process which (A) deters a user who was really just looking for a quick dopamine hit and (B) tries to let them through in a way which is less-likely to lead to immediate backsliding.
I only mentioned meditation because it would be nice if a hypothetical psychic mind-reading phone could tell that you were about to use it mindfully.
> You want people to stare at a blank screen as a form of introspection.
No, the real point is that it is boring and imposes a delay before gratification. Any kind of boredom-driven introspection is a side-benefit.
> Good lord you think that task is relatively easy?
Remembering three digits while having no other demands on your decision-making nor on your memory? Yes, you ought to succeed at that.
> Also what is this "uncomfortable alone with their thoughts time"?
"Hey, I've been staring at this goddamn thing for what feels like ten minutes already... did I really need to bypass this lockout just to check if I got another e-mail or tweetstagram?"
Our goal with Space is to actually rewire your wanting system. If you use space, the impulse to open the app should decrease.
For us, real freedom is to kill the wanting.
"Read and change data on all the websites you visit."
Right now, our focus/attention is at the mercy of only a few big companies. Because of the silos/"network effect", we can't switch to other providers, and there is basically no competition, and no way out for consumers.
If there was choice, we could switch to service providers that are more decent regarding our attention.
Another angle on the problem could be ads. If we would not allow ads, but just paid a fixed amount of money for a service, then the whole attention-grabbing problem would not exist.
Subscriptions don't do it either, by themselves. Many companies will try to get more revenue out of your existing customers.
And even charities are attention-seeking (if you get on their mailing list).
Furthermore, it's hard to say what kinds of attention-seeking are actually wrong. On the one hand there's spam, and on the other it gets very blurry.