Time Well Spent: What’s Worth Our Attention?
summary
Claims that a handful of designers at big tech steering a billion minds creates an arms race for attention, driven by ad models; autoplay raises watch time by about 5% and Snapchat’s streaks (100 million users, examples of 150‑day streaks) gamify messaging. Cites Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab as the origin of tactics and proposes changing incentives — Apple/Google issuing a “time well‑spent” currency or new business models to reward useful, not captive, attention.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (8)
- 0:00The problem of attention
- 1:37The attention arms race
- 3:47Engineering human behavior
- 6:10Misaligned incentives
- 8:46Technology is not neutral
- 10:45Designing for well-being
- 14:23Changing the business model
- 17:01Future solutions and Q&A
related talks
21mWhat place do ethics and values have in technology?
20mThe future is low-tech: lessons from the early 2000s
31mWith Great Power Comes Great Responsibility...
39mWhite-Hat Attention Jacking for Accessibility, Fun & Profit
05mWhat We Design, Designs Us
36mDesigning Calm Technology
25mKeynote: Calm Technology: Design for the Next 50 Billion Things
21mThe Art of Addictive Software: The Digital Narcotic