This winter, I participated in the filming of the show Banc public on Télé-Québec and it was recently released online. The episode focused on the dictatorship of notifications. I loved my experience on set and I felt that the team had studied their subject in depth (the co-director had even participated in our SPK Meeting on persuasive technology!). Despite everything, a small part of me was a little afraid that the result would demonize technologies. This is unfortunately still too common in the media. In fact, Nellie Brière launched the Facebook page “ Technophobia ” in response to the ambient climate of fear! When I saw this post on Facebook just before the first broadcast on TV, my anxiety was increased tenfold.
No hard feelings to the community manager
Who probably didn’t get a chance to watch the show: I’m just explaining that my burnout wasn’t directly attributable to technology, but that my use of it a few years ago certainly didn’t help my overall well-being. At that time, I wasn’t aware of the mechanics of Facebook and other applications to make me spend as much time as possible on their platform.
Persuasive technology, you say?
Tristan Harris , a former product philosopher at Google and founder of the Time Well Spent movement and the Center for Humane Technology, gives several examples of persuasive technology mechanics on his blog.
He compares smartphones to slot machines , because list of lithuania cell phone numbers every time you look at your screen, it’s like you’re gambling to see what you’re going to get. Likes, fun emojis in text messages, or more followers are all powerful, random rewards that encourage us to use our phones more often. Many Silicon Valley designers and psychologists have been there, like Mr. Harris.
Know your psychological vulnerabilities
Coming back to the show, I really 10 summer reading ideas liked the diversity of the topics covered, the time spent meeting with fascinating speakers to better understand the problem and the concern to leave listeners with concrete tips to better manage their notifications. The only part that made me smile and that requires more details (you can’t say everything in a few minutes of editing!), is when Guylaine Tremblay, the host, asked me how I went about getting better.
Guylaine: “What did you do to become decent again?”
Me: “Well, I said to myself, “I’m going into the woods!”
Then, we change the subject. Obviously, I didn’t just isolate myself in the woods to “detox” from technology (besides, I’m not sure it’s a good idea, when you’re feeling down, to do that!). Don’t worry, my parents were with me. My body and my head no longer wanted to expose themselves to any screen and the rhythm imposed by notifications: it wasn’t hard to switch off.
I wasn’t cyber-addicted, but my use was a reflection of my psychological vulnerabilities . Had I been born a few decades earlier, the impact of those vulnerabilities would likely have manifested differently, without the ubiquity of social media. This is where it’s important to be nuanced before demonizing technology, in my opinion. Even if humans seek balance, they will always need crutches, whatever they may be.
Tackling the problem head on
What helped me the most was tackling my problem head on with cognitive behavioral therapy . When I talked about psychological vulnerabilities above, in my case (like many women in the communications field, by the way) it was having too high expectations of myself, causing me to experience constant performance anxiety. The pace of social media and the infinite accessibility of information only served to stimulate this destructive pattern. So I dug deeper with my shrink to better understand the causes of my discomfort, learned to think differently and to impose more humane limits on myself.
When will there be widespread digital education?
As I talk about in the show, what worries me is that many young people who did not experience the world before the omnipresence of social media and other applications have no idea of the impact of notifications in their lives. As we saw in the segment filmed in Catherine Mathys’ class, for many, the concept is vague. During the interviews, some even admit that they did not know they could deactivate them.
If those who are supposedly part of the “digital native” generation are not aware of the control they have over their technological devices, what about the rest of the population? It worries me.
Ethical design and human reconnection
Tristan Harris describes ethical design as technologies that would give us back our freedom of choice . For example, if our phones were truly designed for our well-being, they would not display in the morning what we missed (notifications). They would not make us enter this “matrix created from scratch”. In an interview , he states that “the problem is that it changes us inside, we become less and less patient with reality, especially when it is boring or uncomfortable. And because reality does not always correspond to our desires, we come back to our screens, it is a vicious cycle.”
What if we took advantage of the summer to reconnect at a more human pace.
One that is not dictated by technological imperatives? What if we decided to face the void, to get a little bored, to daydream, to forget to drag our phone around more often, to dedicate all of our attention to the people around us, to what we feel, to our simple breathing? And business to consumer reviews since we cannot completely ignore technology (used well, it is an excellent ally!), let’s take back control of our attention and configure our uses!
To better understand the impact of notifications in our lives and discover tips to make them a positive daily experience, watch the show online. I look forward to hearing your comments and discovering your tips!
Update : For those who prefer the audio version, I also gave an interview to radio Énergie on the subject. It is possible to listen to it online at the beginning of the segment (starting at 1 min 30).