Technology & Well-being
Resources: Technology & Well-Being
Click each category to expand.
Attention
- The Shallows** by Nicholas Carr*** (A technology critic and member of our Scientific Advisory Board provides an early warning about how digital technology fragments our attention.)
- Remedies for the Distracted Mind* (A neuroscientist and psychologist prescribe research-backed remedies for our digital distraction.)
- Podcast: What is Technology Doing to Us? (Interview w/ Tristan Harris)* (A warning about the persuasive design tactics that permeate the digital environment and a plea for more humane methods.)
- Video: It’s not you. Phones are designed to be addicting.
- Out of sight is not out of mind: The impact of restricting wireless mobile device use on anxiety levels among low, moderate and high users
- Brain drain: the mere presence of one’s own phone reduces available cognitive capacity
- "Silence Your Phones": Smartphone Notifications Increase Inattention and Hyperactivity Symptoms
- Why It’s OK to Block Ads
- Productivity in Peril: Higher and Higher Rates of Technology Multitasking
- Smartphone use undermines enjoyment of face-to-face social interactions
- Smartphones distract parents from cultivating feelings of connection when spending time with their children
- The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu
- The Distracted Mind** by Adam Gazzaley & Larry Rosen**
- Center for Humane Technology/Time Well Spent Reading List
Well-being/Anxiety/Depression/Loneliness/Addiction
- Social Media Use & Mental Health: A Review (Haidt & Twenge Google Doc)* (After discovering counter-evidence to their fears about teens & social media, researchers Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge put together this Google Doc to collate the varied findings on social media & mental health.)
- Worry Over Social Media May Be Misplaced* (An article on Jeff Hancock’s soon-to-be-published meta-analysis of social media & well-being research, which found a null result.)
- Digitally connected, socially disconnected: The effects of relying on technology rather than other people* (A study on the core tradeoff that characterizes digital tools: increased efficiency at the cost of social connection.)
- Beyond Cherry-Picking* (Because of their large sample sizes, social media studies open themselves up to multiple analyses and post-hoc claims to statistical significance. This article explains how to mitigate that problem.)
- Have smartphones really destroyed a generation? We don’t know.* (A journalistic summary of the many problems with social media research, including the poverty of screen-time as a metric.)
- Podcast: A GPS in the Garden of Forking Paths (Interview w/ Amy Orben)* (An extremely useful podcast on the importance of open science methods in social media research.)
- Relationship Between Peer Victimization, Cyberbullying, and Suicide in Children and Adolescents
- Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of FOMO
- Social Media’s Enduring Effect on Adolescent Life Satisfaction
- Irresistible** by Adam Alter**
- Is technology addiction a myth?
- The Association Between Adolescent Well-being and Digital Technology Use
- Smartphones reduce smiles between strangers
- Screens, Teens, and Psychological Well-being
- The Future of Happiness
- Stop blaming teens’ mental health issues on “screen time”
- Is our use of digital technologies affecting our brain health?
Sleep
Polarization
Design
- Hooked by Nir Eyal* (A bible of persuasive and addictive design techniques, all of which are implemented the apps many of us use daily.)
- Video: How Dark Patterns Trick You Online* (Dark patterns are one of the more insidious persuasive design techniques. This video explains what they are and walks through one of the worst ones.)
- Gamification: Toward a Definition
- Nudge by Cass Sunstein & Richard Thaler
- Is Anything Worth Maximizing?
- Designers, are you making people strong or weak?
- Do Artifacts Have Politics?
- Humane Tech Design Guide
- Humane Tech App Ratings
- Humane Tech Ledger of Harms
- Humane by Design
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