You may find it hard to close Facebook and get on with your day, and you may flick open Twitter as soon as you wake up, or browse your feeds for an hour every night before you fall asleep. But are you addicted to social media? Are your app usage habits detrimental to your greater sense of wellbeing? Are the technologies we’ve been praising for a decade really bad for you? The science of app addiction has so far been inconclusive, but that hasn’t stopped a chorus of prominent voices in tech from urging Silicon Valley to reverse its trend of making extra-sticky apps that soak up our attention. We welcome WIRED’s senior science writer Robbie Gonzalez to the show to discuss this call for reversal, where the science of technology addiction stands, and ways we can cope when we’re feeling overwhelmed by our feeds.
Some notes: Read Robbie’s story about the science of app addiction[1] and his interview[2] with Catherine Price. Read Simone Stolzhoff’s piece[3] reconnecting with the students in BJ Fogg’s “Facebook Class” of ten years ago. Fogg’s paper on captive technology[4] from 1998. The Captology blog[5]. Recommendations this week: Forest[6], Space[7], and Essential’s Earphones HD[8] USB-C headphones. Send the hosts feedback on their personal Twitter feeds. Arielle Pardes is @pardesoteric[9], Robbie Gonzalez is @rtg0nzalez[10], and Michael Calore is @snackfight[11]. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab[12]. Our theme song is by Solar Keys[13].
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