This Man Wants to Break Our Smartphone Addiction

Tristan Harris is the closest thing Silicon Valley has to a conscience. As the co‑founder of Time Well Spent, an advocacy group, he is trying to bring moral integrity to software design: essentially, to persuade the tech world to help us disengage more easily from its devices.

While some blame our collective tech addiction on personal failings, like weak willpower, Harris points a finger at the software itself. That itch to glance at our phone is a natural reaction to apps and websites engineered to get us scrolling as frequently as possible. The attention economy, which showers profits on companies that seize our focus, has kicked off what Harris calls a “race to the bottom of the brain stem.”

From “The Binge Breaker” by Bianca Bosker for The Atlantic, 2016; Portrait of Harris by Olaf Blecker (@olaf_blecker)

#iphone #smartphone #technology #siliconvalley #addiction #disengage #paloalto #california #tech #apple #timewellspent #story #stories #thestorybar