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Is the Next Big Thing In Tech -- Disconnecting From It? (cnbc.com) 112

Posted by EditorDavid from the there's-an-app-for-that dept.
An anonymous reader quotes CNBC: It is inevitable that artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation will take over some jobs, internet entrepreneur Arianna Huffington told CNBC in a recent email exchange, but that will place a premium on uniquely human qualities in the future labor market -- creativity, compassion, empathy and complex problem-solving. That's where Huffington sees a pressing problem to solve. She says these human qualities are at risk today and the cause is -- no surprise -- too much technology. Her advice: Reevaluate your relationship with technology before it is too late. "These are the very qualities that are diminished when we're burned out from being always on," Huffington said of human abilities like creativity. "One of the next frontiers in the tech world is technology that helps us disconnect from technology and create time and space to connect not with screens but with other people and with ourselves...."

Huffington, who is an executive producer on the new '90s tech-sector docudrama "Valley of the Boom," said the consumer relationship with technology is one of the most important issues of the modern era, and it is time to reevaluate the seeds that were planted back in the '90s during that first internet boom.... "Even for those of us old enough to remember the first boom and to have lived through it, it's sometimes hard to remember that there was a time before we were all hyperconnected and glued to our screens. And seeing the decisions that were made that led to our current moment makes us realize we can also make decisions about how we use this technology."
To this end Huffington has launched a startup called Thrive Global "to go beyond raising awareness and create something real and tangible that would help individuals, companies and communities improve their well-being and performance and unlock their greatest potential." CNBC reports that Huffington "sees a bright future for a new kind of technology -- the kind that helps individuals disconnect from the damage done by the internet's first generation."

In a related story, Bloomberg reports that the Ashton Kutcher-backed meditation app 'Calm' now has a valuation of $1 billion.
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Is the Next Big Thing In Tech -- Disconnecting From It? More

Is the Next Big Thing In Tech -- Disconnecting From It?

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  • Compassion and empathy are easy to simulate (Score:5, Insightful)

    by lucasnate1 ( 4682951 ) on Saturday February 09, 2019 @07:35PM (#58096862) Homepage

    Just ask every kid who's addicted to games because they provide him with the positive feedback that the rest of society doesn't.

    • Re:Compassion and empathy are easy to simulate (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Saturday February 09, 2019 @07:41PM (#58096892) Journal
      Fake compassion, fake empathy, fake feedback.
      Just like so-called 'social media'.

      • If enough people get acquainted to it, fake becomes the new real.

      • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )
        Lets not beat about the bush, we are talking computer geeks and nerds (the majority will be white males too but in reality it makes no difference colour, nationality or sex), will get ZERO compassion ZERO empathy and well no zero but ABUSIVE, like it is a national corporate main stream media sport. The compassion, empathy and positive feedback we get from other computer geeks and nerds online.

        You have a social interaction problem with regards to EXTROVERTS only, introverts are happy and content but for s

      • Not fake at all. The brain chemicals created are quite real. It's astonishing to see such basic ignorance of biology modded to +5 on Slashdot - but maybe it isn't.
        • So by your logic being addicted to porn, for instance, and not being interested in actual sex with an actual person of the opposite gender is perfectly okay, because the 'brain chemicals created (by porn) are quite real'? Are you really going to take that position?

          Your kid ends up going through life with a 'social anxiety disorder' because he can't relate properly to people live-in-person and can only really be comfortable if it's 'interacting' through social media; the brain chemicals are 'real' accordi
          • You said the feelings were fake. They are not. The brain chemicals are real, the feelings are real. I didn't say it was OK. You made up a position and assigned me to it. Stop doing that.

    • The Simulated Empathy and Compassion just stops you from feeling bad.
      The Real Empathy and Compassion will help you feel good.

      Empathy and Compassion, the real ones, is earned or given and when received it feels good.
      The type from Computers, basically is simulated at to not insult the user, and prevent them from feeling bad.

      However I don't feel that Video Games gives Empathy and Compassion, but it gives them empowerment.

      • ... it gives them empowerment.

        I agree, and that sense of empowerment is very persuasive.

        The emphasis is on the word, "sense."

        The "sense of empowerment" gained from online is similar to the "sense of sex" from masturbation.

  • Apps to use fewer apps? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DogDude ( 805747 ) on Saturday February 09, 2019 @07:38PM (#58096882)
    This article is beyond stupid.

    Self-care and wellness applications for smartphone devices have been booming. Meditation apps, like Headspace and Calm, have grown into huge successes on app stores by helping consumers manage anxiety and stress.

    Instead of using an app, how about turning off your fucking phone? Jesus. We don't tell heroin addicts that they'll feel better with a little more heroin. People need to turn their phones off, or even better, get rid of them completely. Almost nobody NEEDS a smartphone for anything.

    • Re:Apps to use fewer apps? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by TeknoHog ( 164938 ) on Saturday February 09, 2019 @08:09PM (#58096982) Homepage Journal
      Well, the cool guys who used to laugh at us geeks were a couple of decades late to the IT party, so let's give them a few more years to realize the obvious.

    • Re:Apps to use fewer apps? (Score:5, Funny)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Saturday February 09, 2019 @08:59PM (#58097106)

      Instead of using an app, how about turning off your fucking phone? Jesus.

      I totally agree.

      Sent from my iPhone.

    • Says the guy who's been on /. since ~2000.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      This article is beyond stupid.

      Indeed, it is. It is also a marketing-ploy, pretty much along the lines of curing one addiction with another (and possibly worse) one.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DogDude ( 805747 )
        Ir's an awesome marketing ploy. There's tremendous gadget addiction (at least in the US right now), and some people are starting to realize it, so why not make an app that lets people pretend they're tacking their addiction, while in reality, they're getting even more addicted? That is fucking genius (and evil).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dcw3 ( 649211 )

        Good point, I was just going to comment that anyone taking Huffington and Kucher's advice should see professional help. But, I didn't think about the marketing, and I'm sure our /. friends will likely get a little something for the slashvertisement.

    • Well we sorta do...shoot-em-up parks, free needles,...

    • Nobody NEEDS a TV. Nobody NEEDS books. The real answer is to just worry about individual needs and stay out of other people's business.

      I'm a retired IT guy, 73 years old, and I grew up with all this shit.

      I just checked my wallet and every thing's there. Looking in the mirror, no one busted me in the nose.

      I'm good to go despite technological opportunities to get to know the rabbits by fucking name.

  • Late to the party, Huffington (Score:3)

    by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Saturday February 09, 2019 @07:42PM (#58096898) Journal
    I've thought for quite a while now that people are too reliant on technology -- and I'm far from alone in thinking that.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      +1

      I piffed the phone in the trash about 2 years ago. Not long after I realized the declining problem solving capabilities of those around me.

      Go figure.

      • But you did not piff the problem, right? Here you are. You're no longer using a phone to get here, but you are using a substitute.

        What did you switch to, a tablet? a desktop? a portable?

        Obviously, your approach satisfactorily addressed the "problem solving capabilities of those around" you, or you would not be here, right?

        Please explain how your change in behaviour affected those around you.

        Thanks.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      I used to think that, but I do not anymore. Even though the current tech and Internet infrastructure is not really good, western society is critically dependent on it, which means that any severe problem will be addressed with high intensity. Not the same as having good (secure, reliable) tech, but the next best thing. And when something has so much invested in it and has become so critical, then it is only rational to depend on it and people do.

      • The problem is that it isn't critical. I don't need to, for example, talk to my radio to get it to change the channel. I don't need to have a computer-voice telling me when to turn my car. These things are 0% critical, yet somehow people are volunteering to have Amazon record every word that gets whispered in their home, and throwing away all of their navigation and map-reading skills. If you're going to tell me these scenarios offer an even trade-off, you'll have to justify that.

        They sure like it when th

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          Well, some things are not critical, true. But imagine what non-available web or email does to a modern economy if it last more than a day or so.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ezdiy ( 2717051 )
          To cue an obligatory car analogy, cars are not really critical either. Just convenient. The fun part is how convenience transforms into "critical".

          Want to get out to hang out with acquaintances? It becomes more than merely inconvenient to not use facebook anymore - it becomes mandatory as imposed by networking effects of culture itself. Just as cars were a convenience at first, but later increasingly became a necessity.

          Civilization creates its own addictions and "necessities".

          • Good point. I love car analogies. Notice that the dependency on cars did not make us all insane, non-productive zombies.

            I'm old enough to recall the encouragement from car manufacturers to go Sunday driving. People got to visit places that were unreachable before there were cars.

            Then the parents bought their kid a car. Unbelievable. Nowadays, high school kids have their own freaking parking lot.

            Still no sign of mental illness despite addiction to the technology of cars.

            • There is actually quite a bit of mental illness due to cars. Lead poisoning directly causes it, and for a good 70 years, cars would spew lead residue onto anything and anyone nearby. Once we banned lead fuel additives, the prevalence of developmental disorders declined from its peak in the 80s. But persistent heavy traffic noise has been linked to dementia in the elderly, which I believe is still rising. And it's not like the non-lead pollution from cars is harmless either.

              Then we have the deaths caused di

    • I've also been arguing for years that someone needs to come up with a sensible system for managing alerts/notifications. We have all kinds of little notifications that pop up and grab our attention, and there really aren't sufficient ways to say, "Only interrupt what I'm doing with a notification if these sets of circumstances are met. If any of these other circumstances are met, then compile the notifications into a report that I can review when I want to. Everything else, ignore it and don't ever tell

    • How, precisely, does people who are, in your assessment, "too reliant on technology" affect your life? How do those extant dependencies intrude on your well being?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sad_ ( 7868 )

      there was some guy in a cabin in the woods who said the same thing, then he started to mail bombs...

  • A problem of cashing in. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Saturday February 09, 2019 @08:24PM (#58097026)

    The problem here is not the technology, the problem here is the companies that make the technology. In short, they have positioned themselves in such a way that the more you use their technology, the more they profit. It's this parasitic relationship that is the issue. As such, some people are beginning to discover that their lives are better without these parasites invading their lives and stealing their time. A desirable outcome would be application that maximize your capabilities without trying to exploit you endlessly for profit. Unfortunately, I don't see this happening in the mainstream until society hits rock bottom and realizes it has an addiction problem which isn't going to happen any time soon because most fools still have Facebook accounts despite being told how it's hurting them.

    The EU is fighting for their countries but the US is really doomed for until most of the current generations die off.

    • The EU is fighting for their countries but the US is really doomed for until most of the current generations die off.

      The difference between privacy concerns re: EU and US is that the home base is in the US.

      ALL countries should, in my opinion, establish law that knocks down the insanity of monetizing the internet at the expense of personal privacy.

      It will not happen. The whole planet is in the grip of the Capitalist Party.

    • As such, some people are beginning to discover that their lives are better without these parasites invading their lives and stealing their time.

      The parasite pendulum is not new.

      11-year-old boy to friend: What happened to your uncle Jack? He's awfully weird.

      Friend: Mom won't say, but I once heard Dad whispering something about "too many apps".

      And so the deep generational learning continues.

      ———

      I listened to a disappointing podcast this week about the Kibbutz Movement.

      It mostly dealt with the

  • I've been skipping most all social media, blocking most all ads, and relying on my RSS feed for a long time now. Managing tech, information, and the broader internet is where it's at. Fixing the signal to noise ratio issues, blocking the shit, and trying to let a sliver of truth get through all your defenses.

    It's not easy, but if you work at it you can get closer to something worthwhile than most.

    I'm generally pretty happy with my RSS feed. It's got some decent variety, and it filters out most of the blatan

    • I don't use RSS, but I do most of the other things you do.

      I did delete Facebook recently. I don't miss it. Social cooling, whereby participants are self-restrained from posting anything more controversial than shared cat videos made the platform boring while still being dangerous.

      I know where to go to get real news, for instance. The Facebook bubble is useless as tits on a boar.

  • "The view that we should not worry about any of these things and follow technology to wherever it will go is insane," said @daronacemogIu [twitter.com], an economist at MIT. https://t.co/NvHdDpaPLv [t.co]

    — Decivilized (@decivilized) February 9, 2019 [twitter.com]

    "[Previously], I didn’t think this was a very complicated subject; The #Luddites [twitter.com] were wrong and the believers in technology & technological progress were right,” Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury secretary and presidential economic adviser

  • "that will place a premium on uniquely human qualities in the future labor market"... in other words, we will all have jobs bullshitting eachother. I guess someone figured this was less damaging to society than (for example) UBI or free housing. I sure hope it's true, but we've been slowly transitioning to the "bullshit model" of employment since the industrial revolution, and it's been a bit of a rollercoaster.

  • ... it was called television. TV existed long before computers. The naive idea people were "more connected" back in the day is quite the bit of bullshit. People have always had a love hate relationship with other people, including their own family.

    If we want better relationships that would require whether most human beings are actually capable of genuine relationships. If human history is anything to go by the answer is not really, racism, war, poverty, environmental destruction, stupid politics. Human

  • Because any technology, no matter how primitive, can be misused, regressing to some earlier level of it will not magically cure problems in human culture. I could use a shillelagh to gratuitously go around bullying people - or I could use it to hunt food for my family.

    But I'm glad that Ariana Huffington is pushing this. If we could get her to relaunch her failing site in cuneiform pressed into clay tablets, there will be fewer bad ideas being spread.

  • So yet another wave of companies trying to sell 'authenticity' as having no definable characteristics but somehow better and worth paying them instead of those 'fakes' over there?

  • At "Ariana Huffington".
    Bitter ex wives who change political affiliation because of messy divorces, then find their new belief is profitable are not reliable sources.

  • For some time, I've assumed there would come some sort of movement, I jokingly call it the "new Amish". It probably won't be religious based, but will involve a rejection of technology from a certain point onward. My assumption would be from the beginning of mass always on two way communication networks, circa 2000 or so when wireless networking began becoming prevalent.

    You'd have computers, TV, radio, even digital photography: but no social media, tracking of network use, location tracking, etc. Increased

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