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The Tech Industry's War On Kids (curry.com)

Long-time Slashdot reader RoccamOccam summarizes an article now circulating on the web sites of several schools: Child and adolescent psychologist Richard Freed writes, "...parents have no idea that lurking behind their kids' screens and phones are a multitude of psychologists, neuroscientists, and social science experts who use their knowledge of psychological vulnerabilities to devise products that capture kids' attention for the sake of industry profit. What these parents and most of the world have yet to grasp is that psychology—a discipline that we associate with healing—is now being used as a weapon against children."

Stanford psychology researcher B.J. Fogg, has developed the "Fogg Behavior Model", which he claims is a well-tested method to change behavior and, in its simplified form, involves three primary factors: motivation, ability, and triggers. Describing how his formula is effective at getting people to use a social network, the psychologist says in an academic paper that a key motivator is users' desire for "social acceptance," although he says an even more powerful motivator is the desire "to avoid being socially rejected."

Ramsay Brown, the founder of Dopamine Labs, says in a KQED Science article, "We have now developed a rigorous technology of the human mind, and that is both exciting and terrifying. We have the ability to twiddle some knobs in a machine learning dashboard we build, and around the world hundreds of thousands of people are going to quietly change their behavior in ways that, unbeknownst to them, feel second-nature but are really by design."

5 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Only kids? by KiloByte · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Kids 1. will become adults, 2. already control their parents and grandparents, having them obey a significant part of the kid's requests.

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    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  2. Why single out kids? by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You think it has more impact? On Slashdot?

    By the way, calling something a "war on..." is usually in the same league as adding "-gate" to something: A weak attempt to make something sound interesting and scandalous that nobody would otherwise give 2 fucks about.

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    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Quack warns: Other quacks are after your money! by ffkom · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Corporations putting profit before moral isn't news - Big Tobacco still earns billions every year by turning children into addicts.

    But it is somewhat new that people of the same profession now warn the public about their colleagues being only after your money... as if we didn't know that already.

  4. marketing industry, not tech industry by cas2000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is not the "Tech Industry"'s war on kids, it's the Marketing Industry's, the propagandists, the people shapers. It's not even new, Vance Packard was warning about this in the 1950s, and he wasn't the only one. The marketers they've had over 60 years since then to refine their techniques.

    The tech - smartphones, internet, whatever - is just a new tool that they've adopted and twisted to their purposes. Unfortunately, it's a very effective tool for them - made even more effective by decades of habituating people to ubiquitous propaganda.

    Marketing is one of the greatest evils ever to be invented. A crime against humanity - and should be prosecuted and sentenced as such.

  5. Re: They do it to adults as well by war4peace · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is becoming retarded.
    The title says: The Tech Industry's War On Kids” - implying the tech industry sees kids as an enemy. This is not correct.
    They see kids as products, not as enemies. So the tech industry doesn't wage a war. Is this so hard to comprehend?

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    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)