Bit Addicts
According to McKinsey’s 2021 Global survey, “the share of digitally enabled products portfolios has accelerated by a shocking seven years” across the healthcare, education, retail, and financial services sectors. As a consumer in 2020, it was critical to use Google, Facebook, and Amazon services just for my basic needs during lockdown.
Tech companies optimize services to maximize the consumer-value exchange through masterful UX designs and data-centric models in a free market. As companies leverage more granular consumer data, Engineers & UX Designers optimize their features and models to increase the consumer’s time in their apps. Whether it is through badge gamification or loyalty rewards, technology companies’ usage of data allows for them to also design the consumer’s daily routines.
Human-centric design power by data is not new. It is a principle that exists in all physical or digital designing best practices. However, consumers are oblivious to the effects. Both people and companies need to understand this human weakness and it’s cure. The lack of digital-wellness education allows companies to spread addictive features. Susceptibility to these features can be mitigated with early education and prevention.
No company is initially founded to harm consumers. However, leaders in the tech, education and government sector should acknowledge their contribution to technology addiction. All parties need to formally educate consumers on digital wellness and limit addictive features for consumers who are most susceptible to overindulgence through a 3P guidelines.
There is a precedent of private-public sector collaboration through the gradual launch of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2016, which reshaped the use of consumer information in digital advertising. Similar partnerships can address the lack of digital wellness education gap and treat technology addiction. Consumers need more than passive attempts such as Netflix’s docuseries, “The Social Dilemma” to address tech addiction.
