Humanity in the Information Age

New domains and disciplines continue to emerge with the further realization of the information age. As the field of Human-Computer Interaction gains affiliation with Persuasion Psychology and an Attention Economy, many ethical questions persist. In Quartz's article about Facebook News Feed updates and other signs that "Designers are using Dark UX to turn us into sleep deprived internet addicts"  (Anne Quito, August 23, 2017) sums up very good points about the ethics or lack there of in programming fields. In the article I was introduced to " Captology " - a term that BJ Fogg derived (1996) from an acronym, CAPT which stands for Computers As Persuasive Technologies. Here are other links to recent finds: https://pressroom.usc.edu/antoine-bechara/ https://decipheringdesign101.wordpress.com/ Emily Ryan: http://www.uxiseverywhere.com/resources.html https://vimeo.com/channels/457227/19508196 Dr. Kimberly Young: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOSYmLER66...

CHAPTER 1: CAPITALISM:  CONSUMPTION How to Live More Wisely Around Our Phones "We are addicted to our phones not because we rely on them, but to the extent that we recruit them to a harmful project of self-avoidance. They do not mean to hurt us. But we may – and probably do – use them to injure ourselves. Addiction sounds horrible. But it is a hard name for a normal inclination: a habit of running away from the joys and terrors of self-knowledge." "Our minds are by nature like mad monkeys, restlessly flitting from one fleeting diversion to another, while all the things we really care about get neglected. But tragically our society and culture does not build us cloisters: it places in our hands ever-open conduits to everything that could possibly divert our minds: real estate, porn, the news, social chit-chat, strident opinion, games, special offers, puzzles, the twelve best hotels somewhere, the weirdest doings of the weirdest strangers and th...