The Attention Drug Wars of 2012
We live in the age of the attention trigger wars: the world’s major sharing services use powerful tactics to instantly snap our attention, keep us hooked, trigger us through emails and push notifications to keep coming back for more - drug users on demand.
Meanwhile, the information we actually consume is short-lived, unfulfilling and creates the desire for more substance. It’s high-fructose corn syrup, not granola, that leaves the brain hungry.
Presenters
Fred Muench, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in intervention development using mobile technologies for addictive disorders. He is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and is the Founder of Mobile Health Interventions, a non-profit designed to help community based organizations develop individualized mobile health programs for their populations. He is particularly interested in developing interventions that focus on empowering the self through self referential material to foster greater meaning and depth of processing to combat the powerful forces that drive unhealthy behavior. Fred has numerous scientific and popular publications in treating addictive disorders and using ambulatory psychophysiological monitoring and biofeedback to treat stress related disorders. He is also the author of the humor book, The Official Guide to Dysfunctional Parenting.
Until just recently, Tristan was CEO and Co-Founder of Apture, a curiosity amplifier for the web that was acquired by Google in November 2011.
Tristan has had a long-held interest in behavior change via persuasive design practices he learned while studying under BJ Fogg's Persuasive Lab at Stanford, and is excited to talk about how technology shapes our attention.