A group of tech experts who used to work at companies like Facebook, Google, and Apple have founded an organization to to raise awareness about what they believe are the negative effects of social media and technology on society.
A group of ex-Facebook, employees have announced the formation of The Center for Humane Technology, a coalition designed to fight the growing threat of tech addiction among kids, teens and adolescents.
“Tech companies are conducting a massive, real-time experiment on our kids, and, at present, no one is really holding them accountable,” said Common Sense’s CEO, James Steyer, warning that tech companies’ attention-grabbing business models may hurt “the social, emotional and cognitive development of kids”.
“When parents learn how these companies can take advantage of our kids, they will join us in demanding the industry change its ways and improve certain practices.”
In November, Facebook’s founding president, Sean Parker, said the social network knew from the outset it was creating something that exploited a “vulnerability in human psychology”. “God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains,” he said.
In January, the Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff, said that Facebook should be regulated like the cigarette industry.
The Truth About Tech campaign, which will be modeled after successful anti-smoking crusades, will focus on 55,000 public schools to teach students, parents and teachers about the troubling side effects of too much tech use, such as depression, which are becoming more and more common in American children.
“Truth About Tech” is the brainchild of the Center for Humane Technology, a group of former Facebook and Google employees dedicated to “reversing the digital attention crisis and realigning technology with humanity’s best interests” and is funded by Common Sense, a not-for-profit that promotes safe technology and media for children.
>Juthy Saha
