Collective Insights

Collective Insights


Tristan Harris - How Social Media and AI Hijack Your Brain

July 05, 2018

Tristan Harris, founder of the Center for Humane Technology, has set in motion the Time Well Spent movement; a cultural awakening to the underhanded manipulation of our collective awareness through social media platforms and interactive tech. He is leading the conversation in consideration of ethics in the design of technology, especially the tech that pervades our every waking hour. Having previously worked behind the scenes of this attention maximizing industry, Tristan brings to light the maladaptive inner workings of the attention economy, and shows the public how our minds have been hijacked for financial gain, with no responsibilities toward the actual wellbeing of the users.


The human brain is no match for the flashing, pinging, and beckoning applications which compete with one another for our attention, and gobble up an astounding percentage of the conscious energy of the world. His work is unique and controversial, in that it challenges the ethics of several of most powerful entities in the world. It's time to get real about the use of AI, and the many clever psychological tricks that these platforms use to hook our minds into the screen and placate our impulses to keep us there. Tristan is helping so many people across the world to wake up to our vulnerability to these digital forces, and to the threat that this poses to our sense-making and choice making.


To view complete show notes from episode: https://neurohacker.com/how-social-media-and-ai-hijack-your-brain