PC magazine how to tell youre a tech addict tech companies and their responsibility how to keep your kids tech use in check april 2018

TECH COMPANIES AND THEIR RESPONSIBILITY DIGITAL EDITION MAY 2018 HOW TO KEEP YOUR KIDS’ TECH USE IN CHECK CONTENTS MAY 2018 COVER STORY HOW TO TELL IF YOU’RE A TECH ADDICT (AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT) A guide to defeating the endless scroll FEATURES THE TECH INDUSTRY RECKONS WITH ITS RESPONSIBILITY The ethics of how their products affect consumers and society REVIEWS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS Fitbit Versa Apple iPad (2018) Sony a7 III HARDWARE Lenovo IdeaPad 720s Sony a7 III Raspberry Pi Model B+ SOFTWARE & APPS Adobe Illustrator CC Malwarebytes Free Raspberry Pi Model B+ Adobe Illustrator CC WHAT’S NEW NOW FAST FORWARD Why Intel’s Diane Bryant Isn’t Afraid of AI WHAT IS MAX-Q? An explainer HOW VIRTUAL AVATARS HELP STROKE PATIENTS IMPROVE MOTOR FUNCTION IT WATCH Want to Speed Up Your Users’ Internet? Look at Your DNS Server TOP GEAR What We Love Most This Month COMMENTARY DAN COSTA First Word READER INPUT TIM BAJARIN Alexa, Teach Me How to Talk to You DOUG NEWCOMB I’m asking what would happen to you—and your business—if the whole thing was taken offline Tesla’s Tussle With Feds Over Model X Accident Is a Fool’s Errand JOHN C DVORAK BEN DICKSON Reasons Not to Fear Deep Learning (Yet) Last Word TIPS & HOW TOS TIPS FOR KEEPING KIDS’ TECH USE IN CHECK They can help grownups, too HERE’S HOW THE EXTREMETECH STAFF STAYS BACKED UP And they really know what they’re doing PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION I SUBSCRIBE I MAY 2018 FIRST WORD DAN COSTA hen Rob Marvin pitched me a feature story on tech addiction, I was skeptical There’s been so much coverage of this topic already, and so much of it has been terrible The headlines, the personal anecdotes, the fearmongering about new, poorly understood technologies; it’s all just a little too perfect for sensation-seeking news media Was there anything original that we could add to this story? W Tech Addiction Nation Rob assured me there was His report in this month’s PC Magazine Digital Edition proves he was right Our human inability to master the technologies we have created is not new Back in 1990, the New York Times reported: The proposition that television can be addictive is proving to be more than a glib PHWDSKRU7KHPRVWLQWHQVLYHVFLHQWL¿F VWXGLHVRISHRSOH¶VYLHZLQJKDELWVDUH¿QGLQJ that for the most frequent viewers, watching television has many of the marks of a dependency like alcoholism or other addictions Although “Internet Addiction” was left out of the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), “Internet Gaming Disorder” was listed as a condition for further study The symptoms of gaming addiction are well known to anyone who’s had a child in the last 20 @dancosta years, and really, everyone who’s picked up a game controller Even so, the American Psychiatric Association’s summary of the disorder is revealing: The “gamers” play compulsively, to the exclusion of other interests, and their persistent and recurrent online activity UHVXOWVLQFOLQLFDOO\VLJQL¿FDQWLPSDLUPHQWRU distress People with this condition endanger their academic or job functioning because of the amount of time they spend playing They experience symptoms of withdrawal when kept from gaming That was written in 2013 Since then, technology KDVJDPL¿HGRXWHQWLUHOLYHV*DPHGHVLJQHUVXVHG to create addictive experiences to be enjoyed with special hardware at home after work Now we carry the hardware with us every day and never disconnect from a vast network of addictive digital feedbacks loops News, texts, alerts, apps, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook wait, is that a new email? There is no quarter :KDWXVHGWREHDSUREOHPIRUPLV¿WJDPHUVKDV infected the whole culture Apps, websites, and pretty much all digital interfaces are constantly being optimized to make the user feel good and increase usage The online economy depends on selling your attention (Well, and your data, but one problem at a time.) None of this is accidental Trained professionals designers, UX experts, psychologists, data scientists constantly researching and optimizing for greater usage They DUHE\GH¿QLWLRQSXVKHUV%XWDWOHDVWWKH\¶UH human Perhaps the more pernicious technology threat is that the addiction process can be automated It’s easy to wrap your head around the concept of A/B testing, EXWPRGHUQWHFKQRORJ\OHWVWKHVHV\VWHPVGR$’3URJUDPPHUVFDQWHVWDQ LQ¿QLWHYDULHW\RIRSWLRQVWR¿QGWKHRQHWKDWLVPRVWHIIHFWLYHDQGDGGLFWLYH,Q JDPHGHVLJQWKLVNLQGRI$’WHVWLQJLVFDOOHGcolor coding As NYU marketing professor and author Adam Alter explains in our story: Color coding is where you’re trying to work out which of two versions of a mission works best,” said Alter “You tag the code associated with one version of the mission red and the code associated with a different version yellow Let’s say you’re wondering whether a quest is more engaging if \RX¶UHWU\LQJWRVDYHVRPHRQHYHUVXVWU\LQJWR¿QGDQDUWLIDFW6R\RXUXQ DQ$%WHVWUHOHDVLQJYHUVLRQ$WR¿YHPLOOLRQSHRSOHDQGYHUVLRQ%WR¿YH million people You measure different metrics, like how many people return to the mission more than once and how long they spend If you discover version A works better, you go with the red code and put aside the yellow And you keep doing that until you have the tenth, twentieth, or thirtieth generation of a game The entire world is being color-coded Is technology addiction real? Are you an addict? Is it a treatable condition? Who LVSUR¿WLQJIURPWKLV":KDWH[DFWO\FDQ\RXGRDERXWLW" Step is reading our story dan_costa@pcmag.com PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION I SUBSCRIBE I MAY 2018 READER INPUT YOUR COMMENTS Great article! Been feeling the same way about the data from my Fitbit Ionic I bought last year, especially the sleep data The data is neat, but how does it really help me? —ChrisAN82 Fitness Trackers Changed My Life :HDUDEOHVDQDO\VW Victoria Song’s SHUVRQDO¿WQHVV tracker story resonated with (most) readers Ms Song: loved your article! Mainly, I admire your courage as you use yourself as the example RIVRPHRQH¿QGLQJVRPHWKLQJXVHIXOLQ¿WQHVV trackers At the beginning, I wondered what thing all those trackers would reveal that you didn’t know Then you described polycystic ovary syndrome, and the light bulb went on Of course! Metrics from the tracker revealed that anomalous weight gain instead of loss couldn’t be the result of anything you did intentionally—it had to be something else —Ted Thomas These trackers are BS I use a heart rate monitor with a strap for my running, biking, and rowing That’s all you need to know where your zone is —OrangeDeek I enjoyed this article, hopefully not only because of the empathy I felt with another human trying to make the best of it in this life I’ve never used one of these devices, as my willpower seems to VXI¿FHIRUQRZ:KRFDQVD\ZKDWLWZLOOEHOLNHD year from now? I may have need in the future for something of this sort If you can get to a point in your life where your normal URXWLQHNHHSV\RXVXI¿FLHQWO\KHDOWK\DQG¿WDQGNHHSLWXS\RXVKRXOGUHDSWKH EHQH¿WV+RZHYHUPHDQV\RXPDQDJHWKLVLVXSWRHDFKRIXVRIFRXUVHEXWVLQFHOLIH has a nasty habit of throwing curve balls, motivation and adaptability are key It’s amazing how easy it is to distill this life philosophy down to several sentences; trying to live it is the real challenge Strength to you —Dave Brumley Thanks for the insights You’re not alone, as I know a few people wearing at least two different devices, me included Sorry you had to go through that movie scare, bad HQRXJKWKHGRXJK\RXKDYHWRGURSDQGQRZFUD]\RQWRSRILW,OLNHWRWKLQN¿WQHVV trackers help, because I can clearly see weeks that are great and not so great If I FDWFKLWHDUO\HQRXJK,FDQXVXDOO\WXUQWKLQJVDURXQGE\PDNLQJVXUH,JHWDKDOI hour walk or hop on the bike Looking forward to future tech of wearables —TrailMixFan The last FitBit I bought would record anywhere from 400 to 1000 steps on my drive to work Kind of skewed the amount calories I was burning per day —The Founder Ask us a question! ? Have a question about a story in PC Magazine, one of the products we cover, or how to better use a tech product you own? Email us at letters@pcmag.com and we’ll respond to your question here Questions may be edited slightly for content and clarity PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION I SUBSCRIBE I MAY 2018 “This relapse you had, was there any emotional trigger? Any psychological WULJJHU"´'U*UHHQ¿HOGDVNV³:KHQ\RX¿UHGXS