Even Silicon Valley pioneers say it’s time to get screentime under control
Some of Silicon Valley’s pioneers are now leading the push to get screentime under control, write Adam Satariano and Selina Wang
At Google, some employees use a tool that restricts time spent on email. A senior Apple executive says his wife uses a device that sets iPhone and iPad limits for their children. Members of a venture capital firm meditate before phone-free quarterly meetings. Slava Rubin, co- founder of crowdfunding site Indiegogo, has a strict no-screen policy for gatherings and adopted a similar rule for his bedroom.
“Literally, the only electricity we use is one lamp,” he says.
Faced with a deluge of text messages, social-media updates, emails and other distracting alerts, tech executives, entrepreneurs and rank- and- file workers in Silicon Valley are trying to limit their use of the gadgets and digital services they helped create.
The efforts show how the industry is grappling with its own concerns about the attention-sapping effects of the smartphone age. A survey released this week by Microsoft, the largest workplace software maker, acknowledged that new digital technology can make businesses less productive (see ‘cat videos’, next page).
“It definitely took a long time and much misery before I figured out where to draw the line,” says Joe Hewitt, who led Facebook's early efforts to put the social network on mobile phones.
Hewitt says he used to fall into internet rabbit holes, debating people online and scrolling through Twitter. Now he mutes all but the few friends on Facebook who share his interest in gardening, and rarely posts anything other than the occasional Instagram picture of a home-grown fig or artichoke.
Some Google employees use software called In Box When Ready. The program allows people to schedule “lockouts” so they can't access messages during certain periods. It also hides notifications of new emails except for specific periods, removing the temptation to dive into a growing backlog.
The tool also provides feedback about how much time a person is spending writing and reading messages, versus targets they set. “I'm using Inbox When Ready to protect my focus,” the emails say below user sign-offs.
At Facebook, woodworking and artmaking areas at the headquarters campus give employees the chance to step away from screens.
In San Francisco, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, now running the business software company Asana, encourages younger employees to turn off notifications on their phones.
Rudin of Indiegogo only checks email during designated times, limiting his messages to quick exchanges. Anything that takes longer, he does in person or over the phone.
Alexander Ljung, the co-founder of SoundCloud, says he turns off all notifications on his phone outside of a messaging app that few people can reach.
Thomas Meyerhoffer, a former Apple industrial designer, also blocks alerts on his phone and moved all apps off his iPhone X home screen. Among f ri ends and colleagues, says Meyerhoffer, conversations about the consequences of modern technology are common these days. Google searches for “smartphone addiction” hit an alltime high in January. “There is an increasing awareness,” says Meyerhoffer, who now designs surfboards and co-founded the doorlock company Latch. “Every single person from every kind of occupation is talking about this.” There's a growing body of evidence about the harmful effects of social media and smartphones, particularly on younger people. A recent report by researchers at San Diego State Univers- ity and the University of Georgia concluded that teens who spend more time online are less happy than those who spend time on other activities.
Another report by Facebook's own researchers last year found people who passively scroll through posts felt worse afterwards. A group of pediatric and mental health experts are lobbying Facebook to discontinue its Messenger Kids app. In Paris, schools are banning mobile phones altogether.
Meanwhile, prominent figures in the technology industry are criticising companies such as Facebook. Sean Parker and Chamath Palihapitiya, former Facebook executives, have said the product is addictive and harmful to mental health.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook said he wouldn't let his nephew on social media. Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff compared Facebook to cigarettes.
The warnings are beginning to reach boardrooms, too. Apple investors Jana Partners and the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) recently asked Apple to st udy t he harmful eff ects of smartphones on mental health and offer more protections for children. A Facebook shareholder is pushing its board to create a risk committee that will study the potential financial harm to Facebook if its product leads to depression or other mental health problems.
“The technology industry is reaching the point where they will need to put more resources into addressing the negative externalities of their products and services,” says Jonas Kron, senior vice president at
Google searches for ‘smartphone addiction’ hit an all-time high in January When the iPhone hit, you couldn't stop the stream of emails Former Apple executive Tony Fadell
Trillium Asset Management, the Facebook investor lobbying for the risk committee.
As “mindfulness” enters the Silicon Valley crucible, the urge to unplug is creating business opportunities. Digital detox retreats where people spend days without technology are increasingly popular among tech workers, as is meditation. Jack Dorsey, the chief executive of Twitter and financial services company Square, recently finished a 10-day silent meditation that strictly prohibits any communication.
Asana co- f ounder Justin Rosenstein, who helped create Facebook's “like” button, meditates for one hour a day. Benioff has ordered that each floor of Salesforce's soaring new office tower in San Francisco have a meditation room, “where employees can put their phones into a basket or whatever, and go into an area where there's quietness,” he said in 2016. And for those without time for a retreat or access to a dedicated space, apps including Calm and Mindfulness Daily are available.
Jon Callaghan, founder of True Ventures and former chairman of the National Venture Capital Association's board of directors, says phones are not allowed in partner gatherings. At the firm's quarterly meetings, participants meditate at the beginning of every session. He also limits phone usage at home and his family has a no-devices policy for mealtimes.
Tony Fadell, the former Apple executive involved in the creation of the iPhone, says he experienced the distracting effects of the device almost immediately after its 2007 release.
Most company employees didn't use Blackberries or other pre-iPhone smartphones, meaning email was limited to certain times of the day. Messages outside work hours were rare. “When the iPhone hit, you couldn't stop the stream of emails because the devices were always on people,” Fadell says. He thinks companies should block employees from sending and receiving emails during non-work hours.
The technology industry needs to own up to the addictive qualities of its creations and add new safeguards that make it easier for people to put away their phones, Fadell says. Apple and Google, owners of the two largest smartphone operating systems, should offer apps that break down smartphone usage — time spent reading and writing texts, in apps such as Facebook, browsing the web, writing emails — in the same way that their health apps show steps walked or hours slept each day, Fadell says.
“They have all that data, just give it back to us,” he says. “This isn't like building a self-driving car, which is 10,000 times harder and costs way more.”
Companies are beginning to get the message. After Jana and CalSTRS demanded action in early January, Apple said it plans new features to give parents more control over how children use its devices. “We think deeply about how our products are used and the impact they have on users,” the company said in a statement.
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is changing the company's news feed to reduce mindless scrolling and increase meaningful interaction between friends and family. Google recently ran an ad highlighting the mental- health i mplications of smartphone and social-media use.
Regardless, many technologyindustry veterans are taking their own measures. Fadell, whose family has noscreen Sundays, uses a product called Circle that sets online time limits and blocks certain content. The device connects to a Wi-Fi router, making it easier to set restrictions for any device in a household connected to the network. Devices can be disconnected completely during pre-set hours, such as bedtime.
“Some families are more concerned about the kind of content they're exposed to,” says Circle chief executive Lance Charlish. “Others may be worried about device time and life balance.” The company has hundreds of thousands of customers, he says.
One customer is Luca Maestri, Apple's chief financial officer, according to an interview he gave last year to journalist and award-winning author Maria Teresa Cometto.
“These devices absorb so much of kids' lives and it's a bit of a challenge to set the boundaries,” Maestri told Cometto. His wife decided to use Circle as a means to moderate their children's iPhones and iPads, according to a write-up of the interview by the magazine i-Italy. It's unclear if the CFO or his wife still use the device. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
Rudin, of Indiegogo, says that if all else fails, religion can help. His family observes the Jewish custom of Shabbat every Friday night through Saturday, meaning technology use is restricted. “My wife will turn her phone and any other tech off for 25 hours straight,” he wrote in a weekday email. “I try to do the same, but it's not always possible :)”