‘Continuous Partial Attention’ in using smartphone technology and Creative Integrated Practice
This title sounds baffling ! What the hell is ‘Continuous Partial Attention”? and how on earth is this relevant to Creative Integrated Practice ?....Let me give it a shot.
I read the ‘The Guardian’s Weekend technology special report by Paul Lewis this morning, in a title of “Our minds can be hijacked’: the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia”. In simple wording, “Continuous Partial Attention” referred to using smartphone is a mental cause for an additive behaviour of touching and swiping it up to 2,617 times daily {1} , such as only for summoning or reading followers’ like of your post, blog, tweet and ect.. for a fake excitement and enjoyment.
Ironically, according to the report, “Google, Twitter and Facebook workers who helped make technology so addictive are disconnecting themselves from the internet.” Frankly to say, they are ditching to use the ‘technology’ they invented.
“Justin Rosenstein purchased a new iPhone and instructed his assistant to set up a parental-control feature to prevent him from downloading any apps. He was particularly aware of the allure of Facebook “likes”, which he describes as “bright dings of pseudo-pleasure” that can be as hollow as they are seductive. And he should know: he was the Facebook engineer who created the ‘LIKE’ button in the first place” in 2009.
So, what could these tech geeks’s quitting of using these ‘online hooks’ means to some creative minds, like me :) ?
First of all, let me raise some questions and find out the answers.
I would have to go back to my early learning of the concept of Paradigm Shift by Thomas Kuhn who defines a scientific paradigm, provides model problems and solutions for a community of practitioners.
The question here is, could that become a trend that many smart minds (a certain scientific community) will follow suite ? Should I join this trend? and more importantly, does this suggest or factor a ‘‘Paradigm shift’ ?{2}
Kuhn “used the term of paradigm{2} in two meanings:1, It refers to what is in common that shared by a certain scientific community, eg, techniques, pattens and values; 2, It also refers to single model, element, example of a whole for such community, eg, a scientific law, a rule, a standard. From here, he comes to a thought that “rule can be derived from these paradigms” that has accepted as ‘gospels’ to follow, where a model of thinking becomes unchallengeable.Yet, when critical abnormality, or some uncommon ideas, and or new theory kick in, ‘Paradigm shift’ can happen to change the pattern of those rules.”
So, the magic ding of ‘like’ initiated by Facebook starts and establishes a paradigm shared and copied by all social media networking platforms and beyond in the last 8 years. No APPs that users can download from APP store does come with a magic ding of ‘like’ and similar. It in reality has become a norm/rule to follow by APP developers.
2, But could the dystopia attitude by the Geeks for using APPs an implication of a Paradigm Shift too ?
Thomas Kuhn comes to a thought that “rule can be derived from these paradigms” that has accepted as ‘gospels’ to follow, where a model of thinking becomes unchallengeable.Yet, when critical abnormality, or some uncommon ideas, and or new theory kick in, ‘Paradigm shift’ can happen to change the pattern of those rules.” {3}
What affect such shift is the Paradigm paralysis—“ the inability or refusal to see beyond the current models of thinking of this community.
Kuhn uses this picture to explain about the ‘Paradigm shift’ demonstrates a ‘Paradigm paralysis’ that a scientific community would encounter in seeing the true world of their own by following their own pattern of ‘rules’.
3, What does the tech geeks’s quitting of using these ‘online hooks’ mean to creative technology practitioners like us ?
In my learning with this paper (Ctec 500), I believe the answer goes into Integrated Practice research with Transdisciplinarity.
“Transdisciplinarity connotes a research strategy that crosses many disciplinary boundaries to create a holistic approach.” {4}
In Jean Piaget’s words, it is:”Finally, we hope to see succeeding to the stage of interdisciplinary relations a superior stage, which should be “transdisciplinary”, i.e. which will not be limited to recognise the interactions and or reciprocities between the specialised researches, but which will locate these links inside a total system without stable boundaries between the disciplines”{5}.
In justifying a paradigm shift, it is arguably difficult to “locate the links inside a total system without stable boundaries between the disciplines”, where, in such a paradigm shift, a creative technology practitioner would need to research across the boundaries between the disciplines to pinpoint the links between the identify such disciplines for an answer, and or results and even solution, by using these trans-disciplinary approaches.
3-1, What did I see in applying transdisciplinarity?----telling a rabbit from the look of a duck
Here, does the move by the tech geeks from FB, Googles from using online social media to avoid addictive behaviour suggests a doom of the popularity of using the ‘magic ding’ ? I personally doubt that. To get a simple idea to compare the hollow and pseudo-pleasure of enjoying ‘like’, the magic ding, to heroine, I would have to say, somebody, or, even all drug takers are to quit, or to receive treatments for such quit will not ever end the use of drug. That is obvious.
However, to look into the drug issues of How it generates detrimental effects on user’s life? Why the success rate of quit is low? What can we do ? and so on, so much, is far too complicate and difficult to give a satisfactory answer.
Likewise, dealing with the ‘like’ of magic ding is the same. It is more of a mission than a challenge for these tech geeks to “locate the links inside a total system without stable boundaries between the disciplines” for unlocking the myth of smartphone dystopia and drug like addicts. This invites transdisciplinary practices.
Let me take this opportunity to walk in their shoes, even just for a few ‘steps’ to look for some solutions.
(1) Understanding the human nature...the Phycology
We like ourselves as much as being to like to be liked. That is part of our selfhood.“Probably, the best account of the origins of selfhood is that the self comes into being at the interface between the inner biological processes of the human body and the sociocultural network to which the person belongs."{6}
“One of the most basic facts about the human condition is that we know ourselves from the inside, but know others only from what they choose or are able to tell us, a far more limited and edited set of data.” {7}
So we definitely LIKE to be liked and polished. If so, on the back of realising how the ‘like’ relate to the acts by people, a creative technology practitioner would know how to go beyond the ‘Like’-mania on smartphone use.
Solution: Therefor, my responding approaches may include how to manipulate people into habitual use of their products as compared to how often the swipe their smartphone. Preferably, creative technology practitioner would have to be a behavioural psychologist too!
(2) Identifying the unintended consequence. The overwhelmingly additive of the ‘Like’ by hundreds of millions users is really one of the best showcase of intention having an unintended, negative consequences.
The story in the book of ‘Defending the free market of giving the poor’ tells about how ‘free lunch’ for the poor who are not required any commitment consequently shrinks the ‘Fish & Chips’ store’s customer base.
Robert A. Sirico says in his book: “But we can’t just throw money at people and expect them to come out of poverty.” because Sometimes, Good Intentions may have Negative Consequences. {8}
Here I suddenly realise being a creative tech practitioner may be entailing more of social studies, rather than just going into the ivory tower of high tech. This reminds me of an incident that I used to question about one our teachers of the Studio 2 class (CTEC503) for his Blog account name of “Social Computing” ! This incident tells how ignorant I was in the beginning of my attendance to his class.
Solution: I can refer the sending and receiving ‘like’ to going for a free lunch. Therefor, How about creating a ‘Reality Check Button’ for both sender and receiver? The idea is to insert a voluntary ‘give back of money’ function linked to the APPs, wherein, such functionality is bonded by user’s money account (such as credit card, bank account, Paypal, Push-Pay & etc) as a complimentary feedback; and the sender of like can ask for the same when he sends the ding of ‘Like’ as well, where the account activity would need to be defined and monitored to avoid any ‘Negative Consequences’ of abuse.
(3) Understanding the ethnics and social responsibility.
According to the report, social media network is facing a big challenge on the success of their own for creating such humongous platforms of billions of actively additive users worldwide.
People now “contend that digital forces have completely upended the political system and, left unchecked, could even render democracy as we know it obsolete.”{10} or a dystopia, and a total hate by their users.
This is reflected by a critic of the tech industry, Tristan Harris’s comments: “A handful of people, working at a handful of technology companies, through their choices will steer what a billion people are thinking today,” {11}
So, ‘It’s changing our democracy, and it's changing our ability to have the conversations and relationships we want” Tristan Harris, former design ethicist at Google.{10}
People are now questioning the ethical responsibility by these social media network for the ‘loophole’ in their advertising models for accidentally spreading officially uncensored fake news. This is yet to blame on the huge behemoths of the monopoly built by such business model by the biggest platform, such as of Google’s search engine. “The EU recently penalised Google $2.42bn for anti-monopoly violations”{12}
Solution: Justin Rosenstein, the magic ding of “LIKE’ creator may have pointed to a solution: "there may be a case for state regulation of “psychologically manipulative advertising”....“If we only care about profit maximisation,” he says, “we will go rapidly into dystopia.”
This does refresh my thinking in my last two blogs of going into a little finding about how a business with social innovative architecture or gene may survive and sustain the unpredictable movements in tech applications and the society. These movements, in my understanding, are referred to the “Paradigm Shift”.
Allow me to use Chris Cox of Facebook Chief Product Officer’s remarks to end this blog:
“We’re getting to a size where it’s worth really taking a careful look at what are all the things that we can do to make social media the most positive force for good possible.”
{1}Putting a finger on our phone obsession--Mobile touches: A study on humans and their tech. https://blog.dscout.com/mobile-touches
{2}https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kuhn
{3}ParadigmShift://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm_shifthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm_shift
{4}https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transdisciplinarity
{5}Ref 3: Piaget, 1972, p. 144.basarab-nicolescu.fr/Docs_articles/Worldviews2006.htm#_ftn3
{6}Baumeister, Roy F., and Brad J. Bushman. "The Self." Social Psychology and Human Nature. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2011. 57–96. Print.
{7}http://www.thebookoflife.org/the-problem-of-psychological-asymmetry/
{8}http://www.defendingthefreemarket.com/
{9}https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/27/facebook-2-billion-users
{10}https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia
{11}How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every daywww.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_the_manipulative_tricks_tech_companies_use_to_capture_your_attention
{12}Google fined record €2.4bn by EU over search engine resultshttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/27/google-braces-for-record-breaking-1bn-fine-from-eu
