Tastemakers:
Organizations / Experts
Center for Humane Technology
Founded by Tristan Harris, a former Google design ethicist, Aza Raskin, creator of the “infinite scroll”, and Randima Fernando, former Executive Director at Mindful Schools, the CHT seeks to challenge current harmful designs and philosophies of big tech and social media platforms which consume so much of our lives. They aim to “drive a comprehensive shift toward humane technology by changing the way technologists think about their work and how they build products.”
Jaron Lanier
Considered a “Founding Father of Virtual Reality”, Lanier is an American computer philosophy writer, computer scientist, visual artist, and composer of classical music. His book “Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now” outlines the social, psychological, political, and spiritual reasons why a life without social media isn’t as outlandish as it seems. On the contrary, it would only improve one’s life and well-being.
Tristan Harris
Tristan Harris, co-founder of the CHT, has been deemed the “closest thing Silicon Valley has to a conscience”. His work first inspired me to dive into my research. As a tech insider, Harris became growingly concerned with the lack of accountability when it came to the design process of technologies and products expected to reach the hands of billions. An ardent critic of the attention economy model, manipulative design, and the polarizing nature of social media, Tristan is a leader in the stand against the “race to the bottom of the brainstem”.
Sherry Turkle
Turkle, PhD, a Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT and author of “Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other”, is a pioneer in the field of humane tech. In her book, Turkle explores the ways in which tech is changing how we, and particularly young people, communicate. Turkle argues that while big tech flaunts their ability to “connect” the world, that leads to increasingly shallow relationships due in part to the highly distractive, artificial, and co-dependent nature of tech usage. She argues that, instead, face-to-face conversation is the true social remedy.
Nina Hersher
Hersher is co-founder of the Digital Wellness Institute and CEO of the Digital Wellness Collective, a global trade association of Digital Wellness experts and organizations collaborating to enhance human relationships through the intentional use and development of technology. Hersher is an international speaker and leading expert in Digital Wellness, a core teacher on the first Digital Wellness Certificate course, and the Founder of Evolving in the Digital Age™ Consulting, dedicated to best practices in mental health in a fast-paced world. Most recently, Hersher’s work was featured on Spotify and in publications including The Stanford Social Innovation Review, Al Jazeera, and Voice of America.
Aza Raskin
Aza Raskin, co-founder of the CHT and creator of the “infinite scroll”, is an advocate for the ethical use of technology. As a tech insider and son to Jeff Raskin, who conceived the Macintosh project at Apple, he utilizes his innate knowledge of the power and vulnerabilities of the tech industry to help steer the conversation to one more considerate of deeply-held humanistic values in the constant battle for our attention. Raskin co-hosts “Your Undivided Attention” alongside Tristan Harris, a podcast detailing the powers and potential dangers that technology poses to modern society.
Mitch Prinstein
Director of Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of “Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World”, Prinstein studies the two types of popularity: likability and status. He makes the case that strictly the latter leads to a lifetime of anxiety, depression, and shallow relationships. Prinstein’s findings are extremely applicable at this intersection of psychology and tech, as status is the primary currency in the social media popularity contest.
Digital Wellness Collective
The DWC, the first of its kind, is a global trade association of Digital Wellness experts which has grown to include more than 100 organizations across the globe, all collaborating to share information and strategies for using and designing technology more thoughtfully. Leaders of the DWC have also developed the Digital Wellness Institute, a certification program designed to equip leaders and practitioners with research-based tools and strategies to foster Digital Flourishing™️.
reSTART
As the nation's first internet gaming addiction center, reSTART provides comprehensive treatment and counseling for those struggling with tech addictions. They push for “sustainable digital media use for people and the planet”, and do so through a connective network of educators, counselors, clinicians, and coaches. Their support extends widely, also offering services directed at social media addiction, gambling addiction, screen addiction, and general tech addiction.
Common Sense Media
CSM is a comprehensive resource for families, providing them with advice to help navigate the digital world. Since 2003, it has been the “leading source of entertainment and technology recommendations for families and schools used to approach tech use conversation and guidelines with their kids.” Common Sense Education, their digital curriculum, equips students and educators with tips and skills to best navigate usage.
America Offline
Founded by entrepreneur, coach, and mentor David Klein, AO inspires young people’s social and leadership skills through sports and the arts in a tech-free environment. AO teaches the skills and strategies kids need when approaching phone and social media use with “GameChangers”, an offline weekend “immersive experience that shows teens how to create a healthy tech/life balance today so that they can become better leaders tomorrow.”
Adam Alter
Alter, Associate Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business and author of “Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked”, is an expert on the persuasive strategies of tech and the degenerative effects it has on decision making. Approaching from a social psychology perspective, Alter examines topics such as incessant smart phone and internet use, video game playing, and online shopping. Alter’s writings have helped push the persuasive tech conversation to the forefront.
Cal Newport
Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University and author of “Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World”, Newport’s writings steer the tech consumption conversation to that of quality over quantity. Newport lays out a philosophical framework which promotes a vigilant, active remodeling when it comes to personal tech use. He promotes alternatives like deep work, solitude, embracing boredom, and strict social media time limits.
Natasha Dow Schüll
Schüll, PhD, a cultural anthropologist and associate professor at MIT's Program in Science, Technology, and Society, is an expert on the nature of addiction. Author of “Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas”, Schüll has uncovered the links between the behaviorally modifying mechanisms of slot machines and similarly charming tech design. Compulsiveness, ludic loops, isolation, and hedonic treadmills, Schüll has found, play similarly persuasive roles in both Sin City casinos and in the “slot machine in your pocket”.
Johann Hari
A journalist and speaker in the forefront on topics of depression and anxiety, Hari is also the author of “Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression—and the Unexpected Solutions”. In his writings, he outlines causes of chronic mental health issues, including disconnection from meaningful work, from other people, from meaningful values, from the natural world, and from a hopeful or secure future. Hari speaks often on the pervasiveness of these disconnections, and how they’re aligned with the rise of social media.