I am joined by Gaia Bernstein, a Doctor of Judicial Science and a Doctor of Jurisprudence, who holds the positions of Technology, Privacy, and Policy Professor of Law, Co-Director of the Institute for Privacy Protection, and Co-Director of the Gibbons Institute of Law Science and Technology at Seton Hall University. In this episode, Gaia Bernstein and I discuss her new book titled “Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies.”
We assume we are in control, but these choices accumulate into a reality we never imagined for ourselves. The illusion of control blinds us from seeing where we are.
Gaia Bernstein
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Enjoy!
In This Episode, Gaia Bernstein And I Discuss Her Book: “Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies”
Technology is viewed as a tool to achieve goals, organize our lives, and make everyday living easier. However, according to today’s guest Gaia Bernstein, technology companies are creating systems that disallow us from maintaining control of our screen time. Gaia breaks down legal actions that can be and are being taken to change how we use and interact with technology, allowing for a healthier relationship with the software and technology we use daily. With more and more schools relying on technology in the classroom, studies show that students learn better away from screens rather than in front of them.
Gaia shows that to solve these problems, the responsibility must be shifted to the companies creating these addictive technologies. Action needs to be taken to reduce the cycle of self-blame users are currently experiencing.
Listen and learn as Gaia Bernstein, and I discuss the following topics:
- Technology provides endless amounts of micro-choices, which lead to unintentional use of time and the illusion of end-user control
- People take their virtual lives with them everywhere they go, which is causing the social norms of technology overuse to weave throughout individuals’ daily lives.
- We discuss what is causing the cycle of self-blame in regards to technological overuse
- How social media is impacting our psychological vulnerability at a time when we need people to be focused on changing society
- Now is the time to seek a balance between online and offline pursuits
- Promising legal strategies to break up massive tech companies
- And much, much more!
- Have any questions, comments, or stories you’d like to share? Drop us a line at [email protected]!
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More From My Conversation With Gaia Bernstein
During our conversation, I highlighted that there is still an individual responsibility to make changes in our daily lives. I asked Gaia how we could change our behavior to try and get away from a general addiction to technology.
Gaia Bernstein explains, “I think people can do small things…I think the most important thing is to stop blaming ourselves and move from internal battles with ourselves inside our home to acting collectively. And I think listeners can do things because we all operate in the outside world.
If you own a restaurant, you can design a thing for overuse, or you can design things for limited use. If you put a QR code instead of a regular menu, you can be assured that people will probably take all their phones and have them on the table for the rest of the meal…If you are working as a designer of technology, you can think for a second about what you’re designing. Am I designing a feature that’s there for nothing but the user to come back and stay longer on the website? If that is the case, do I want to design this feature?
…I think we can do much more, doing things outside of the public sphere than with ourselves, because I do believe technology will change. But I think there’s a gap. It’ll take a couple of years until things will start changing. And in the meantime, yes, we can do whatever we can….”
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Resources From The Show With Gaia Bernstein
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- Website: https://gaiabernstein.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BernsteinGaia
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaia-bernstein-638b0252
My solo episode on how you unleash your creativity: https://passionstruck.com/unleash-your-creativity/
Want to catch my best interviews from 2022? Check out episode 233 on intentional greatness and episode 234 on intentional behavior change.
Watch my interview with Dr. Mark Hyman on how to defy aging: https://passionstruck.com/dr-mark-hyman-secrets-to-living-young-forever/
Catch my interview with Dr. Amy Shah on how you can control your food cravings: https://passionstruck.com/dr-amy-shah-you-can-control-your-food-cravings/
My solo episode on why micro choices matter: https://passionstruck.com/why-your-micro-choices-determine-your-life/
About Today’s Guest, Gaia Bernstein
Gaia Bernstein is the Technology, Privacy, and Policy Professor of Law at Seton Hall University. She is also the Co-Director of the Institute for Privacy Protection and Co-Director of the Gibbons Institute of Law Science and Technology at Seton Hall University. She is the author of the new book “Unwired:Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies.”
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John R. Miles is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO and founder of Passion Struck. This full-service media company helps people live intentionally by creating best-in-class educational and entertainment content. John is also a prolific public speaker, venture capitalist, and author named to the ComputerWorld Top 100 IT Leaders.
John is the host of the top-ranked Passion Struck Podcast. The show focused on exploring the mindset and philosophy of the world’s most inspiring people to learn their lessons to living intentionally. Passion Struck aspires to speak to the humanity of people in a way that makes them want to live better, be better, and impact.