[peterhartree]

> Correct a problem? A problem for who? Neither the consumer nor the provider appear to be in any kind of trouble.

In a recent lecture at the RSA [1], James Williams (former Googler who worked on metrics and strategy for search advertising) makes the case that:

- The ‘distractions’ produced by digital technologies are much more profound than minor ‘annoyances’

- So-called ‘persuasive’ design is undermining the human will and ‘militating against the possibility of all forms of self-determination’

- Beginning to ‘assert and defend our freedom of attention’ is an urgent moral and political task

I'd recommend giving it a listen. Tristan Harris' recent TED talk offers a more popular primer [2].

[1] https://soundcloud.com/the_rsa/are-digital-technologies-maki...

[2] https://www.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_the_manipulative_tr...

[mdekkers]

Which is interesting, and thanks for the links, but this isn't what the Economist is talking about. The Economist is talking about the mis-allocation of labor - not a problem for the producer, not a problem for the consumer, a problem for the person that has to tot up the stats and make it fit the framework of capitalism.

It is almost like people don't even care about the actual article, and only read what they want to see....

[kaffeemitsahne]

> Beginning to ‘assert and defend our freedom of attention’ is an urgent moral and political task

This should've been done years ago with the billboards plastered around nearly every major city.