Analysis Of How Technology Hijacks People's Minds

Tristan Harris’ “How Technology Hijack’s People’s Minds” talks about how technology influences over two billion people every day. Today, technology companies who have systems with advertisements, news feed, and recommended videos are determining what people do with their time and what they are looking at. Harris believes technology is hijacking people’s minds by creating applications that constantly steer people’s attention away from whatever they are doing toward their electronic devices. Behind these applications, there are hundreds of psychologists working to persuade people’s attention. Technology is changing our ability to have the conversations and relationships we want with others. I agree with Harris when he says technology hijacks

Harris explains how when people are reciprocating, for example, a follow back, they have to go through the application to do so. This grabs people’s attention. There are few times when people just reciprocate the follow back, instead they find themselves spending more time on the app. This gets people’s attention. He also explains how on social media if someone follows an individual, it is rude not to follow back. In addition, he says “you do me a favor, now I owe you one next time” (Harris). Yes, this is true for some people as it is common in our society to always give back for anything good that has happened to us. But Harris is generalizing the population by saying that everyone does something hoping to get something in return. Not everyone does something only to have the favor returned; some people actually do things through the generosity of their

People always want to feel like they belong. They want to feel approved or appreciated by everyone that follows them. Our constant need to maintain our social image is what is making us lose our individuality. Typically, there are people that follow us that do not know us personally, so whatever they see on social media is how they perceive our identity. We post about good things happening in our lives. People usually do not post about a negative event in their life because that is not the way they want to be perceived. Harris talks about the newest addition to Snapchat and Facebook where people can get tagged in a photo. It is up to that person whether or not they want to display that tagged photo on their own page. This is a form of social approval. If the person does not like the photo of them, they will most likely not show that photo to all of their followers. Everyone responds to social approval, and it is important to realize how technology is influencing