MORNA, Action Network members are taking a stand against psychological manipulation that keeps kids on ad-supported screens. Persuasive design, also known as behavior design, is a series of techniques meant to nudge and change human behavior. Developed with the help of psychologists and employed without users’ knowledge or consent, persuasive design is often meant to keep users on a device or platform as long as possible. In the words of neuroscientist and AI expert Ramsay Brown, “Your kid is not weak-willed because he can’t get off his phone. Your kid’s brain is being engineered to get him to stay on his phone.” As Dr. Richard Freed outlined in a piece earlier this year, these practices manipulate kids into overusing digital devices, putting their health and wellbeing at risk. For tech companies, more product use equals more profits. But for kids, more screen time means more advertising, more unfair data collection, and less time for the play and relationships that really matter for healthy development. Psychologists who use their expertise to help companies target kids are in violation of their ethical tenet to “take care to do no harm.” That’s why Dr. Freed and Dr. Meghan Owenz, psychologists and members of the Children’s Screen Time Action Network, have organized a letter asking the APA to address psychologists’ role in persuasive design. More than 60 psychologists have signed the letter, which asks the APA to: |
