at cross purposes

It is a well-known fact that technology controls humankind, with a power to influence how people think and act, in a way that is far more pervasive and potent that any religion or government bodies. Whether it is YouTube, or FB, or any of the most popular apps or the efforts of most marketers, their focus is to “grab” your attention, “target” you better, “capture” your attention & your money, and get you “hooked”. The highly intelligent systems that all technology companies employ today, have one purpose – to get hijack every little attention that one has, to get one to see content, which in turn brings in revenue. The language and the actions in the 'hunt' for attention are evidently mercenary.

Many have started speaking up on the havoc that technology companies are causing & the idiocy of celebrating ideas such as the ability to order bath soaps using your bathroom mirror when there are bigger problems that need our attention and resources.

Tristan Harris is the poster child for igniting these conversations. Here is an excerpt from WIRED’s interview with him. “I’m not against technology. And we’re persuaded to do things all the time. It’s just that the premise in the war for attention is that it’s going to get better and better at steering us toward its goals, not ours. We might enjoy the thing it persuades us to do, which makes us feel like we made the choice ourselves. For example, we forget if the next video loaded and we were happy about the video we watched. But, in fact, we were hijacked in that moment. All those people who are working to give you the next perfect thing on YouTube don’t know that it’s 2 am and you might want to sleep. These are things like social awareness cues, which by showing you how recently someone has been online or knowing that someone saw your profile, keep people in a panopticon. They are not on your team. They’re only on the team of what gets you to spend more time on that service”

Brands, much like the technology platforms that they use to reach their audiences, are also guilty of joining & encouraging this fight for human attention. More often than not, what the brands want us to do (watch their pre rolls!) runs counter to what may be actually good for us to do; constantly “tricking” people and “capturing attention”  in this well coordinated attack on our state of wellbeing. 

Goading the already time starved, device addicted people of today to spend more and more time watching videos, sharing videos, commenting on inane stuff, commenting with uninformed opinions, encouraging them to tag others, clutter everyone’s online spaces with messages that pimp services and the products, is a blatant disregard for what truly matters to people. 

It is as though the brand’s wellbeing and the wellbeing of the people they want to super serve are at cross-purposes. Solving this would mean, using Tristan Harris's phrase- ensuring that there is a synergy in goals; a synergy in the goals of the company & of the people it wants to serve. 
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If you are a company that makes stuff for babies and kids, STOP stuffing an already overstuffed media environment with content that adds little quality time to their life. STOP getting moms and dads to keep watching your stuff online or getting them to enter inane contests where they need to submit their children’s pictures or videos preying on their natural desire to share stuff about their children. START getting them to put their phones down and spend the time outdoors or in actual interaction with their kids. Invest in playgrounds for the children instead of an advt that touts the importance of playing. Give parents inspiration on activities to do with their children – and enable that to happen with real utilitarian benefits. Get your company to start paternity leave instead of showing the token dad in the advts for your products. Expand the conversation to include all kinds of parents, not just the conventional idea of what a parent looks like. Educate the parents, upskill them, teach them skills – how to massage babies, how to establish a sleep time routine, how to recognize whether the baby food has gone bad, how to relax so that they can bring the best of themselves to their child, instead of spending all their attention in brand videos and advts. Connect parents with other ‘real’ parents in their community, people with whom they – and their children – can interact & have fun with for real. Create express lines at shopping malls for parents with children in tow to give time back to them. Do not bargain with them for their already thinly spread attention. Give them the gift of time & utility. 

If you are a beauty brand, you could STOP reacting to the culture, and START making the culture that is geared to people’s wellbeing. You could STOP talking fairness, thinness, compliments from men, stereotype of beauty - all measures that are devoid of wellbeing. START talking about the handbook of healthy lifestyle where you celebrate the Strong Beauty & where beauty is about healthy, energetic & wholesome lifestyle solutions. And you could START with acts & utility services in community that bring to life your commitment and vision. You could STOP making the beauty journey a lonely and judgmental exercise and START talking of Women Powered By Women, where a woman’s beauty journey is cheered, emboldened, assisted & powered by her sisterhood, where beauty trials, tribulations & triumphs & secrets are shared to help others & to make beauty a collective & supportive experience. You could connect people with wellness solutions, with experts who can help them express their various talents and all of their personality - all solutions to help them feel accomplished – and therefore, truly beautiful and confident.

In a fabulous case of walking the talk, REI, the outdoor lifestyle company, closed its stores on Black Friday, giving  employees a paid day off, and encouraging them and the rest of the world to spend time enjoying nature, keeping in line with its belief of “a life outdoors is a life well lived”. #OptOutside campaign from REI was not just another advt, but an act of consequence that breathed life into its vision in a manner that served both the people it wanted to win over, and the business with synergy of goals.
Brands could also take a leaf from Nike’s book. With Run + app, Training programs, school programmes, running tracks in cities, playgrounds to help children play, and a host of community programmes to ensure that brand values are expressed in action, and towards the benefit of people, Nike also more often walks the talk of synergistic goals than not. Or learn from IKEA’s Living Lagom project that supports IKEA customers and co-workers with products, workshops, bespoke advice and an active community to help save energy and water, reduce waste and promote a healthy lifestyle. 

These are all ‘acts’ that are not just in line with the vision of the brand but also are geared to add real value to people’s lives and enhance their wellbeing. Providing a Great Experience is an act, both of intention and consequence. And should be evaluated in terms of its ability to add meaning to a person’s life. Brands need to stop this senseless and short-term hunt for attention, and instead commit to the wellbeing of people they want to have a relationship with.

Don’t be at cross purposes with the what a good life means to your ‘consumer’. And don’t trade short term likes and views for what could be a long term harm to the life of your ‘consumer’. Help people be the best version of themselves, engaged in life of fulfillment , not attention depleted, diluted  shadows masked by their screens. 
 
Related Links.
http://humanetech.com
https://www.wired.com/story/our-minds-have-been-hijacked-by-our-phones-tristan-harris-wants-to-rescue-them/
http://www.adweek.com/creativity/inside-year-three-of-optoutside-with-reis-chief-creative-officer/
https://communityimpact.nike.com/
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