Stop The Things That We Own From Owning Us

We are currently in an attention economy. Companies like Google, Facebook and many others are trying to convince you to spend as much time as possible on the web viewing ads. This is not in your best interest.
My Solution: (Go to Medium for the Full Story): I figured out how to use micropayments to replace Google Display ads with my To Do list. Building on an idea Matt Cutts had on his blog, I used Google Contributor and Remember The Milk to substitute advertisements with my To Do list. Now I have my To Do list follow me around the Internet. It’s just like a persistent targeted ad that won’t leave me alone. It’s Awesome!
Tristan Harris’s Solution: Tristan Harris is the champion of managing your attention on the internet. There’s a great profile of him in The Atlantic. He used to be the “Product Ethicist” at Google and now has a foundation called Time Well Spent. He’s currently studying how technology hijacks our psychological vulnerabilities, writing about ways to protect yourself and speaking about these things at TED.
Manoush Zomorodi’s Solution: Manoush Zomorodi has a podcast called Note to Self where she focuses on how people relate to technology. There’s a great video of Manoush from the GEL conference which talks about how to disconnect from the internet. If you want to learn more about how to reclaim your time and be more creative take a look at Bore d and Brilliant and Infomagical.

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