Former Employees Of Apple, Facebook, And Google Form Anti-Tech Addiction Coalition

Tech addiction has been a problem for some time now, with the obvious signs showing up rather early in the information age. However, tech companies have been unwilling to deal with the issue because it might hurt their bottom-line. Now, a group made up of former employees from some of the biggest tech giants in the business are banding together to fight the disease they helped to create.

Forming a coalition known as the Center for Humane Technology, people who used to work for firms like Google, Facebook, and Apple are intent on raising awareness for the harm that their former companies are causing to users. While the group apparently has been around since 2014, it’s now planning on launching initiatives that will actively highlight the dangers of tech addiction.

One of its initiatives is to launch an ad campaign specifically targeted at younger people and teachers by reaching over 55,000 public schools in the U.S. The group is calling its efforts “The Truth About Tech” and it’s meant to give the public a real understanding of just how pervasive technology has become in their lives and how it is negatively affecting them, even if it’s not in an obvious way.

Among the people behind the project is former Google employee, Tristan Harris who worked for the search engine company as an ethicist, The New York Times reports. Harris notes how he and his fellows are leveraging their experience working for giant tech companies as a way to make people understand just how they operate.

“We were on the inside,” Harris said. “We know what the companies measure. We know how they talk, and we know how the engineering works.”

In the last few years, the negative effects of technology, especially on younger users have become more and more apparent. Children as young as three years old have become glued to their tablets, which have led to chemical imbalances in their brain. Teenagers have also become more prone to depression and suicidal tendencies following the advent of smartphones.