The aspect of this which feels tone-deaf is that Google recognizes that too much technology is a real problem, and their proposed solution is ... more technology. It feels like they've created a disease, and also the medicine for it.
YouTube has a "time to take a break?" feature now, but autoplay is still on by default. Android has fancy voice recognition so you can say "Turn on do not disturb mode", but "disturb me mode" is still the default. We wouldn't need these bandaids if the technology wasn't designed from the start to be addictive and distracting.
They're treating the symptoms, but it's not clear they even understand the root cause.
The problem isn't even with the amount of technology. It's that the technology is being designed to abuse people. And then Google comes out and says that the solution to the problem of shitty, abusive technology is more shitty and abusive technology.
The solution should be technology focused on empowering users. But that doesn't make as much money as abusive tech.
YouTube has a "time to take a break?" feature now, but autoplay is still on by default. Android has fancy voice recognition so you can say "Turn on do not disturb mode", but "disturb me mode" is still the default. We wouldn't need these bandaids if the technology wasn't designed from the start to be addictive and distracting.
They're treating the symptoms, but it's not clear they even understand the root cause.