(Chinese/English)你將被騙走的那50年 @ 辛跑客

(Chinese Version)

昨天，我一如往常的在睡覺前開啟youtube，看著它推薦給我的影片，意外看到這集 TedTalk。

演講者是Tristan Harris 崔斯頓哈里斯，Google以前的工程師，每天上班的工作就是負責研究如何改變你的思想與行為，白話來說就是如何讓使用者上癮，像是各種社交軟體利用通知打斷你現在的思考讓你想開啟他們的程式。

而等到開啟他們的程式後如何讓你一直看下去，像是找出你可能有興趣的東西、自動撥放等。其中他舉的最有趣的例子就是他們如何利用人類弱點"生氣"，來增加Facebook的被使用量以及引誘大家回復、分享文章等等。

在我認為，這種時間的剝奪、思想的控制台灣早就一直不斷地在做了，或許沒有整個團隊全心全力致力於使用者心理學，但大家絕對也都研究過如何讓"收視率"不斷上升，如何讓你不斷的上線。

思考一下，現在的你，

回到家、甚至開車的時候是不是一定要開電視，

即使看了三百遍的國片還是要再看一次，

或是開個綜藝節目、新聞有個背景音比較不孤單，

狂看洋片或甚至是一直轉那100多台，

或是看個直播填滿些孤獨但仍然覺得人生不過就這樣工作、結婚、房貸、照顧小孩、享受那一小時的美食，二十三小時的無聊

坐車是不是一定要玩手遊或幾分鐘就看instagram facebook，

羨慕外國人總覺得他們生活好陽光沒壓力好自由，

久而久之也變成習慣，總覺得時間永遠不夠用，洗澡時想到的事、想完成的事永遠都做不出來，默默地也就這麼過了幾十年，也就這麼一直過下去。

想像一下，就這麼50歲了，假設明天就這麼意外的死了，你滿足了嗎？你的一生填滿了幸福嗎？

於是我毫不猶豫地關起了youtube也不開手機的睡覺去。

明天提起背包繼續體驗著這神秘美好的世界 :)

(English Version)

Last night, as usual, I turned on my computer and browsed through my recommended Youtube videos. Then, I came across this clip.

The presenter, Tristan Harris, was an ex-Google employee and a computer science/human behaviour engineer. According to his speech, his job (and his dedicated team) at Google involves how to "ethically" steer billions users' behaviours so they get addicted to the website. One example he gave was the "recommended videos" and "auto-play" functions that Youtube has to get users to click on videos one after another. He also explained how the "notification" function on Apps was designed to constantly break your thoughts and bring you back to the Apps. Another interesting feature they designed was the anger provoking videos because they know human beings are susceptible to anger. "If you have time," (that is, if you don't have to manage your Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat) I'd recommend you to watch this “one” video. :P

Looking back to my life in Taiwan, I feel these behaviour-steering mechanisms were used in Taiwan way back in time. Perhaps there wasn’t a whole team dedicated on Human Computer Interaction and Social Psychology but surely, the TV producers have managed to get the audience hooked on the TV.

Take a moment and think about this.

Do you feel like to turn on TV when you get home or even when you drive?
Do you feel like you need to listen to the News or watch a talk show when you eat?
Do you watch the same Cantonese/Chinese/American Movies again and again for no reason?
Do you watch people on Twitch Live because it feels like you have someone to talk to?
Do you think life is just working, getting married, suffering from home loans, taking care of kids and enjoying the 1-hour luxury meal while suffering from the other 23 hours.
Do you constantly open up your games, Facebook, Instagram on your phone when you take a bus ride?
When you watch movies, are you jealous of the Western people’s life?

Sooner or later, all of these become a habit. Time will never be enough. What you wish to accomplish never even gets started.

Imagine you’re 50 years old now and your life ends tomorrow. Are you satisfied with it?

So the next minute, I closed Youtube, turned off my computer, left my phone on the chair and went to bed without any hesitation. The next day, I pick up my backpack, continue to explore this world and talk to different people on the journey to share what we see.