Topic: Well Being

Google introduced "Digital Well-being" features in Android P, including a dashboard to track app usage and a "Shush" gesture that enters Do Not Disturb mode when the phone is flipped. These features are framed as tools to help users find balance, but analysts suggest they provide Google with even more granular data on user engagement and receptivity to marketing.

Facebook is actively recruiting psychology graduates from institutions like the University of Texas to work on the platform's psychological aspects. The company uses the term "well-being," a concept also defined by the World Health Organization, to describe its research goals. Researcher Maura Burke explains that Facebook employs social psychologists and anthropologists to study how the platform affects lives.

Facebook utilizes longitudinal data collection to track user feelings and behaviors over extended periods. The company maintains that its mission is to build community and bring the world closer together rather than just capturing user time. Critics, however, view these research efforts as a way to further program user behavior under the guise of improving well-being.