Speaking of "Out There..." - Heard It From A Friend

Making Our Everyday Better with Technology

Speaking Of “Out There…”

I wish it weren’t so, but the impulse to reach for the phone starts first thing in the morning, even with 9-year-olds…

Dear Friends,

Thank you to everyone who expressed such enthusiastic support for my letter to Apple’s CEO, calling for improved parental controls! While my letter is still under a 10-day review period, I have been reminded that great opportunities can surface just by putting yourself “out there.”

Speaking of out there, the truth was out in full force this week with revelations from former Silicon Valley executives that our favorite tech companies, for years, have been intentionally designing technology to be addictive. Our phones have become the slot machines in our pockets, and Common Sense Media and the Center for Humane Technology have formed a coalition to raise awareness in schools and lobby for policy change.

Binge-watching was first recognized as a cultural phenomenon in early 2017 when it was added to the Merriam Webster Dictionary. I’ve spent too many late nights at the mercy of this feature, and before all the hubbub this week, I would have never stopped to consider how the “Playing Up Next” 15-second countdown on Amazon, YouTube and Netflix keeps us hooked in. Annoyed by the now clear motivations behind this feature, I went on a mission to investigate whether these default settings could be turned off.

I’ve shared my findings below in excerpts from my Parental Controls Resource Guide, which I would LOVE feedback on. My schedule is open for lunch; please join me live or by phone here and in 20-minutes, I hope to make managing screentime feel a little more manageable!

With best wishes,

Julie Paul
Founder and CEO

Did you know you can turn the Auto Play feature off? Will you take action and how will this affect you and your kids?

We hope you engage in our technology conversation and look forward to hearing your responses. Please email me at juliepaul@hearditfromafriend.com, or answer in The Friend Forum which we launched this week!

For the CEO in You – Just For You…
Where Women Once Ruled the Computer world, When Did Silicon Valley Become Brotopia?

Romans of the Decadence (1847), by Thomas Couture, as updated to parody Silicon Valley’s male-dominated sexual and sexist culture. Photo Illustration by Darrow; from Vanity Fair

Who knew the root cause of sexism in Silicon Valley could be traced down to one defining moment in 1973? Engineers tasked with converting real-life photos into pixels, selected a Playboy image to use for their prototype and now argue that this wasn’t sexist because there were no women around to offend at the time. Read more…

Boost Your Tech Savvy – Tech Tip #5
How to Stop Binge-watching Before It Starts!

It’s happened to all of us–parents and children. The cliffhanger’s really good, and before we can reach the remote, the next episode already has us hooked. To turn off this Automatic Playing feature for our favorite content providers follow these steps:

YOUTUBE

Step 1: On their website, find the Automatic Player feature in the top right corner when a video is playing

Step 2: Slide it to the off position

Step 3: Repeat these steps on every iOS device and computer where you watch NetFlix

You’d like to turn this feature off on YouTube kids, but this option is nowhere to be found. Google, you might want to get on fixing this right quick!

AMAZON

Step 1: Go to their website, and under Your Account and Lists, navigate down to Your Video Library

Step 2: Select Settings (next to your video library)

Step 3: Navigate down to Player Preferences

Step 4: Select the Off button.

Note: Changing this setting on your computer will also overlay to your TV. However, you will have to turn this off for each of your iOS devices in Prime Video in Settings.

NETFLIX

Step 1: Go to your Profile

Step 2: Tap the menu button

Step 3: Scroll down to account and select

Step 4: Scroll down to the very end to My Profile and select Playback Settings

Step 5: Uncheck Auto-play

Step 6: Do these for all your adult profiles in your household.

Note: Auto-play is not the default setting for Children’s profiles, but while the next episode will not automatically be threading, your kids will see an advertisement for what’s up next.

Our seconds become minutes, minutes become hours, hours become our life. Get boosted!

Be In The Know…
Are You on the Amazon Diet?

Amazon is now America’s favorite tech company, and it’s not hard to understand why. They make our everyday lives EASIER, from delivering groceries to saving us from running endless errands to the Target, OfficeMax, Walgreens, etc. Read more…

Be In The Know…
The best of what we’ve been reading this week:

Facebook should be regulated like a cigarette company

What Serena William’s Tech Billionaire Husband Learned from Paternity Leave

Moms Are Punished in the Workplace, Even When We Own the Business

Men Are More Afraid Now to Mentor Women. Here Are 3 Reasons to Do It Anyway

Early Facebook and Google Employees Form Coalition to Fight What They Built

We’re busy building a platform to connect women around running the “Family Business” and to make our everyday better with technology. Our membership-based community will launch soon, but we’re starting now with our weekly Friend Letters to give you a peak at the useful resources we’re collecting and assembling.

We hope you think of our Friend Letters fondly, like getting together with friends for Friday lunch. We invite you and your friends to join the collaboration in helping women to get more leverage. It’s time to make technology a part of our every day conversation, and we know we always get the best information from Our Friends…