The Dark Side of Design: A Conversation About Addictive Technology

Where is the line between sharp UX and user manipulation? As venture capitalists and former tech execs speak out about social media addiction, designers are facing ethical questions about their work.

Join Journalism + Design for an intimate discussion about how persuasive technology and behavioral design are colonizing our attention. What can we learn about designing digital content and reaching a large online audience—while maintaining ethical rigor?

Nicholas Thompson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, will moderate a conversation between Nir Eyal, a renowned behavioral design consultant for Fortune 500 companies, leading thinker on the intersection of technology, psychology, and business, and author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products; James Williams, a cofounder of Time Well Spent, the organization that has garnered headlines for its crusade against smartphone dependence, a former Google strategist, and a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Internet Institute who recently won the inaugural Nine Dots Prize; and Alexis Lloyd, an award-winning creative director, user experience designer, and researcher, currently the Chief Design Officer at Axios and previously the Creative Director of The New York Times R&D Lab.

Lloyd, Williams, and Eyal will delve into the clever design techniques behind the internet’s greatest hits, and discuss whether or not these methods should be replicated by news organizations or avoided at all costs.

This event is free and open to the public. Register here.