Former Facebook and Google Employees Team Up To Tackle Tech Addicition
Tackling tech addiction - that's the goal of a coalition formed by former Apple, Facebook, and Google employees. The Center for Humane Technology is launching a new campaign called "The Truth About Tech" to inform parents, teachers, and students about the potentially harmful effects of the gadgets we use every day.
Rob Marvin, Associate Features Editor at PCMag, explains how the coalition plans to fix the problem of tech addiction. The group is partnering with hundreds of schools around the country to explain the dangers of gadget use.
So far, companies like Facebook and Google haven't been incredibly forthright about the issue of tech addiction, but that could slowly change. Marvin says all of these companies are especially concerned with how they are viewed by the public. If people begin to view these companies as potential dangers, then they will likely step in to change things.
Skype users are scrambling to find an alternative after Microsoft shut down the pioneering internet phone service which let people make cheap long distance calls and chat with other users. Google Voice lets users make calls from a smartphone or a desktop web browser but it's only available to people in the U.S. Viber users can call phone numbers but can't get a number to receive calls. Zoom offers phone options too. You could get a number from a low cost virtual carrier or try other internet phone services. Microsoft says some Skype features will migrate to Teams, but its Teams Phone feature is only for businesses.
