WHERE HAVE YOUR TIME AND SPACE GONE? AN ANALYSIS OF TECHNOLOGY ADDICTION, SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM, AND THE MODERN PANOPTICON

Little attention has been paid to why individuals are addicted to Internet-related experiences. This research identifies a key driver of technology addiction by combining three perspectives: behavioural science, economics, and psychoanalysis. Behavioural science reveals that technology addiction is produced by well-designed technology that fulfils humans’ fundamental needs. Capital economy analysis, called surveillance capitalism, offers a new interpretation of the data-driven economy, in which Internet technology enterprises collect feedback from users’ experiences and use said feedback to improve their products. The data accumulation logic facilitates automatic thinking and the modification of users’ behaviours to make a profit for the enterprises. Psychoanalysis clarifies the relationship between surveillance power and behavioural changes in society. The Panopticon, a central observation tower with a circle of prison cells, achieved an automatic function of power to control individuals’ performances and minds. Technology addiction is a symptom of the modern Panopticon because a common mechanism works between the Panopticon and surveillance capitalism, occupying individuals’ time and space and executing the automatic function of the surveillance power that facilitates behavioural modification. We conclude that depriving individuals of both time and space is a key driver of technology addiction that threatens sovereignty in a data-driven economy. We also provide three solutions to technology addiction: acknowledgement of the benefits and risks of technology use, acceptance of the complexity underlying technology-related issues, and protection of individual sovereignty. Keywords: Technology addiction; Surveillance capitalism; Panopticon

Fenced community gardens effectively mitigate the negative impacts of white-tailed deer on household food security

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are large herbivores that thrive in urban and peri-urban landscapes. Their voracious appetite and ubiquity have made deer a significant threat to growing food in home and community gardens; features that often make important contributions towards household food security. Focusing on food availability, stability, utilization, and access, I outline how white-tailed deer threaten household food security. Deer threaten availability of food by widely consuming plants grown for human consumption. Deer threaten stability of household food security by causing spatially and temporally unpredictable food losses. Deer threaten utilization of food, through acting as sources of food-borne pathogens (i.e. Escherichia coli O157:S7). Deer threaten access to food by necessitating relatively high-cost economic interventions to protect plants from browsing. Although numerous products are commercially available to deter deer via behavioural modification induced by olfaction and sound – evidence of efficacy is mixed. Physical barriers can be highly effective for reducing deer browsing, but often come with a high economic cost. Users of community gardens benefit from fencing by receiving shared protection against deer herbivory at a significantly lower per capita cost. Among many other benefits, fenced community gardens are useful in mitigating the threats of white-tailed deer to household food security.

Modulation Harms and The Google Home

Deleuze’s (1992) modulation is frequently invoked to explain power relations in hyper-connected, sensorised environments. However, attempts to articulate the harmful implications of modulation—a critical step in the process of considering the need for legal intervention—have been modest. In this paper, we theorise four harms arising from the exercise of modulatory power: subsumption, amplification, vibration, and alienation. To do so, we outline the core features of Deleuzean modulatory power (Deleuze 1992), illustrated through contrasts with Foucauldian discipline (Foucault 1995, 1988). Then, drawing on Julie Cohen’s (2013, 2015, 2018, 2019) modulation as a two-way flow of predicted and prescripted modes of governance and knowledge production, we explore and situate our harms in the sensorised and smart home, employing Google’s patented vision as a concrete example (Fadell et al. 2020). We contend that modulation harms arise from the continuous flow and constant agitation of insistent modification (D’Amato 2019) enabled by sensorisation. The core power act that gives rise to modulation harm is the ability to harness, direct, and provide “frequency” to flows of sensor data to achieve continual behavioural modification and shape social norms about the purposes and benefits of such modification. The overarching harm we identify is subsumption, the infrastructural enclosure of all sensorised environments that enables social shaping to take place anywhere, which gives rise to the other modulation harms. Amplification harms regard auto-regulatory norms as an unquestioned facet of an automated human life. Vibration harms arise from the automated ability to prescribe changes in affect. Alienation harms regard subtle denials of access to informational networks. We show that the Google sensorised home both modulates and disciplines occupants concurrently, but more importantly, these concurrent power acts can take place wherever an individual is tethered to the modulation infrastructure and sensor data can be harnessed.

Use of Pharmacotherapy in Obesity Management

Obesity is a chronic disease which is often relapsing and progressive due in part to the physiology of energy homeostasis in people with obesity, rendering them with the challenge of attaining adequate weight loss and weight maintenance after successful weight loss. Depending on the presence, types and severity of the obesity-related comorbidities (ORCs), some patients will require an amount of weight loss beyond what lifestyle and behavioural modification can achieve. Even after bariatric surgery, patients may not lose the expected amount of weight or experience weight regain. Anti-obesity medications may be required to support them further. Hence, the use of pharmacotherapy in obesity management remains an important adjunct to lifestyle and behavioural modifications and even to bariatric surgery, particularly in those with more severe ORCs and with a high body mass index. This article discusses the general approach to the use of pharmacotherapy in obesity management and the various anti-obesity medications currently approved.

Effectiveness and safety of interventions to manage childhood overweight and obesity: An Overview of Cochrane systematic reviews

Background Childhood overweight and obesity are associated with adverse physical, social, and psychological outcomes. Objectives We conducted an overview of Cochrane systematic reviews on the effectiveness and risks of interventions to treat overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. Methods In June 2019, we searched the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for eligible reviews. The primary outcomes were change in adiposity (body mass and body mass index [BMI] z-score) and adverse events. Two reviewers screened studies and one reviewer extracted and another verified data. Two reviewers assessed methodological quality and reached consensus. Data were synthesized narratively. Results We included seven Cochrane reviews published between 2011 and 2017 containing evidence from 167 randomized controlled trials with 21,050 participants. Lifestyle and behavioural interventions more effectively reduced weight compared with no intervention, usual care, or another behavioural treatment (three reviews, low-to-moderate certainty). Parent–child lifestyle and behavioural interventions more effectively reduced BMI z-score compared with no intervention (one review, low certainty). Decision support tools for healthcare providers more effectively limited increases in BMI z-score compared with usual care (one review, moderate certainty). Pharmacologic treatments combined with behavioural modification more effectively reduced adiposity compared with placebo or usual care (one review, low certainty), but the risk of adverse events was greater than non-pharmacologic therapy. Surgical interventions (e.g., LAP-BAND) combined with behavioural modification more effectively reduced adiposity compared with behavioural modification alone (one review, low certainty). Those who underwent surgery reported a higher number of adverse events compared with those treated with lifestyle modification. Conclusions There is low-certainty evidence that lifestyle and behavioural interventions, pharmacologic interventions, and surgical interventions are effective in weight management for children with overweight and obesity. Safety data remain lacking across all intervention modalities. Future research should focus on implementation strategies. Further, a focus on overall well-being may be more beneficial than weight management specifically.

The Need for a National Accreditation Programme for Professionals Working in the Field of Animal Training and Behavioural Modification in New Zealand

Companion animals are at risk of psychological (and physical) harm if outdated, incorrect or aversive methods of training or equipment are used during training and behavioural modification. Companion animal guardians often engage professional animal behaviour and training services, yet this industry is not regulated in New Zealand. A voluntary national accreditation and registration programme could act to protect the welfare of animals by robustly evaluating the experience, qualifications and training methods of industry professionals. To investigate industry readiness for a national accreditation programme, we conducted an online survey and analysed the responses of 262 animal trainers, behavioural consultants, dog safety educators, veterinarians and veterinary nurses. A national accreditation programme, promoting the use of reward-based training and behavioural modification techniques, was generally supported, especially by individuals holding qualifications and membership of professional organisations. The implementation of such a programme would ensure that those seeking these services are able to source professionals that use best practice when it comes to training and behavioural modification, with lasting benefits to animal welfare.