TED Community » Jay Vidyarthi

More About Me

I'm passionate about

technology, media, expression, user experience, immersion, music, experience, truth, design methods, ideation, solving problems, research... did I mention music?

An idea worth spreading

Your experiences are only clues; it's up to you to piece them together into your own unique understanding.

Talk to me about

constraint and creativity

My TED Story

I was invited to TEDActive 2011 for the Travel project, and it was simultaneously humbling, intimidating, exciting, invigorating, euphoric, and terrifying. Returning to TEDActive 2012, I will be setting up my project, the Sonic Cradle, for everyone to try! I will also be actively seeking opportunities for collaboration and contemplation toward positive outcomes, both during and after the conference.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +101.30 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +2

  A comment on Talk: Shane Koyczan: "To This Day" ... for the bullied and beautiful

  Mar 8 2013: powerful. powerful. powerful.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: Live Q&A with Sherry Turkle: How has digital technology changed the kind of communications you have with your friends, family & co-workers?

  Apr 12 2012: While I do agree that less people seem to engage avidly, I'd bet those people still use FB to get in touch with certain people or to share pictures or other practical purposes. I feel like they try all the features and then they decide which ones are useful to them.
  
  For example, FB is my go-to place for sending a message to acquaintances or old friends who I don't directly communicate with regularly.

• A reply on Conversation: Live Q&A with Sherry Turkle: How has digital technology changed the kind of communications you have with your friends, family & co-workers?

  Apr 12 2012: Yes, I agree. Just because most uses have been for productivity, efficiency, etc., doesn't mean that we can't design technology for better connectedness, peace of mind, and other positive psychological effects. I usually argue something along those lines, too. If I can use technology to help someone have their first meditative experience along with its corollary benefits, I'm simply using the same tool to psychological effect.
  
  FOLLOW-UP: Is there some danger that technology is naturally prone to develop in pursuit of efficiency/productivity at the expense of human psychological well-being, or do you reject that? Do you think we can branch a direction of technological design that aims at positive psychology without being eventually polluted by information overload?
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Live Q&A with Sherry Turkle: How has digital technology changed the kind of communications you have with your friends, family & co-workers?

  Apr 12 2012: Hi Sherry, loved your talk and your book is next in queue :)
  
  I definitely think you're approaching a real issue, but I am curious as to your final comments in your talk: "Now we all need to focus on the many, many ways technology can lead us back to our real lives, our own bodies..." etc.
  
  I found it curious that you are advocating the use of technology for these solutions. I am studying and designing systems aimed at helping people learn to psychologically self-regulate using principles from mindfulness meditation, and I often get the push back along these lines: "why do we need technology to help us de-stress? shouldn't we be pushing for LESS use of technology, since it seems to be causing this problem in the first place?"
  
  I was struck by your final comments as I imagined you must face this type of argument as well. I have my own responses, but I am curious to hear how you would articulate a response to that argument. For simplicity, here's what I imagine these people saying to you:
  
  "But Sherry! If these connected technologies are allowing us to over-control our interactions and removing our natural human connectedness, why do you advocate the continued use of technology to solve the problem? Isn't everything we need to feel connection already a part of us?"
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Which video game has challenged your perspective on the way you live your life and how?

  Jan 27 2012: Just wanted to post to say that I love this conversation... the two I would cite are definitely the Metal Gear series and Final Fantasy 7 and 8, but they have been eloquently described already by others :)
• +4

  A comment on Talk: Clay Shirky: Why SOPA is a bad idea

  Jan 18 2012: The freedom of information war is coming to a head. The government acted lightly and laughed it off when it was about Napster and music... but wikileaks is a whole new level. I appreciated Clay ending with the idea that this is not the end, the fight will continue... true... but *sigh*.
• +2

  A comment on Talk: Julia Bacha: Pay attention to nonviolence

  Aug 31 2011: Recently in India there was a successful non-violent protest against an anti-corruption bill. The culture that Gandhi created lives on, and needs to spread. Thanks Julia for doing your part: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-28/hazare-ends-hunger-strike-as-indian-lawmakers-support-anti-graft-demands.html

• A comment on Talk: Joshua Walters: On being just crazy enough

  Jun 30 2011: I think Josh is hitting on the problem with diagnosis of mental illness. The bio/physio model of diagnosis for disease was adapted to mental illness wrongfully. Unfortunately, this is not a new idea... many psychologists and researchers know it's a problem and have proposed solutions.
  
  The difficulty is in implementing those solutions, finding a way to get them practically instituted within a zeitgeist of "mental disease". Someone with OCD hearing their diagnosis gives them a feeling of "oh, I'm broken", which stops them from trying and gives them justification to give up and rely on drugs. Instead, everything seems to be more like a gradient; an OCD patient simply "tends to be more obsessive than normal"... but how to get this idea into the system is beyond me.
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: LIVE TED Conversation: Join TED Speaker Eli Pariser

  May 14 2011: Eli - thanks for provoking thought.
  
  To what extent do you feel that this 'filter bubble' is a symptom of a larger problem in societal organization? I find that, even in the physical world, people tend to find information which aligns with their existing beliefs (psychologists call it 'confirmation bias').
  
  People hang out with similar friends, read sympathizing newspapers/websites, etc. Isn't this pattern in social media simply a result of product designers giving people what they already want? I feel like solving this problem may lie in changing our values more than redesigning technology. While a new algorithm will certainly help, it may just dissuade users from using facebook (as they don't WANT competing outlooks).
  
  Thoughts?

• A comment on Conversation: Rethink the human-centered airline experience. *A TEDActive Travel Project*

  Apr 15 2011: Was an honour being a part of the project. From what I've seen so far, it seems the power of TED conversations is in its ability to get really diverse perspectives, so as an open question... does anyone have a story of an amazing experience in-flight? Or what about a horror story?
  
  My own: once I was flying Air India, and upon powering up the plane, the engine on the left wing BURST INTO FLAMES. So, that sucked, and yeah, problems do arise. But the insult to injury was the pilot coming on the speaker... "It seems there will be a minor technical delay". Please don't lie to us - we're putting our lives in your hands! An engine on fire is NOT going to be a minor delay.
  
  Anyone else got something to share?