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The App That Wants to Cure Our News Anxiety Has a Problem: Convincing Readers to Commit
The ‘news therapy’ app Sift thinks of itself as a gym, not a spa
In fall 2018, an app called Sift debuted in Apple’s App Store. A product of All Turtles, the artificial intelligence incubator co-founded by former Evernote CEO Phil Libin, Sift billed itself as “news therapy”: a tool to equip users with the perspective and context they needed to process the substance of the news without being overwhelmed by rage or despair.
Sift offers a series of “cards” containing text, graphics, and interactive features that together summarize the debate on five political issues — gun control, climate change, immigration, healthcare, education — as well as a primer on news literacy. Sift has no advertising and is funded by six-month subscriptions for $19.99.
Despite Sift’s origins in a machine learning incubator, its creators quickly realized that “the algorithms are part of the problem” when it comes to news anxiety, co-founder Gabe Campodonico said.
