Driven by a desire to right some wrongs, a few former employees of tech giants such as Google and Facebook have joined together to battle tech addiction.

With their efforts resulting in the creation of the Center for Humane Technology, the former employees are striving to correct the problems that social networks and smartphones have created for society, namely by raising awareness about addiction to such technology.

The Center for Humane Technology, along with media watchdog group Common Sense Media, is working on an anti-tech addiction lobbying effort along with a Truth About Tech campaign, which will target U.S. public schools with messages about the dangers of excessive technology use and the link between habitual social media use and depression.

Considered to be particularly qualified on the subject, former Google ethicist Tristan Harris hints that company practices were designed to encourage ever-increasing media consumption.

"We were on the inside. We know what the companies measure. We know how they talk, and we know how the engineering works."

"All the tech companies profit the more attention they extract out of human vessels," Harris said. "They profit by drilling into our brains to pull the attention out of it, by using persuasion techniques to keep them hooked."

In addition to the center, Harris has also created a nonprofit to help people recognize how much time they are spending online, called Time Well Spent.

Also among the group members is early Facebook investor Roger McNamee, who has been especially vocal about his contributions to the social media company.

"This is an opportunity for me to correct a wrong," he said.