Social Media Copies Gambling Methods 'To Create Psychological Cravings' (theguardian.com)

Social media platforms are using the same techniques as gambling firms to create psychological dependencies and ingrain their products in the lives of their users, experts warn. From a report: These methods are so effective they can activate similar mechanisms as cocaine in the brain, create psychological cravings and even invoke "phantom calls and notifications" where users sense the buzz of a smartphone, even when it isn't really there. "Facebook, Twitter and other companies use methods similar to the gambling industry to keep users on their sites," said Natasha Schull, the author of Addiction by Design, which reported how slot machines and other systems are designed to lock users into a cycle of addiction. "In the online economy, revenue is a function of continuous consumer attention -- which is measured in clicks and time spent."

Comments

Re:So is everyone

[decipher_saint]

If a person is up all night worrying about their number of Twitter followers the game is playing them

My experience

[al0ha]

I had a young PhD friend that was getting backing for an app he was creating based on what he knew about people from his field of study, the brain and computer science. We had a long discussion about security and data, and quite frankly he didn't like what I had to say, even jokingly calling me a Luddite which stung a bit. This was several years ago, now all of a sudden the concerns I and others like Bruce Schneier were bringing up years ago are finally front page news.

George; I win. :P

That Explains A Couple Of things To Me

[crunchygranola]

I have never like gambling - I played a slot machine once for 15 minutes, and it was one of the most boring 15 minutes of my life.

I also don't like social media (unless /. counts). So apparently I don't have the brain chemistry these addiction-enablers are exploiting.