The Addictive Power of Anger: A Call for Regulation in Social Media Design
Addiction Economy Thought for Today - Wow, I found out that anger causes the same dopamine spikes in the brain as pleasure and the same potential for addiction as activities like cigarettes and gambling. Again another way of showing how we are manipulated to behaving in a ways which are harmful by companies.
We knew that inflammatory posts which create anger were more likely to be prioritised by the algorithm, but didn't know that the reason they worked so well in terms of engagement was because they cause similar dopamine spikes and troughs which create addiction to other products which are also often personally harmful and also harmful in other ways.
Social media algorithms prioritising inflammatory postings which cause anger, make this another 'addictive design technique' which keeps us on the platform longer. Below Carole Cadwalladr in The Guardian discusses the role of social media in inflaming the current UK riots.
This is another reason why we propose that the addictive design techniques, including algorithmic design are specifically restricted. Without them, we would be less compelled to overuse the platforms to the detriment of our mental and physical health, it would be less of a catalyst for real world anger and harms. It is a no brainer and we feel can be done without too much compromise of the general pleasure and benefit of social media in general.
Early days in our work on this, but Joe Woof and I began to explore this in this recent article based on our presentation to the 'Addiction and Cyberspace' group here:
https://lnkd.in/enru5bfp
Here is the article which explains about anger and dopamine
https://lnkd.in/eZrDPE3T
and an academic paper which is a bit harder to understand
https://lnkd.in/eUxwUkgf
As per our other conversations about this Anja K. Tony Curzon Price Stephen Almond Joanna Bryson Dr Raj Thamotheram Francine Bennett Dr Roger Miles interested in views about how possible it is technically and through regulation?
https://lnkd.in/eG7cVqGE