How social media is designed with addiction in mind
Addiction Economy thought for Today - How social media is specifically designed with our addiction in mind - and why reels are taking over the world and our minds.
Great article here on this issue: The State of the Culture 2024 from Ted Gioia
https://lnkd.in/eXqfEDqW
Social media addiction was one of the catalysts for our project, but I had missed the transition from posts to reels. (Joe Woof was onto this early last year, but I didn't see it clearly enough to get the leap of addictiveness. Sorry Joe!)
Here's how it works against the 4 components of our Economy Model of Addiction:
1. Addictive Product Design
As his great graphic below shows, posts are about distraction, which becomes addictive, but Reels mainline the dopamine hit which is why we are seeing TikTok-isation of Facebook, Insta & YouTube. The psychology and biology of addiction are central to product design.
2. Predatory Marketing
The platforms have predatory marketing built into the algorithm. No need for adverts on the TV or product giveaways, it's all part of the service.
3. Disinformation
We are all fed up of the BS from the tech companies about how social media is not really addictive. No need to labour this. (It reminds me a bit of the Vape companies whose product design is clearly for young people but they protest indignantly that they are only targeting smokers! Total bllx.)
4. Undermining political action
The whole gamut of Nanny State propaganda has been thrown at this one, particularly in the US. But I think this distinction between posts and reels and the psychology behind the addictive design might help make the point about about social media harms even more powerfully.
In conclusion, I have lots of conversations about whether The Addiction Economy as a framing means we have agency or not. To reiterate: this addictive sht works, sadly, they know how to addict us, don't underestimate it. But that doesn't mean we can't shake our heads and see it for what it is and pull away, which I hear about lots of people doing.
The whole point of our project is just to hammer home that all this is just for profit and we are the mugs. Let's not give them any more cash. Dump them.
Thanks John C. Dicey for the heads up.