Social media compulsion

He flashed up a slide of a shelf filled with sugary baked goods. “Just as we shouldn’t blame the baker for making such delicious treats, we can’t blame tech makers for making their products so good we want to use them,” he said. “Of course that’s what tech companies will do. And frankly: do we want it any other way?”The Guardian (website); 'Our minds can be hijacked': the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia

I can, in fact, blame bakers. It's easy: I do it in the same way I blame cigarette manufacturers. In all three cases (sugar/fat/flavour combinations, nicotine, social rewards) they exploit chemical pathways in our brains to get us to do something not in our best interests. They are supernormal stimuli — and given how recent the research is, I can forgive the early tobacconists and confectioners, but tech doesn't get the luxury of ignorance-as-an-excuse.

I want my technology to be a tool which helps me get stuff done.

A drill is something I pick up, use to make a hole, then put down and forget about until I want to make another hole.

I don't want a drill which is cursed so that if I ever put it down, I start to feel bad about not making more holes in things, and end up staying up late at night just to find yet one more thing I can drill into.

If I saw in a shop a drill which I knew would do that, I wouldn't get it even if it was free, never broke, the (included) battery lasted a lifetime, etc. — the cost to the mind wouldn't be worth it.

The same is true for the addictive elements of social media: I need to be connected to my friends, but I'd rather spend money than risk addiction.

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Original post: https://kitsunesoftware.wordpress.com/2018/08/31/social-media-compulsion/

Original post timestamp: Fri, 31 Aug 2018 11:34:47 +0000

Tags: addiction, social media, The Guardian

Categories: Psychology, Software, Technology