"User Engagement" is Code for "Addiction"
An Anonymous Coward writes:
"User Engagement" Is Code for "Addiction"
There is something about social media that human beings are not psychologically prepared for. It is a perverse and unnatural abstraction of human social community to which our brain does not react well. As a facsimile of genuine humanity, it plunges into something resembling The Uncanny Valley for social interactions. It might be, for all we know, that the primary reason someone posts on social media is anger. If a proper study was done, I bet it would show exactly that.
Quarantines and lock downs forced people indoors and onto social media. That means that everyone's own emotions became the most important thing in their world. Suddenly, everyone is in the daily habit of an unhealthy and irrational solipsism. Not because we wanted to be, or would be under other circumstances, but because we are all being conditioned to be introverted and consumption-obsessed egomaniacs.
[...] As a UI developer by trade, I can pinpoint precisely the Dark Triad of Web UI Design Choices that addict people to social media and drive us all slowly crazy (by design!):
- Relative timestamps ("3 hours ago" instead of "6:56 PM"). This creates IMMEDIACY.
- Infinite scrolling with no "more" button or link. This creates PERPETUATION.
- Fake internet points (clickable, often animated icons with incrementing numbers. Likes, reactions, upvotes, retweets, etc.). This creates ADDICTION.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.