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The Billion Dollar Mind Trick: An Intro To Triggers

nirandfar.com

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Re: The Billion Dollar Mind Trick: An Intro To Triggers

#11

Post by nickpinkston »

ajays wrote: post #6
nickpinkston wrote: post #5

The article isn't half-bad, but must we always refer to things based on "Billion Dollar" money-centric thinking. What happening to "world changing", "breakthrough", etc. hyperbole? Maybe it's less measurable, but it'd be nice for us to at least frame what we do as trying to accomplish more than deal digital heroin to make GigaBucks.

It's about Instagram, and there are people still mulling the "billion dollar" figure about Instagram getting acquired by FB.

Instagram being cared about because of acquision size is part of this too. I'm skeptical about what "value" is really created with companies like this. Zygna seems like a net-loss for society, "they're gonna make billions!" seems to justify it in the eyes of many...

Re: The Billion Dollar Mind Trick: An Intro To Triggers

#12

Post by uvTwitch »

nickpinkston wrote: post #5

The article isn't half-bad, but must we always refer to things based on "Billion Dollar" money-centric thinking. What happening to "world changing", "breakthrough", etc. hyperbole? Maybe it's less measurable, but it'd be nice for us to at least frame what we do as trying to accomplish more than deal digital heroin to make GigaBucks.

No, we don't, but billion-dollar is a far more appropriate thing to associate with instagram than world-changing.

Re: The Billion Dollar Mind Trick: An Intro To Triggers

#14

Post by roc »

acgourley wrote: post #9
jamesaguilar wrote: post #3

Meh. In this sense one could become "addicted" to writing in a journal. "Addict" is quite the pejorative term to use for someone who likes taking and posting pictures of things. That said, triggering is a fascinating phenomenon and can be used consciously on yourself for fun or profit.

Because a journal-writing does not give a variable-reward triggered dopamine hit after the activity, it does NOT form a habit in the same way instagram does.

It doesn't? What about blogging?

Re: The Billion Dollar Mind Trick: An Intro To Triggers

#15

Post by paged90 »

roc wrote: post #14
acgourley wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because a journal-writing does not give a variable-reward triggered dopamine hit after the activity, it does NOT form a habit in the same way instagram does.

It doesn't ? What about blogging?

Blogging gives the blogger a rewarding experience of being listened to - I wouldn't say that's a trigger, people enjoy being heard, so while they have listeners, they're gonna speak.

The reader on the other hand gets a new post, which could be about anything, and sometimes the post will be bad, other times good, really good. This will create a variable reward system, and keep the reader coming back.

Re: The Billion Dollar Mind Trick: An Intro To Triggers

#16

Post by paged90 »

sek wrote: post #8

Part 2: The Multi Billion Dollar Mind Trick: Manipulate People by Simulating Success Computer games are based on psychology, they try to make people think they accomplished something with as little effort as possible. Millions of people are addicted to it.

Do you think that's it? By that logic, I could make a game that's ridiculously easy and become a millionaire like that. People will beat it, no effort, success.

I think there's got to be a perceived effort and learning curve involved.

Re: The Billion Dollar Mind Trick: An Intro To Triggers

#17

Post by jamesaguilar »

acgourley wrote: post #9
jamesaguilar wrote: post #3

Meh. In this sense one could become "addicted" to writing in a journal. "Addict" is quite the pejorative term to use for someone who likes taking and posting pictures of things. That said, triggering is a fascinating phenomenon and can be used consciously on yourself for fun or profit.

Because a journal-writing does not give a variable-reward triggered dopamine hit after the activity, it does NOT form a habit in the same way instagram does.

You presumably have some evidence that posting a picture to Instagram gives you such a hit, while posting an article to your blog does not. Or at the very least you have some reason to believe this. Could you show it to me? It's going to need to be pretty strong evidence to convince me that blogging, a medium where some posts get a lot of feedback, others a little, and still others none at all, is a system without a variable schedule of rewards.

Re: The Billion Dollar Mind Trick: An Intro To Triggers

#19

Post by tedunangst »

peter_l_downs wrote: post #13

Does anyone have good information on "beating" these triggers? Knowing they exist is a good start, but I'd love to be able to stop checking FB / Twitter / HN (gasp) when I'm feeling bored.

1. Pick a deadline for your timeout. 1 day, 1 week, ... 2. Change your password to something random, write it down. 3. Logout. 4. Wait until timeout expires before logging in. See how you feel.

Re: The Billion Dollar Mind Trick: An Intro To Triggers

#20

Post by nireyal »

peter_l_downs wrote: post #13

Does anyone have good information on "beating" these triggers? Knowing they exist is a good start, but I'd love to be able to stop checking FB / Twitter / HN (gasp) when I'm feeling bored.

This is such a common struggle in the tech community, yet few have as much self-awareness as you do to admit it. Thank you! I will be blogging about how to unwind habits in my next post but in the meantime understanding the different types of behavior change might be useful to you, see: http://www.nirandfar.com/2012/03/how-to-design-behavior.html I hope this is helpful.
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