The infinite scroll may become endangered if controversial Calif. law passes

Post by iamnothere » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 4:02 AM UTC

tzs wrote: post #193

iamnothere wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hello, what right do you have to regulate the presentation of speech ? If you regulate this format because it’s now considered harmful, what stops El Presidente from moving to ban “zines” because the format is “harmful to young minds” and used by “antifa”? What stops CA from moving to ban forums because threaded formats are suddenly considered “too addicting”? Maybe we should ban VR or first person shooter video game…

I doubt that this will run into any 1A issues. It will probably pass the test for allowable time/place/manner restrictions. • It is content neutral. • The government can probably show a significant government interest in reducing the harms infinite scroll often leads to. • It is narrowly tailored. It achieves the goal without burdening more speech than is substantially necessary to achieve the goal. Arguably it doesn…

Post by somenameforme » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 4:14 AM UTC

Greenpants wrote: post #42

ticulatedspline wrote: post #4

Curious as to where the line between “addictive feature” and "good UX" is. Is deliberate pagination actual impedance to use or merely an annoyance that's been weeded out with modern UX design? When does a feature that simply makes your product easier to use cross into a territory that it's illegal? What about media previews, in a platform like reddit if you can preview or expand media directly from the main list is t…

The way I see it, it's the incessant stimuli you get through these apps. There's just no point where the screen stays quiet, stimulus free. Moving elements capture our attention naturally, especially when the entire screen keeps moving. The endless scroll element just makes sure that the stimulus keeps getting renewed the moment you're done with it. Instead, a scroll should give you a break before heading into the ne…

Post by iamnothere » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 4:23 AM UTC

somenameforme wrote: post #203

Greenpants wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I see it, it's the incessant stimuli you get through these apps. There's just no point where the screen stays quiet, stimulus free. Moving elements capture our attention naturally, especially when the entire screen keeps moving. The endless scroll element just makes sure that the stimulus keeps getting renewed the moment you're done with it. Instead, a scroll should give you a break before heading into the ne…

While I would agree, I think many are missing the even more fundamental issue. Even if you get rid of every single predatory thing imaginable, social media itself is full of incessant stimuli, FOMO and other features that make it destructive for everybody, but especially young people. For instance image crafting is going to harmful for everybody, because many adults have a tendency to engage in keeping up with the Jo…

Post by 7402 » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 4:27 AM UTC

iamnothere wrote: post #201

tzs wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that this will run into any 1A issues. It will probably pass the test for allowable time/place/manner restrictions. • It is content neutral. • The government can probably show a significant government interest in reducing the harms infinite scroll often leads to. • It is narrowly tailored. It achieves the goal without burdening more speech than is substantially necessary to achieve the goal. Arguably it doesn…

Time/place/manner restrictions typically apply to public property. These are private websites. While the court has once or twice extended protections to people using private property as a public forum, to my knowledge they have never done so with time/place/manner restrictions .

Post by iamnothere » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 4:28 AM UTC

hatthew wrote: post #204

iamnothere wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn’t it lead to the opposite? You spending time on the platform earns them money because they’re gathering data for targeted ads, and showing you those ads. Non-targeted ads barely pay anything. Addictive content feeds are expensive with the live HD video playing everywhere and the constant tweaks needed from teams working to further refine targeting based on behavior.

For typical social media sites, engagement will pretty much always be proportional to both revenue and cost per user. Either revenue > cost, and the site is incentivized to increase engagement, or revenue < cost and the site dies. There is no middle ground where a site gets a healthy revenue that's greater than its costs, but increasing engagement won't increase revenue. The exceptions are niche sites that do things…