61–70 of 132 posts
I get the TikTok addiction, but before that it was fb, before that was the tv, before that the newspaper/magazines, before that the books, before that table games etc I don’t know it seems that regardless of the technology the brain needs dozing off from reality.
Reading is obviously healthier than scrolling tiktok.
I get the TikTok addiction, but before that it was fb, before that was the tv, before that the newspaper/magazines, before that the books, before that table games etc I don’t know it seems that regardless of the technology the brain needs dozing off from reality.
Worthwhile to note that “TikTok” here just means the format, not the platform. YouTube has its “shorts”, Facebook, insta, X, et all engage heavily in milking your doom scrolled eyeballs for time and profit.
I uninstalled basically all of these EXCEPT youtube, and that's what I struggle with sometimes now. I find so much great long- and medium-form content on Youtube that I want to keep it around. But I have to admit that I can sometimes fall down a time-wasting rabbit hole with shorts. The Youtube app now has a "shorts feed limit" under "time management" that will limit your access to the auto-scroll shorts feed to a ce…
I get the TikTok addiction, but before that it was fb, before that was the tv, before that the newspaper/magazines, before that the books, before that table games etc I don’t know it seems that regardless of the technology the brain needs dozing off from reality.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
define short form content as anything under an arbitrary time threshold, legislate all online providers of short form content to mandate an arbitrary time limit per day for all users, add a law that parents knowingly allowing children to exceed national daily short form content limits are subject to penalty. seems fairly straightforward. but uh, I guess we could all capitulate to giving corporations our biometric dat…
I don't think it's straightforward at all. What's considered "short form content". Just video? Does just audio count? Does a gif count? What if I make a website that uploads videos at 1/10th the speed, and the user plays it back 10x faster so it becomes short form? What if i make a video aggregator website that pulls from multiple different sources so the user gets around the time limit per day per user? What if user…
I get the TikTok addiction, but before that it was fb, before that was the tv, before that the newspaper/magazines, before that the books, before that table games etc I don’t know it seems that regardless of the technology the brain needs dozing off from reality.
Everyone had freedom to pick their poison so to speak. Now? All tech and screen based.
Hyper-social normalization always falls apart. It's unnatural; modern human biology evolved for thousands solving problems mostly in isolation. Tech fueled distribution of material goods humans need to survive is great as it removed risk to biology. But social normalization sucks.
Whether the socialized motive is appease gods by living up to scripture, keep a job/build career make money, or validate it just normalizes people and if we all know the same shit, why discuss anything with them? We already know the same shit.
the linked study effectively drills down on aspects of previous work ... "High-frequency SFV [short form video] use was consistently associated with attentional disruption, reduced executive functioning, and emotional dysregulation." "Neuroimaging results revealed reduced activation in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) and Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) regions ... when participants viewed personalised TikT…
Absolutely baffling you’re being downvoted lmao. Social media Astro turfing teams working overtime I guess
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are all reward hacking, but tiktok is audiovisual immersion, dating apps are romantic validation and twitter is outrage/information foraging
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16101310 (2018) > "Matt Mayberry, who works at a California startup called Dopamine Labs, says it's common knowledge in the industry that Instagram exploits this craving by strategically withholding "likes" from certain users. If the photo-sharing app decides you need to use the service more often, it'll show only a fraction of the likes you've received on a given post at first, h…
There were investigations into it after that the conclusions was that nobody believed it or could replicate it: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/01/does-instagram-withh...
Either the person was making something up, or he just didn't understand how hyperscale apps work toward eventual consistency rather than having everything propagated the instant you press the button.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are all reward hacking, but tiktok is audiovisual immersion, dating apps are romantic validation and twitter is outrage/information foraging
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16101310 (2018) > "Matt Mayberry, who works at a California startup called Dopamine Labs, says it's common knowledge in the industry that Instagram exploits this craving by strategically withholding "likes" from certain users. If the photo-sharing app decides you need to use the service more often, it'll show only a fraction of the likes you've received on a given post at first, h…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16101310 (2018) > "Matt Mayberry, who works at a California startup called Dopamine Labs, says it's common knowledge in the industry that Instagram exploits this craving by strategically withholding "likes" from certain users. If the photo-sharing app decides you need to use the service more often, it'll show only a fraction of the likes you've received on a given post at first, h…
That's a weird old myth. I don't know why you dug up an old quote from a startup founder pumping his startup from 2018 in The Globe and Mail . There were investigations into it after that the conclusions was that nobody believed it or could replicate it: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/01/does-instagram-withh... Either the person was making something up, or he just didn't understand how hyperscale apps work towa…
Zuckerberg Knew. A Whistleblower Has the Emails to Prove It. - https://www.gadgetreview.com/zuckerberg-knew-a-whistleblower... - August 19th, 2026
> Armed with engineering documents and internal emails, the states allege Meta built specific features — infinite scroll, autoplay, beauty filters, engagement-optimized recommendation systems — to maximize time-on-platform for young users, while allegedly collecting data from children under 13 without parental consent. A federal judge already rejected Meta’s motion to dismiss, allowing the addictive-design and concealment claims to proceed.
> Frances Haugen’s 2021 disclosures first established that Meta reportedly knew its products could harm young users and chose not to prioritize fixes. Béjar arrives in court with the internal emails and survey data to back that narrative.
US states accuse Meta of covering up research on teen social media addiction in pivotal trial - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/18/meta-chil... - August 18th, 2026
> Lawyers representing 29 US states have accused Meta of covering up internal research showing Instagram was addictive for teenagers. In a packed courtroom Tuesday, on the opening day of a landmark legal challenge, they said the company knew its products harmed children but hid that information from the public.
> The attorneys general disagree, saying Meta “developed and refined a set of psychologically manipulative” features designed to maximize people’s time on its apps. Those include an infinite scrolling recommendation algorithm, constant notification alerts, thumbs-up “likes” and visual filters for altering one’s image.
> “AGs are in the perfect position to get this done,” he added. “We did it with the tobacco settlement in the 1990s. We did it with the companies behind the opioid crisis. We’ll do it again with Meta.”
Meta and YouTube designed addictive products that harmed young people, jury finds - https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/25/jury-verdict-u... - March 25th, 2026
Sharpe BT, Spooner RA. Dopamine-scrolling: a modern public health challenge requiring urgent attention. Perspect Public Health. 2025 Jul;145(4):190-191. https://doi.org/10.1177/17579139251331914 Epub 2025 Apr 12. PMID: 40219910; PMCID: PMC12322333.
> This manuscript examines the emerging phenomenon of dopamine-scrolling and its implications for public health, particularly regarding mental wellbeing and digital behaviour patterns. While extensive research exists on Internet addiction, problematic social media use, and doom-scrolling, the authors of this paper identify dopamine-scrolling as a distinct behavioural pattern that warrants specific attention from public health professionals and policymakers.
De D, El Jamal M, Aydemir E, Khera A. Social Media Algorithms and Teen Addiction: Neurophysiological Impact and Ethical Considerations. Cureus. 2025 Jan 8;17(1):e77145. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.77145 PMID: 39925596; PMCID: PMC11804976.
> Does it matter how many hours we spend scrolling through Instagram? This article examines the neurobiological impact of prolonged social media use, focusing on how it affects the brain's reward, attention, and emotional regulation systems. Frequent engagement with social media platforms alters dopamine pathways, a critical component in reward processing, fostering dependency analogous to substance addiction. Furthermore, changes in brain activity within the prefrontal cortex and amygdala suggest increased emotional sensitivity and compromised decision-making abilities. The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in this process is significant. AI-driven social media algorithms are designed solely to capture our attention for profit without prioritizing ethical concerns, personalizing content, and enhancing user engagement by continuously tailoring feeds to individual preferences. These adaptive algorithms are designed to maximize screen time, thereby deepening the activation of the brain's reward centers. This cycle of optimized content and heightened engagement accelerates the development of addictive behaviors. The interplay between altered brain physiology and AI-driven content optimization creates a feedback loop that promotes social media addiction among teenagers. This raises significant ethical concerns regarding privacy and the promotion of personalized content. This review article offers a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the neurophysiological impact of social media on adolescents and the moral concerns governing them. It also provides solutions for ethical social media use and preventing addiction among teenagers.
Addictive potential of social media, explained - https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2021/10/addictive-pot... - October 29th, 2021
What Makes TikTok so Addictive?: An Analysis of the Mechanisms Underlying the World’s Latest Social Media Craze - https://sites.brown.edu/publichealthjournal/2021/12/13/tikto... - December 13th, 2021
(I have provided subject matter expertise on this topic to federal policymakers, with peer reviewed citations in all cases, I hope I have helped improve your priors to bring them current)