Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

“User engagement” is code for “addiction”

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 276 posts

Re: “User engagement” is code for “addiction”

#161

Post by Aunche »

misdichotomy wrote: post #80
mywittyname wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know the common refrain is "Delete Facebook!" but that's the equivalent of abstinence-only education. We need to start talking about how to configure Screen Time on iOS, or how to use Facebook's built-in tools to hide content you don't want to see. I see it more akin to the opioid crisis. Just like drug manufactures shouldn't be pushing opioids as a way to deal with minor pain and depression because they know it…

> Normal people are seriously outgunned here. This is quite right. PragmaticPulp's phrase "an act perpetrated by evil corporations on us helpless individuals" is a bit of rhetorical jujitsu, creating a strawman to set up a rallying cry "I believe people have agency!" You don't have to assume that individuals are "helpless", as if they are generally helpless and lacking agency, to agree that these corporations are exp…

> This is quite right. PragmaticPulp's phrase "an act perpetrated by evil corporations on us helpless individuals" is a bit of rhetorical jujitsu, creating a strawman...

How is this a strawman? This article is absolutely this inflamatory, if not more so.

> Reddit, for example, has always obfuscated the true Karma score (“to prevent vote brigading”)

There is no reason to believe otherwise. Everyone from Youtube and cheat-bot detection services utilizes the same strategy.

> To the contrary, the Ministries of Truth, Peace, Love, and Plenty will all be private (or publicly traded) entities.

Basically, the conclusion is that we're inevitably going to turn into 1984. There isn't even a suggestion of how to change the situation.

Re: “User engagement” is code for “addiction”

#162

Post by hinkley »

faitswulff wrote: post #56
andrewla wrote: post #47

This kind of semantic game has to stop. If you water down the meaning of "addiction" enough then you can say that anything is "addictive" and with that, you can carry over all the connotations of the word. Then people start saying "I'm addicted to coffee" and "I'm addicted to bread" and before you know it people saying "I'm addicted to heroin" are met with "well, why don't you just stop, like I did with coffee for a…

People can be neurochemically addicted to coffee. I suspect the same can be said of social media.

Yes, thank you.

I was about to say, "tell that to the hangover-like headache I get if I go all day without caffeine".

Re: “User engagement” is code for “addiction”

#163

Post by kjrose »

This hits the nail on the head while also missing one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle. Marketing and sales people are trying to equally play the system to further addict people not only to the platform but to purchasing/ using their products off the central platforms.

It's shocking how much material on social networks is really just marketing disguised as grassroots. Or worse marketing specifically designed to tickle our other addictions, especially sensual addictions.

So now you get a double hit and these companies love it because the marketers pay the bills.

Re: “User engagement” is code for “addiction”

#164

Post by reaperducer »

robterrell wrote: post #91
reaperducer wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need to start talking about how to configure Screen Time on iOS, or how to use Facebook's built-in tools to hide content you don't want to see I have my home router configured to not allow any social media-capable devices to connect on Sundays. After a few weeks, the FOMO cycle is broken and you realize that there's more to life than scrolling.

Can you share your blocklist, please?

It's device based. Anything with a web browser or an App Store.

Re: “User engagement” is code for “addiction”

#166

Post by quickthrower2 »

Club houses inability to turn off alerts in the app is an example of this. The best is to minimise alerts and pause them for a week. There be other dark patterns in there to get you hooked. I’ve set my account to counteract these.

My prediction is like all popular new things it’ll turn shitty in 3 years time. Sad but that’s what I expect from SV. Facebook Google Amazon Atlasssian etc have prepared me. I’m vaccinated!

Re: “User engagement” is code for “addiction”

#167

Post by torgian »

gary_bernhardt wrote: post #132

Here's an anecdote about what happens when you design a product in the opposite way. I own https://www.executeprogram.com , which has interactive in-browser courses on various software development technologies. Currently they all cover languages, more or less: TypeScript, SQL, various JS topics, regexes. (Disclosure: it costs money after you finish your 16th lesson.) Almost all (maybe literally all) of our competitor…

Well this is very interesting. Congrats on the marketing, I’m going to check this out

Re: “User engagement” is code for “addiction”

#168

Post by RandallBrown »

dharbin wrote: post #76
teh_infallible wrote: post #16

The word “addiction” is overused in my opinion. Bad habits are not addictions. An addiction is something which actively harms you, but you can’t stop doing it. Yes, you can argue social media is harmful, but it generally does not cause people to lose their jobs or spend all their money.

Can someone have a gambling addiction? I've often heard that gambling addiction is a real problem, so why can't social media be addictive? Social media and mobile games like to use similar "engagement" techniques as slot machines, for example.

Yes, but just like how the vast majority of gamblers aren't addicts, the same is probably true of social media.

There's also the major difference in consequences. If you're truly addicted to social media, you're way less likely to destroy your life (although it could still be possible.)

Post reply on HN