EU Commission: addictive design Instagram and Facebook in breach of the DSA

> First, to be addicted to something does not mean there has to be the same profile of withdrawal that we see in other drugs. Most of the diagnbosis only means you have an obsession that effects your day to day life in a way that causes harm.

I never disputed that. I disputed OP's comparison with alcohol which like other GABA agonists (benzos, etc.) can cause lethal physical withdrawal symptoms. Looking at the downvotes a lot of "man, I scroll TikTok 10 hours a day because I addicted man, literally like heroin, but worse, man!!1" types got offended. Guess people took it as challenge to their victim identity or something ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

> But I do not understand your cognitive bias and why you will not do a simple search.

But I did.

> According to mean withdrawal effects on cognitive skills, 97.6% participants in group A were able to complete task within assigned time before cessation and after cessation only 57% participants were able to do so, while in group B 94% were able to complete task before cessation and only 72% of participants were able to do so after cessation. Lastly, the mean BP reading checked in group A before cessation was 114.54/82.34mmHg and after cessation, it increased to 122.47/90.34mmHg whereas in group B, before cessation the mean BP reading was 118.32/84.88mmHg and after cessation it was 121.42/88.63mmHg.

So after uninstalling TikTok they will experience a few weeks of decreased mood and concentration but be fine overall? Seems like we are in agreement then!

Yes, I truly hope they do something about addicting design patterns, since they can be dangerous and people don't understand what they're getting into when they download, say, Instagram, for the first time.

People should at the very least be warned about the dark patterns that lead to addiction, just like we warn people who smoke with those big labels in cigarette boxes, or how alcohol is regulated to prevent minors from drinking. Education is also given in these matters at schools and kids get to learn about their effects early on, which doesn't mean that they aren't going to smoke or drink, but at least they are aware of what those things do.

These patterns of unlimited scrollable mindless short videos that give us large hits of dopamine constantly should be researched, talked about and regulated as we can already see the effects they're having on people who are addicted to them. Hell, you can't even open TikTok without watching a video, for example. If a friend sent you a message with their username and you're planning on following them, the second you open the app there's a hook waiting for you.

So, while I do partially agree on the fact that governments usually don't do a good job at regulating online stuff, I still think that this sort of thing should be regulated somehow. By giving kids proper education about the topic, warning parents about the dangers of early life exposure, and forcing these companies to change the way these patterns work to make the user aware of what they're doing at all times (schedules, forced time/video limits, another format that doesn't involve unlimited content a swipe away...). There are so many different approaches, some are simply informative, others are more extreme. We'll see how this is handled