“Swiping on apps is inherently rewarding due to a dopamine hit in the brain every time a new message is received”
– USC psychology lecturer
“The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works”
– Vice President of User Growth at Facebook
Using smartphone apps has been compared to using drugs like cocaine.
One positive note is that cocaine is worse … using your phone, at least, leaves you with your prefrontal cortex.
“An important difference, though, is that cocaine impairs the prefrontal cortex, which leads to poor decision-making, while internet addiction doesn’t.” – USC
A couple of short articles:
A Vox article on designing a more intense reward system:
Consider the following:
- What are you doing to learn and understand these design techniques?
- What are the best ways to avoid creating these addicting behaviors?
- How do we manage this tension on the projects we are working on?