3 ms·

See "Hooked" by Nir Eyal which is all about how to get people addicted to your product. Hence time glued to app metrics.

dvt 9y ago
Well, I guess we have different a different understanding of addiction. Building a great habit-forming app (what Hooked is about) is slightly different than selling crack-cocaine. I would argue one is morally acceptable (building the app) and the other isn't (selling crack-cocaine).
- bduerst 9y ago
  What do you think the pay-to-win mobile apps qualify as? Specifically, the games engineered as Skinner boxes?
- _tulpa 9y ago
  I would argue that the app is morally ambiguous unless you know what habits it teaches the user. What if it teaches users the habit of selling crack cocaine? (stupid example, but you get the point)
  - dvt 9y ago
    Actually you're right. I think that's a fair point. It probably needs to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. In that vein of thought, maybe OP had a point. Snapchat/Instagram seems to feed our narcissistic egos more than anything, so maybe it's not as morally inert as I had thought.
    - adjkant 9y ago
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdynfVNbJ5E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdynfVNbJ5E PS: Despite being recorded "with a potato", to borrow the first comment, very relevant to basically all social media and moral good. And Bo Burnham is an amazing watch generally anyways, PSA. All of his specials are gold.
- Veen 9y ago
  When thousands of very intelligent and highly motivated people dedicate their lives to creating applications that exploit human cognitive and social systems for advertising money, it's something to be concerned about. Attention is a zero sum resource, and humans can be manipulated into spending their time in ways that are not in their best interest. Edit: Tristan Harris has written interestingly on this topic: http://www.tristanharris.com/2016/05/how-technology-hijacks-peoples-minds%E2%80%8A-%E2%80%8Afrom-a-magician-and-googles-design-ethicist/ http://www.tristanharris.com/2016/05/how-technology-hijacks-...
j_s 9y ago
Related/more recent: "Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked" by Adam Alter back in March | https://amzn.com/dp/B01HNJIK70 https://amzn.com/dp/B01HNJIK70 As mentioned here: The relationship between social media use and well-being | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14082130 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14082130

dvt 9y ago

Well, I guess we have different a different understanding of addiction. Building a great habit-forming app (what Hooked is about) is slightly different than selling crack-cocaine. I would argue one is morally acceptable (building the app) and the other isn't (selling crack-cocaine).

bduerst 9y ago
What do you think the pay-to-win mobile apps qualify as? Specifically, the games engineered as Skinner boxes?
_tulpa 9y ago
I would argue that the app is morally ambiguous unless you know what habits it teaches the user. What if it teaches users the habit of selling crack cocaine? (stupid example, but you get the point)
- dvt 9y ago
  Actually you're right. I think that's a fair point. It probably needs to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. In that vein of thought, maybe OP had a point. Snapchat/Instagram seems to feed our narcissistic egos more than anything, so maybe it's not as morally inert as I had thought.
  - adjkant 9y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdynfVNbJ5E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdynfVNbJ5E PS: Despite being recorded "with a potato", to borrow the first comment, very relevant to basically all social media and moral good. And Bo Burnham is an amazing watch generally anyways, PSA. All of his specials are gold.
Veen 9y ago
When thousands of very intelligent and highly motivated people dedicate their lives to creating applications that exploit human cognitive and social systems for advertising money, it's something to be concerned about. Attention is a zero sum resource, and humans can be manipulated into spending their time in ways that are not in their best interest. Edit: Tristan Harris has written interestingly on this topic: http://www.tristanharris.com/2016/05/how-technology-hijacks-peoples-minds%E2%80%8A-%E2%80%8Afrom-a-magician-and-googles-design-ethicist/ http://www.tristanharris.com/2016/05/how-technology-hijacks-...

j_s 9y ago

Related/more recent: "Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked" by Adam Alter back in March | https://amzn.com/dp/B01HNJIK70 https://amzn.com/dp/B01HNJIK70 As mentioned here: The relationship between social media use and well-being | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14082130 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14082130