I think it’s because FOMO is rampant in tech and HN is the most relevant source for it. It offers the best of all the technology, programming and science subred

I think it’s because FOMO is rampant in tech and HN is the most relevant source for it. It offers the best of all the technology, programming and science subreddits combined with high quality news outlets, and it does so with better moderation. The thing about Facebook, Reddit and other social media’s is that they aren’t all that interesting. You can only look at so many videos of cats before it gets boring, well maybe not cats, but I think you get my meaning. I think we get used to the SoMe news feed, and unless it does something that is actually relevant, it grows stale. HN does something relevant, or at least something that feels relevant. I’m not sure it’s really build to be less addictive, because adrenaline is a hell of a drug, but it may not be intentionally addictive. I see a lot of the same on LinkedIn, which is really, really popular among managers. Or twitter and journalists. FOMO is just an amazing way to keep users coming back, even if it isn’t necessarily a positive experience.