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> How might a streaming service be designed to increase user happiness and wellbeing? Yesterday I worked longer, because we had a critical bug at an unfortunat

> How might a streaming service be designed to increase user happiness and wellbeing? Yesterday I worked longer, because we had a critical bug at an unfortunate moment. At some point my brain stopped working and I couldn't make progress. So I stopped work for the day, solved some solitaire, mindlessly played some chess, and watched a couple episodes of anime on Netflix. After that my brain unblocked itself and the world stopped spinning around me. I wouldn't be able to read a book in this state, or anything requiring any thought or much energy[1]. Doing completely mindless things is sometimes beneficial for you. [1]: You might laugh, but you can absolutely play chess on autopilot without any thought and still win with people.

542354234235 5y ago
I don’t think anyone is saying that mindlessness should be banned or completely removed from a platform. But that it should not be pushed so heavily that it is edging out any kind of deeper engagement, or just non engagement. All these services are competing for human attention, which there is only a finite amount. I think it is pretty obvious that this has resulted in more mindlessness, where apps are trying to fill every sliver of open attention with the most easily digestible little piece of data (a 10 second meme, a couple of comments, a 30 sec friend snap). Combined with apps and services trying to take your attention from other things through strategic notifications, this is the opposite of long term wellbeing. Attention and focus for long periods of time is a skill. Delayed gratification is a skill. Both of those are needed for long term growth, developing other skills, and doing activities that are fulfilling but not immediately gratifying. Being surrounded by things that constantly and perniciously attempt to carve up your attention and provide instant gratification is detrimental to those skills.

542354234235 5y ago

I don’t think anyone is saying that mindlessness should be banned or completely removed from a platform. But that it should not be pushed so heavily that it is edging out any kind of deeper engagement, or just non engagement. All these services are competing for human attention, which there is only a finite amount. I think it is pretty obvious that this has resulted in more mindlessness, where apps are trying to fill every sliver of open attention with the most easily digestible little piece of data (a 10 second meme, a couple of comments, a 30 sec friend snap). Combined with apps and services trying to take your attention from other things through strategic notifications, this is the opposite of long term wellbeing. Attention and focus for long periods of time is a skill. Delayed gratification is a skill. Both of those are needed for long term growth, developing other skills, and doing activities that are fulfilling but not immediately gratifying. Being surrounded by things that constantly and perniciously attempt to carve up your attention and provide instant gratification is detrimental to those skills.