TikTok Is Subject of E U. Inquiry Over Addictive Design The New York Times

Table Of Content

• It's time we bridge the gap between feel-good Design & Ethics panels and the work we do everyday as digital product…
• days that rocked USC: How a derailed commencement brought ‘complete disaster’
• Opinion: How the Supreme Court should rule on Texas and Florida laws against social media moderation
• GS195 Daybed by Gianni Songia for Luigi Sormani, 1960s
• Plaschke: Darvin Ham is on the hot seat as the Lakers are on the brink of elimination

Adipose tissue in mammals play an important role in survival by preparing the body for periods of famine (29). From an evolutionary perspective, the increase in body fat prepared animals for times of food scarcity, in fact, those accumulating body fat had an advantage compared to those that did not (30). However, this occurred in times when humans had insecure food supply (hunter-gatherer) and could spend many days on a hypocaloric diet.

It's time we bridge the gap between feel-good Design & Ethics panels and the work we do everyday as digital product…

Both bills identified social media addiction as a legitimate problem, and one caused by corporations. Social media companies and their defenders have repeatedly rejected responsibility for the addictive nature of their offerings. Facebook, for example, has denied reports that Instagram use harmed teenage girls and pushed back forcefully against claims that its platform harms users.

MEPs call for new rules on digital platforms' addictive design - EURACTIV

MEPs call for new rules on digital platforms' addictive design.

Posted: Wed, 13 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

days that rocked USC: How a derailed commencement brought ‘complete disaster’

When considering the association between FA and BMI, close to 20% were obese and little over 40% were underweight (248). Addictive mechanisms serve a homeostatic function so that if food is scarce one will seek it and binge when found. Additionally, those in the underweight category may be dieting or displaying restrained eating patterns which can increase reward sensitivity for food. The failure of human models of food addiction using YFAS to control for dieting behaviors is a shortcoming of this construct (discussed below). Other neurochemical similarities between drugs of abuse and sugar dependent rats have been observed. Behavioral sensitization is a phenomenon linked to several facets of drug dependence and consists on a long-lasting increase in locomotor activity following repeated administration of psychostimulants or opioids (204–206).

Opinion: How the Supreme Court should rule on Texas and Florida laws against social media moderation

We will also look at how interfaces have changed over time and what this means for users. Regarding addictive design, social media companies like Facebook or Twitter can redesign their platforms by getting rid of the addictive features, such as the ‘like’ button and infinite scroll. Likewise, social media platforms may become addictive because they work like a game that never ends. Specifically, we’re referring to the infinite scroll feature—like the Facebook News Feed or Twitter timeline. The infinite scroll (as well as similar features like ‘auto refresh’) can easily give rise to “doomscrolling.” Doomscrolling refers to endlessly and mindlessly scrolling online, with no end in sight. America’s young people face a mental health crisis, and adults constantly debate how much to blame phones and social media.

GS195 Daybed by Gianni Songia for Luigi Sormani, 1960s

As mentioned, social media algorithms manipulate what people see online in order to keep them addicted to ‘liking’ and scrolling through nonstop ads and content. Hence, it’s not just the manipulative algorithms that are a problem but also the addictive design of social media. For instance, two examples of addictive design are the ‘like’ button and the infinite scroll. The nutrition transition theory is also supported by compelling evidence suggesting that a wide range of animals have also been gaining weight in recent years (25, 26). Other terms that support the “environmental theory of obesity” include “globesity” at the most distal levels, and the “neighborhood effect” at more proximal levels (27). Notwithstanding, the “neighborhood effect” has far-reaching social implications, given that the neighborhood where one lives is merely a proxy for socioeconomic status.

Effect of drugs of abuse and withdrawal on acetylcholine release in the NAc

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Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid Operator Sued for Making Dating Apps Addictive.

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But the default mode network is just a set of brain regions that tend to be involved in internally focused thinking, such as contemplating your past or making a moral judgment, versus externally focused thinking such as playing chess or driving an unfamiliar route. So why the insistence from Haidt and others that smartphones dangerously rewire the brain? It stems from misunderstandings of research that I have encountered frequently as a neuroscientist studying emotional development, behavioral addictions and people’s reactions to media.

Plaschke: Darvin Ham is on the hot seat as the Lakers are on the brink of elimination

Considerable controversy exists with respect to sugar intake and obesity (266). There is general consensus indicating that sugar (sucrose, fructose) is not a direct cause of obesity (267, 268), however, other studies have linked sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) to an increase in body weight in children and adults (269, 270). Several reasons are offered to explain this discrepancy, but somehow SSB appears to be a special case. First, it is possible that liquid calories are not compensated by a total decrease in energy intake. None of these studies have linked SSB to sugar addiction so we cannot adequately assess the direct impact of compulsive SSB consumption on body weight. The design legislation that’s still alive in the state Senate would require companies to implement common-sense privacy requirements such as stringent default settings and clear, concise terms of service.

How Product Developers Keep Our Eyeballs Glued to Their Apps

We cannot discard FA because not all obese people are food-addicted and not all food-addicted are obese (251–253). A recent systematic review and meta-analysis of human studies “support that altered general reward-related decision making is a salient neuropsychological factor across eating and weight disorders in adulthood” (255). Taken together, the FA perspective suggests that biochemical changes and genetic predisposition to addiction can lead to excess food consumption independent of social factors.

Additionally, supporting research and development in this area will help ensure that humane design principles are continually being improved upon. Ultimately, by working together we can help make the world a better place for everyone through humane design. Humane design is a term that is used to describe the process of designing products and services that address the needs of all users, including those with special needs or who may be marginalized. The goal of humane design is to create products and services that are inclusive and accessible to everyone. When designing for empathy, designers consider the user’s emotional state and try to understand how their product or service can make a difference in their life. Inclusive design takes into account the user’s physical, cognitive, and social abilities when designing products and services.

The gateway hypothesis claims that legal drugs (alcohol or nicotine) precedes consumption of cannabinoids, and cannabinoids precede other illicit drugs (218). In animal models of drug abuse this phenomenon appears to be linked to cross-sensitization and instead of increasing locomotor activity it increases the intake of another drug (“consummatory cross-sensitization”) (168). For instance, exposure to cannabis in young adult rats enhanced opiate intake when adults (219). In a separate experiment, pre-exposure of ethanol enhanced cocaine self-administration in adult mice (220, 221). They may seem to beckon you and gnaw at you and even bark at you to open that app BUT you don’t need to follow their call.

By taking these factors into account when designing products, it is possible to create more user-friendly items that are still enjoyable and satisfying to use. European Union regulators on Monday opened an investigation into TikTok over potential breaches of online content rules aimed at protecting children, saying the popular social media platform’s “addictive design” risked exposing young people to harmful content. People are more willing than ever before to spend money on things that don’t come with these negative effects. Most digital platforms, when looking to establish credibility, turn to some measure of “social proof”, whereby they utilise phenomena where users can be influenced and motivated by the desires, actions, and behaviour of other people.

Former Google design ethicist Tristan Harris who recently co-founded the Center for Humane Technology raises that question. He has become one of the most outspoken critics of how devices are intentionally made to hook users at the cost of their time and comfort. Some of his alternative designs illustrate what a different app ecosystem could look like — where health and time are prioritized over constant engagement. The company was fined roughly $370 million in September for having weak safeguards to protect the personal information of children using the platform. Policymakers in the United States have also been wrestling with how to regulate the platform for harmful content and data privacy — concerns amplified by TikTok’s links to China.

“It literally is a point now where I think we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. I would encourage all of you, as the future leaders of the world to really internalize how important this is. If you feed the beast, that beast will destroy you.” The fact that this criticism comes from a high-level tech insider makes it that much more shocking. Instead of focusing on addictive design and dark patterns, perhaps creating more value, attracting more customers, and everything else that we’ve discussed in this article can be a better approach to generating revenue. I’m not convinced that addictive design is a bigger moneymaker than ethical design anyway, at least not in today’s society where people don’t hesitate to boycott businesses that treat people badly. I suppose we all have a responsibility to make digital products healthier to use, don’t we?

I imagine most of us have had the frustration of thinking that we are activating one burner of the stove, say the left front, only to find that another burner, the back right, has actually heated. It turns out that every stove manufacturer has a slightly different way of aligning the knobs to the burners, and this design problem is surprisingly complex. Most of the time, the mismatch between knobs and burners simply causes frustration, but it can cause a fire in some cases, and it only takes a minute or two for a house fire to reach out-of-control levels. Robinson also discusses a plane crash in Colombia that was caused by a glitch in the autopilot software and other instances of design problems leading to injury and death, like the ignition switch failures in GM cars back in 2015. Besides, there will be rules in place eventually to prevent businesses from manipulating and exploiting customers using addictive design patterns.

For apps and websites, a good example is an endless supply of content to consume (or just doom scroll). What’s worse is that they escape these negative feelings by retreating even further into their addiction — it’s a vicious cycle that people often feel powerless to break, and the issue isn’t just that businesses exploit this behavior but cultivate it. Points can be acquired through playing a game or using an app in a variety of ways, such as finishing levels, sharing content, or inviting friends. These points may then be exchanged for virtual products like premium content or exclusive features. In recent years, this criticism has reached a boiling point, with many people calling for stricter regulation of these companies. While there is truth to the claims made against them, it’s important to understand the history and trajectory of these companies to make an informed judgment.

There appear to be two camps, one that has determined the driving force is addiction while the other asserting that obsessive anxiety is what makes us return to our devices constantly all day (and night). Addiction and obsession are different processes according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In fact, smartphone or Internet addiction or obsession are not even in the manual although Internet gaming disorder was placed in the appendix of the latest version as warranting further study meaning with more research it may appear in the next version. Anxiety certainly appears in the DSM in many guises but nothing is said relating it to the Internet or smartphone or tiny red dots. In the literature, it is often referred to as FOMO—fear of missing out—or nomophobia—fear of being without your smartphone or being unable to use it. The Commission also said it’s minded to impose interim measures that could force the company to suspend access to the TikTok Lite app in the EU while it investigates concerns the app poses mental health risks to users.