Special Issue: Digital drugs in our children's pockets đź’Š
About this episode
The episode discusses the addictive nature of digital platforms and their impact on children, drawing parallels with historical examples of addiction.
Do you know what cigarette companies in the 1950s, Las Vegas casinos, and your favorite mobile game or social network have in common? They all use the same psychological tricks to keep you hooked. The only difference? You’d hardly sell cigarettes to kids today, while we happily put digital dopamine dealers into their pockets—with a smile. Sean Parker , former president of Facebook, put it bluntly: “We knew exactly what we were doing. We were exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.” And as it turns out, he wasn’t alone. How Digital Heroin Works Imagine you’re playing a slot machine. You pull the lever and… sometimes nothing, sometimes a little win, and once in a while—JACKPOT! This “variable ratio reinforcement” is the most addictive mechanism psychology knows. It’s exactly how scrolling on social media works. You open the app, and you never know what you’ll find. A boring post from your aunt? Skip. A funny video? Small dopamine hit. A photo where someone tagged you? BINGO! Your brain floods with happiness. And because you never know when the next “hit” will come, you keep scrolling… and scrolling… In 2021, Frances Haugen , a Facebook whistleblower, leaked internal…
More episodes of News from the Woods
- The People Who Got AI Right – And the Rest of Us Who Didn't Believe Them
- Startups and Brands You Didn't Know Were European 🇪🇺
- Why tech giants sacrifice children for growth
- Special: The Man Who Predicted the 2008 Crash, Now Warns About Nvidia and Palantir. And Maybe He's Right.
- Bytes & Backpacks #125 🦌
- Special Issue: What could the AI assistant of the future look like? 🤖
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the News from the Woods podcast page.