The Mind Control That Keeps You logged In
An abundance of individuals in society use technology to “fulfill their natural human need for stimulation, interaction, and changes in the environment with great efficiency” Claims the FCD Prevention Works. The internet fills humans demand and basic needs causing the user to continue to engage with its systems. It allows the individual to communicate with others, have social interaction, find information, and serve as a source of entertainment. According to the academic journal “Why people use social media: a uses and gratifications approach” on emerald insight, Associate Professor Anita Whiting claims that people are addicted to social media because society is constantly looking for ways to entertain themselves and keep themselves busy. Whiting recorded that 88 percent of respondents use social media for social interaction, 76 percent to pass the time, and 64 percent for entertainment. Respondents from Whiting’s report claimed that they use social media during class or work to comfort their boredom and to ease the time. However, due to techniques that are implemented throughout the platforms, the individual becomes addicted to the platform and constantly finds themselves interacting with it. The developers of these social media platforms manipulate their user’s unconscious mind to purposely establish these techniques to gain profit and keep their visitors on the platforms for a longer time period than expected.
Companies are constantly inventing ways to keep the individual engaged with social media. In a 60-minute Brain Hacking clip, Journalist, author, and television personality Anderson Cooper interviews former Google product manager Tristan Harris about the different techniques that are used by companies to keep the public engaged with its applications for as long as possible. Harris had started that, “there is a whole playbook of techniques that gets used to get you to use the product as long as possible”. Being that there is an abundance of hacks to keep people intrigued the individual is being controlled mentally. They are unaware that they are being controlled because the techniques oppose as rewards and accomplishments that make the user feel contented. When Anderson Cooper had asked Harris why does social media and Silicon Valley distribute these tactics he had responded with, “Silicon Valley is shaping the thoughts and feelings and actions of people. They are programing people.” Through the tactics that the companies use, they implicate certain ways that will cause the public to stay plugged in. These companies target the neurotransmitter dopamine to make the brain have an emotional response to the rewards and pleasure. They feed the brain enough activity forcing the individual to stay focused on social media in a particular way for a long period of time.
The social media platform Snapchat was created to allow you to “easily talk with friends, view live stories from around the world, and explore news in discover”. Being that snapchats only last up to 10 seconds and are only posted online for 24 hours, the developers have created a skill to keep the individual hooked onto their phones and engaged on the platform. Snapchat incorporated the idea of snap streaks to make the user have the motivation to constantly log into the app to talk with another person to create a streak. They presented a way of building up one’s everyday use of the platform by showing the number of consecutive days that two people have sent snaps to each other encouraging them to continuously stay on the app. These elements were created to naturally keep the public on their platforms without explicitly stating that they want them to continue to use their application. When the individual hasn’t been on the app in almost 24 hours the company threatens the parties streak with an hourglass persuading the two people to go back to snapping so that they do not lose their streak. In the blog post “7 Specific Tactics Social Media Companies Use to Keep You Hooked” on KQED Science, the playwright, blogger, host, and editor Jon Brooks quotes Tristan Harris co-founder of ‘Time Well Spent’. “It might sound like its innocuous and kind of gamey,” says Harris, “but if you have a number that’s, say, over 100, you don’t want to lose your streak. It’s really persuasive. They just gave you something to lose.” The technique has dual purposes that benefit both the company and the individual. The streak allows the individual to maintain a semi-realistic relationship with a person every day by simply snapping them every day while also feeding the company money from the constant usage. In the same blog post, Jon Brooks quotes Emily Weinstein, a Harvard University doctoral candidate. Emily Weinstein points out “For those that have streaks, they provide a validation for the relationship”. The streak proves the connection that one has with the Individual. The number tells the individual that their relationship is real and not the actual quality and content of the conversations.
Even though the relationship is solidified by a number, the person is communicating on an everyday basis unconsciously spending their time all day on the platform benefiting the company. Followed by Emily Weinstein, Psychotherapist, and author of ‘The Power of Off’ Nany Colier is quoted by Jon Brooks. Colier states, “The makers built into the app a system so you have to check constantly or risk missing out. It taps into the primal fear of exclusion”. The developers of Snapchat created streaks to keep the user attached to their platform. When provided the streak, the individual is engaged and submerged in a world where their life revolves around this simple number. They are constantly checking to see if the other person responded to their message to ensure that a piece of them are not lost. Unconsciously the participant becomes hooked on the app spending an unnecessary time frame on the app. According to the Business Insider article “Snapchat Users” by senior tech reporter Biz Carson, she claims, “Snapchat is telling potential advertisers that its worldwide daily active users, which at last count stood at more than 100 million, now spend an average of 25-30 minutes a day on Snapchat”. Snapchats developers excelled at engaging their audience by offering them a numerical award while also threatening them with it when there is a lack of app connection.
Similar to Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram uses two techniques that will have the user never run out of content to explore. Both social media platforms have the performance of autoplay videos and continuous scrolling. As one scrolls down their newsfeed, they are constantly receiving an unlimited amount of content due to the purposely designed endless scrolling. This makes the participate scroll longer on social media than they had intended to. This is very much comparable to the technique autoplay. After watching a single video the platforms instantly load the next video drawing in the individual attention to the following video. This eventually leads to binge-watching and getting stuck on applications. Jon Brooks quotes Tristan Harris in his blog “7 Specific Tactics Social Media Companies Use to keep You Hooked” by asserting, “instead of waiting for you to make a conscious choice. A huge portion of traffic on these websites is driven by autoplaying the next thing.” Before the individual gets the chance to decide if they would like to continue exploring their timeline, the database is already feeding them the next video through autoplay soothing the individual’s mind unconsciously. This tactic forces you to keep watching so that you spend more time on the application. The platforms are constantly feeding you videos related to the one that was previously watched causing your mind to automatically starts watching the next video. This is also seen on the movie streaming service Netflix and video service YouTube. When the first episode or video is over, Netflix and YouTube instantly feed you the following video persuading you to continue watching. Moreover, Twitter and Instagram incorporated the feature of continuous scrolling. As the person scrolls down their feed, they will never run out of posts to read because the companies are constantly refilling their timelines so that you search longer. The autoplay and endless scroll technique creates a connection between the unconscious individual and their phone by making them stay on their phone for a longer period of time.
Now as I travel through the city I am aware as to why people are so captivated by their phones and not the buildings around them. Society is fooled by the hidden techniques that social media developers implement throughout their apps to keep them engaged. They become addicted to the internet due to the simple tactics of snap streaks, autoplay, endless scrolling, and even being awarded likes, comments, and stickers. The companies behind these techniques are profiting every time the individual logs in, however the individual is unaware that they are being pulled in to the platforms and being controlled.
