{"id":10893,"date":"2017-11-29T19:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T19:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hnews.hult.edu\/?p=10893"},"modified":"2021-10-06T09:32:33","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T08:32:33","slug":"why-social-media-is-addictive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/why-social-media-is-addictive\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is social media addictive?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Ali Fenwick, Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology at Hult.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ever wonder why you spend so much time on your mobile phone reading posts on Facebook<\/em>, playing Candy Crush<\/em> or other mobile games, or texting on WhatsApp<\/em>, when initially you only planned to post a quick selfie on Instagram or retweet something on Twitter<\/em>?<\/p>\n

\"Management<\/p>\n

This article will reveal the design techniques used by social media site designers to keep you hooked on their apps. It will also introduce to you some core psychological and neurological principles that will help explain how these simple but effective design strategies can turn ordinary people into \u2018online junkies\u2019.<\/p>\n

‘Habits die hard’<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When we think of habits, we often think of behaviors which unconsciously creep into our lives and drive many of our daily routines. We tend to think of habits as good or bad. Brushing your teeth in the morning or going to the gym after work can be considered good habits. Smoking regularly or eating junk food are generally considered bad habits. What both good and bad habits have in common, are their ability to help the brain preserve critical cognitive resources. This can then be used for more important mental tasks such as decision-making and self-control regulation.<\/p>\n

It is often said that \u2018habits die hard\u2019, and the reason for this lays in how habits form in our brain. When we do something we like and accomplish the task at hand, our reward system in our brain (the mesolimbic dopamine system to be exact), produces a hormone called dopamine. Dopamine (otherwise known as the happiness hormone) make us feel good, so we tend to repeat behaviors that give us pleasure. Over time, these behaviors (done repeatedly) turn into habits and become hardwired in the brain, making it both difficult and unpleasant to undo.<\/p>\n

This habit-forming process is fundamental to how social media developers design mobile apps and online platforms. Using the ATARI<\/em>-model of habit formation, I will explain the common steps used by app developers, growth hackers, mobile game creators to induce habit-forming behaviors in their users.<\/p>\n

ATARI-Model<\/strong>.<\/h2>\n

ATARI stands for A<\/strong>ttitude, T<\/strong>rigger, A<\/strong>ction, R<\/strong>eward, I<\/strong>nvestment (so no reference to the 80\u2019s video game computer).<\/p>\n

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