glossary
Let's define some terms.
Feed - Created by social media/networking platforms. A feed is a place providing updates whenever new content is available.
Imagine a pig hovering discontentedly over a feeding trough waiting for its master to pour another batch of toxic sludge being passed for food. Just like that.
Infinite Scroll - Created by penitent technologist (I’m so sorry, says inventor of endless online scrolling). Refers to content that can be scrolled or swiped through endlessly with a near instantaneous refresh rate.
Doom-scrolling is the anti-intentional act of going through a feed until you reach its end or your brain's jelly-fication.
User - Someone being used by social media.
Notification - Created with the invention of cell phones and smartphones. Notifications signal new content visually and audibly on your feeds or messaging apps.
Great for diminishing your focus and jerking your attention away from your lunch date or job. (The mere presence of your smartphone on a table, turned off and face down, drains your attention)
Like Button - Created by more technologists fighting against commandeered tech they created. The most convenient engagement mechanism on platforms (one-click) to demonstrate approval without context or thought.
Limbic hijacking - The way technology hacks our lizard emotions and brain to drive time not well spent and behavior. Tech companies engage in a "race to the bottom" of our limbic system that's base instinct is the flight response we feel every moment we reach for our phones to hide...
Gamification - Term created by psychologists after big-tech's exploitation of limbic hijacking. The leveraging of game mechanics and addiction to digitally engage and motivate users to achieve their goals.
Actually, not so bad. Fitness, nutrition, work, and mental health goals can be easily met using gamified systems. Gamified attention stealers (social media) make this a double-edged sword.
Manipulative Design - The sum game of the above definitions.
Social Connection was what social media inherently wants to be. Through manipulative design, Social Comparison is the game platforms have begun to play.
Instead of paralleling the constant upgrades iPhones receive, we are downgraded by big-tech's promotion of shortened attention spans, outrage-fueled dialogue, app addiction, vanity, and a polarized political climate. This is the water we swim in...
We just fail to define it properly.
What did you notice today? ///