Why the internet is so addictive

You’ve probably heard that tech companies designed their products to be as addictive as possible.

It’s true, and here’s one way they’ve pulled it off.

Basically, there seems to be something in our brains that simply cannot resist that feeling of peeking behind a mystery door, if you will.

Research done with pigeons and rats showed that the animals would pull a lever to get food way more times when they didn’t know if pulling the lever would give them food or not.

So for example:

Rat 1:

He pulls a little handle, then he gets a little pellet of food. Every time.

Rat 2:

He pulls the handle, then he gets the food.

He pulls it again, but this time he doesn’t get anything.

Then he does.

Then he does again, two more times in a row.

Then he doesn’t.

Then he does.

And so on...just randomly forever.

Apparently, Rat #2 will consistently pull the handle more…like 2-5X times more.

Even when he doesn’t want the food anymore.

Eventually, the anticipation of maybe getting the reward becomes the reward in and of itself.

So he keeps pulling the handle like a fiend.

Humans apparently have the same mental tic, and much of the internet is designed to exploit it.

Take a video feed app for example (Instagram, TikTok, etc.)

You never know what the next video might be...

It could be funny, upsetting, fascinating, or boring, but the uncertainty makes finding out extra juicy.

So we keep scrolling.

I would go further and argue that the same psychological vulnerability is a primary driver of dating apps, day-trading platforms, and even the creator economy.

You might swipe one more time and find the love of your life.

You might open Coinbase and see that your investment in Fartcoin just 10X’d.

You might post one more TikTok and get famous.

It’s like modern life is one giant slot machine, keeping everybody edging on the hope that they’re about to pull three 7’s.

Anyway!

The initial plan for this blog post was to write about the effects of overusing the internet, not one of the causes.

I just finished this book by Arthur Brooks and it’s a mindf*ck, as they say.

It goes deep into a phenomena I’ve heard countless people describe in recent years—which is the vague, haunting sense that something fundamental about life feels different (and wrong) since we all started using smartphones every day.

I couldn’t do it justice in one message, so I’ll save it for later.

And also…

V3 of Exist! is currently in production. It’s sleeker, doper, and (fingers crossed) hopefully available within a matter of days.

Until then,

Jake