As ours is an industry of constant change and growth through technology, it’s good to take a look into the research of what makes some of that tech so appealing – so very appealing, in fact, that our brains often have trouble functioning without it.
A Guardian article from 2018 discussed that very notion, citing dopamine as a key contributor. “Dopamine inspires us to take actions to meet our needs and desires,” the article notes, “Anything from turning up the heating to satisfying a craving to spin a roulette wheel.”
Or, in other words, another attempt to win something from a redemption game, another pass at trying to beat a video game’s high score, et cetera.
The article discusses Silicon Valley’s attempts to exploit the neurological chemical, leading with an anecdote from Facebook’s founding president Sean Parker, who said the point behind the social network was: “How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?” (The company’s 1.4 billion daily users spend an average of about 41 minutes a day on the platform.) For better or worse, we’re hooked.