Which apps are most addictive?

Have you ever wondered what makes an app feel addictive? Any app with refreshable content is likely to lead to excessive use. By refreshable I mean every time you go on the app, the content updates plus the content is ever-changing. That combination is what keep us on.

Most people will say that they fee addicted to particular apps like Facebook, or Instagram. How does addiction to an app happen?

Think of an app like a business, that sits on our phone. Like any business its whole aim is to keep us using their business. Apps use two strategies to keep us clicking; algorithms and dark patterns (sneaky hidden strategies). For example, a big thing we as humans respond to is unpredictability (surprises). Social media apps use strategies (aka dark patterns) that centre on keeping our feed unpredictable as a way to keep us clicking. This could take the form of withholding likes after you post something and then sending us a burst of likes, or no dating matches then 5 matches in 30 mins. You won’t know exactly what is going to show up, so you keep returning to check. These seem quite random but in fact are all perfectly timed according to the data the algorithms have collected on you.

View this segment for The Today Show where I explain it more.

digital wellbeing