Variable Rewards: The Psychology Behind Addictive Apps
I checked Twitter 47 times yesterday. Not because I needed information. Not because I was expecting something important. Just… checking. Pull down to refresh. Scan. Nothing interesting. Close app. Five minutes later: Open app. Pull down to refresh. Scan. Find one mildly interesting tweet. Read. Close app. Repeat. All day. I wasn’t looking for something specific. I was looking for the possibility of something interesting. And that’s exactly how Twitter (and every other addictive app) is designed to work. ...