Addiction

"Addiction" in the context of  online platforms is a growing concern that manifests most prominently in gaming, social media, and dating apps. While addiction has a clinical definition, use of it here attempts to match its common usage to describe a behavioral spectrum of which clinical addiction is only one extreme. That spectrum also includes over-dependence, and reflexive discomfort with the amount of time spent on digital platforms. The key issue is not necessarily the clinical applicability of the term addiction, but why so many users find it so difficult to manage their discomfort with the time they spend in digital spaces, often feeling that their time is not well-utilized but left unable to change their behavior.

This discomfort is what platforms—or regulators—should aim to mitigate by building (or requiring) features that help users set their own boundaries. Self-imposed, non-skippable time limitations are the gold standard for this form of control.

In this context, children present an additional wrinkle in this problem: they are less able to regulate impulses that draw them to digital spaces, they have less social and interpersonal experience to fall back upon, and they are also more susceptible to addictive design features. Safeguarding measures for young users are imperative, and many countries have attempted to pass legislation to answer this need.

Though feature design can make a difference, at the root of this issue is a business model that aims to capture as much user attention as possible, essentially creating an arms race to the "bottom of the brain stem," (Tristan Harris). In an attention economy, platforms self-directing the creation of features to mitigate addiction is unlikely.