A Survey of Addictive Software Design - Chauncey Neyman (2017)

This post is part of the ongoing series of reading reflections on HCI papers and articles. You can find the other posts ‘here.’

A Survey of Addictive Software Design - Chauncey Neyman (2017)

Available online at: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cscsp/111/

This article looks at various psychological weaknesses that are exploited by software companies to keep users engaged. Some of the Addictive Design strategies include:

1. Variable Rewards

   Provide users with intermittent rewards to keep them engaged. This can be in the form of notifications, alerts, or achievements. The random and unpredictable nature of these rewards keeps users engaged for much longer.

   • Randomness can be achieved in a social context by sending notifications for actions by other users, thereby having the delivery of the notification be random.

2. Social Reciprocity

   Abuse human desire for social acceptance and validation/gratification. This can be done by showing users how many people have viewed their profile, or how many people have liked their posts.

3. Illusion of Choice

   Deliberately tailored content to boost user engagement, keeping them on the platform longer.

4. User Investment

   Users invest time and energy into their accounts, making it difficult to leave. This can be done by having users be able to follow other users, or by having users be able to post content.

5. Gamification

   Allowing users to compete with each other, or with themselves, to keep them engaged. This can be done by setting goals for users to achieve, or by having users compete with each other, with leaderboards, points systems, etc.

The article also categorizes these strategies into three categories:

1. Craving

   Strategies that take advantage of the physical, and chemical response human beings have to desired types of stimuli. Most often the outcome of these strategies manifests in the form of a dopamine rush. Examples include:

   • Intermittent variable rewards
   • gamification.

2. Obligation

   Strategies that take advantage of the human desire for comfort. Human beings naturally seek stability and reassurance from other humans, and addictive design strategies in this category satiate these needs. Examples include:

   • Social reciprocity
   • User investment

3. Deception

   Strategies that take advantage of human gullibility. This typically entails manipulating a user into doing something they wouldn’t normally want to go through the design of an interface. Examples include:

   • Infinite scrolling
   • Illusion of choice

This article does a great job of explaining how these strategies employed by software companies can keep users engaged, through psychologically backed strategies. But as an HCI student, I am inclined to empathize with the user in believing that software is designed with the user as the prime benefactor, which at times, includes deprioritizing the company’s push for engagement. ‘People over profit’ is a common phrase in the HCI community, and I believe that this is a good way to think about the design of the software.

I would also like to go one step further and say that companies should be transparent about their intentions, and not hide behind the guise of ‘user engagement’ to justify their actions. I believe that if companies were more transparent about their intentions, users would be more willing to engage with the software, and would be more willing to accept the tradeoff of their data for the service that they are receiving while building a more trusting relationship with the company.