5/3/2023 0 Comments Selfcontrol not addictive![]() But once that restriction was removed again, they again underestimated how much they would reduce their social media use if they could. First, people reduced their social media use substantially more than they expected when they were offered a limiter or a bonus. ![]() What happened afterward shed some light on how addictive social media apps are. Note that even in the limiter case, users could decide themselves, what limit they wanted to set themselves and they could change that time limit daily, so it is not an enforced limit. Then these people were restricted in their social media use for several weeks either by having a limiter installed on their phones that limits the amount of time they can spend or by being offered a bonus if they reduced their social media use below a certain number of hours per week. Asked about how much time they would spend doing other things if these apps weren’t readily available on their phones and computers, people expected that they would spend about 20% less time on Facebook, about 10% less time gaming, and about 5% less time with YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. And indeed, most people are aware that they use these apps too much. They asked people if they think they are using social media and other apps too often and too much. Now, a group of researchers from Stanford University and Microsoft have done another set of experiments. In my previous post, the researchers tried to get to the bottom of it by asking people how much they would be willing to pay to get access to social media for a week or a month. This obviously begs the question of how addictive they are and how much time is lost to us users succumbing to our social media addiction. For example, I have written in the past that there are some experiments that show that Facebook and other social media sites are addictive like tobacco. But what bugs me is if companies exploit their customers through unfair means. There is a time for fun and my Friday posts are one such exercise in writing about economics and finance without it necessarily being useful. This is not to say that we should always be productive. One of the eternal questions to me is how much of our life is spent with useless and unproductive things.
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