In the digital age, user attention is the most valuable and competitive resource. Nowadays, business success directly depends on the time a player spends on the platform.
Every day, marketers and behavioral psychologists rack their brains, coming up with new ways to keep you on the site. Mykhailo Zborovsky, an expert in the strategic development of iGaming products, will discuss this topic with us. “The most subtle but most significant principle in this area is that of unpredictable rewards, which effectively turns social media feeds into free slots for attention.”
This mechanism, borrowed from gambling and known as a “loot box,” operates without any regulatory restrictions, unlike the traditional gambling industry.
Social networks as unregulated “slots for attention”
The algorithms of social networks such as TikTok or Instagram Reels have a mechanism of unpredictable rewards. The user performs a simple action — swiping (refreshing the feed) — and gets a random result: whether the next clip will be boring or will bring extremely interesting content that will evoke a strong emotional response. It is this unpredictability that is a powerful psychological stimulus. The brain is constantly waiting for a dopamine rush, which makes us endlessly refresh the feed, wasting hours of time.
This mechanism is completely consistent with the logic of gambling or opening a loot box, where the investment is not money, but time and attention. While in traditional gambling, a bet is followed by a financial reward, here the reward is only emotion or a new social stimulus. The problem is that this mechanism is used to maximize commercial gain. But at the same time, it remains outside of any ethical or legislative control.
Ethical challenge and regulatory dissonance
The main ethical challenge of this model lies in the impasse of regulation. Society and legislation demand the strictest restrictions on licensed iGaming, where users consciously gamble for money. However, when the same psychological mechanisms are used on social media to exploit attention, they are perceived as something ordinary. Mykhailo Zborovsky emphasizes that this allows tech giants to use gambling tools without having to comply with the same legal standards. This leads to the uncontrolled formation of addiction to applications and negatively affects the mental health of users.
What consequences can we expect in the near future?
- The creation of behavioral patterns that lead to uncontrolled use of applications.
- The intensification of traits similar to ADHD (rapid attention switching, low tolerance for delays).
- Users are unaware that they are participating in a game for attention.
- There are no built-in self-limitation tools (e.g., mandatory breaks or time limits).
- Users are made to feel afraid of missing out on important content.
Mykhailo Zborovsky sums it up: Excitement is part of human nature, but its use must be regulated. We need to start thinking now about protecting users from the uncontrolled exploitation of their time. People need to be educated about how technology companies use their time and attention. Perhaps you will realize the need to fight addiction to social networks and their derivatives.
