How Technology Is Hijacking Your Mind

How Technology Is Hijacking Your Mind

Hijack 4:
Social Approval

We are all prone to societal approval. One of the strongest human motives is the need to fit in, to receive approval from others, or to be valued by our peers. But now, tech firms control our social acceptance.

When your friend Marc tags you, you assume that he chose to do it on purpose. However, you fail to see how a business like Facebook arranged for him to do that in the first place.

By automatically recommending all the faces users should tag (for example, by displaying a box with a one-click confirmation, “Tag Tristan in this photo?”), Facebook, Instagram, or SnapChat can control how frequently people are mentioned in pictures.

How Technology Is Hijacking Your Mind

Marc is actually responding to Facebook’s suggestion when he tags you rather than making a decision on his own. However, Facebook has power over the multiplier for how frequently millions of people feel as though their social standing is on the line through design decisions like these.

The same thing occurs when we update our primary profile photo since Facebook is aware that this is a time when we are particularly susceptible to feedback from others. This might be given a higher ranking on Facebook so that it appears more frequently in news feeds and receives more likes and comments from friends. We’ll be dragged back every time they like it or comment on it.

Everyone has a natural tendency to seek out social approval, but certain groups — notably teenagers— are more susceptible than others. Because of this, it’s crucial to understand how capable designers are at exploiting this weakness.

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