TECHNOMICS

Now Facebook can hack into your brain

There have been many reports regarding techgiants making use of underhand tactics to manipulate how our brain works. However in a first, ex-Google product manager Tristan Harris explains just how this takes place. According to him, technology companies are using techniques borrowed from casinos to get us addicted to checking our phones.

He called this technique ‘brain hacking’ by computer programmers and warned that these methods are gradually destroying the kids’ ability to focus. “Some programmers call it “brain hacking” and the tech world would probably prefer you didn’t hear about it. But Tristan Harris openly questions the long-term consequences of it all and we think it’s worth putting down your phone to listen,” reported CBS News.

He goes on to tell the news publication that the techniques are shaping the thoughts, feelings and actions of people and that there’s a whole playbook of techniques that get used to getting individuals to use the product for as long as possible.

According to him, the notification streams on smartphones and other such apps are especially designed to excite the brain in a similar way to slot machines. “Every time I check my phone, I’m playing the slot machine to see ‘What did I get?,’” he said.

He goes on to give Snapchat as an example. He says:

“Snapchat’s the most popular messaging service for teenagers. And they invented this feature called ‘streaks,’ which shows the number of days in a row that you’ve sent a message back and forth with someone. The problem is that kids feel like, “Well, now I don’t want to lose my streak.” But it turns out that kids actually when they go on vacation are so stressed about their streak that they actually give their password to, like, five other kids to keep their streaks going on their behalf.”

The companies have clearly entered a race to reach to the bottom of the brainstem, he says.

“And so you could ask when these features are being designed, are they designed to most help people live their life?” he added. “Or are they being designed because they’re best at hooking people into using the product?,” he concluded.