Social media and games firms deliberately keep children online

CHILDREN and young people are being encouraged to spend longer online by deliberately ‘persuasive’ methods – and this should be considered a public health issue, a new report claims.

Examples of ‘persuasive design’ include autoplay, infinite feeds, attention-grabbing notifications and features built around rewards such as getting a like, heart or comment.

The tactic, which encourages the extended use of apps and websites, is used to collect children’s data for commercial gain.

But it has an impact on the child’s social, mental and physical development, according to The Disgruntled Childhood Report.

The report, released by the 5Rights Foundation in the UK, which advocates for children online, says unless action is taken the ‘creativity and development of a generation’ is in danger of being stunted.

It comes as the amount of time children spend on devices is already under scrutiny.

At the E3 video gaming conference in Los Angeles this week, discussions focused on whether it was the responsibility of developers or parents to moderate consumption.

Beeban Kidron, founder and chair of 5Rights Foundation, said: ‘The unfettered use of persuasive design practices is a symbol of the tech sector’s cavalier disregard for childhood. Children urgently need a better deal.’

She said it was hard to overstate ‘the importance of digital devices in a child’s life, but there must be a balance between what technology gives young people and what it takes away’.

It says that children struggle to understand that they pay for ‘free’ services with ‘the currency of personal data’, and a company receives more data the longer a user is engaged.

One feature criticised is Snapchat’s streaks which shows how long an exchange with a single other person has been going on for with a flame emoji and a number count. Breaking a streak is ‘viewed as an indictment of a friendship’ so builds up a cycle of obligation to encourage repeated visits to Snapchat.

Even seeing the ‘typing bubbles’ of a reply can act as an anticipation trigger and keep a user engaged with a service they might otherwise choose to leave.

In response Snapchat said Snapstreaks are ‘designed to be light-hearted and fun’. A spokesman said: ‘We do not employ design techniques to encourage compulsive or addictive behaviour.’