Should social media be considered modern “digital casinos” from a psychological point of view?
Lately I’ve been wondering about this because something that happened to me last weekend kind of opened my eyes. I caught myself refreshing my feed every couple of minutes while waiting for a bus, even though I knew nothing new was really happening. It reminded me of when my cousin took me to a small casino years ago, and I saw people pulling the slot lever again and again, hoping the next spin would be “the one.” That same weird anticipation was exactly what I felt with my phone, and it made me think: is this basically the same psychological trick? I’m curious if social media actually works like a digital casino in terms of how it hooks our brains.
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Funny enough, I had a similar realization not too long ago, and what helped me understand the psychology behind it was reading this piece https://nichegamer.com/the-dopamine-economy-casinos-vs-social-media/ — it explains how both casinos and social platforms lean on unpredictable rewards to keep people checking “just one more time.” I used to play a lot of mobile games, and the feeling I got waiting for a rare item drop felt almost identical to checking notifications or scrolling through a feed. Once I noticed that pattern, I started setting small limits for myself, like leaving my phone in my bag when I’m out with friends. It doesn’t fix everything, but it definitely helps break that constant reward loop a bit.