‘Limbic Capitalism’ Preys on Our Addicted Brains
How do we differentiate from a compelling and effective form of entertainment with an addictive activity? Most people wouldn&#x27;t look down on someone who stays up till 3 AM reading a gripping book, but many would if we swap the book with a video game. Definitely people who can&#x27;t hold down jobs or education due to addition to video games or social media is a problem, but I suspect that a lot of the concern is due to an overall negative view towards games and internet use.<p>What I do think is a problem is the fact that we have much better data collection on how people use video games and internet services. Absent that information, developers had to think about crafting a good overall experience that people were willing to pay for. With that information, people optimize for overall time used instead of the quality of the experience. Hours and dollars spent is an easy metric to show to executives, judging the overall quality of the experience is much more subjective.