How Facebook’s ‘addictive’ design stops you quitting by giving you the same rush you get from gambling or drugs
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THE latest hot social media trend is to #DeleteFacebook – but quitting the app isn't easy.
That's because Facebook has an "addictive" design that rewards you for sticking around, according to 'digital detox' evangelist Tanya Goodin.
Last weekend, we learned that Facebook had given away personal info belonging to 50 million users.
It's sparked a major campaign for people to bin Facebook for good, but Tanya says it's a tough ask.
Speaking to The Sun, Tanya revealed that Facebook is designed to be "sticky" – rewarding you for using the app regularly.
"Because you don't know when the next 'like' or comment will come, you keep compulsively checking," she explained.
She says that getting a social media "hit" triggers the release of dopamine in the brain.
Dopamine is an organic chemical that makes us feel good.
It's released when we have sex, gamble and take drugs like marijuana or ecstasy.
"And because that feels good, you keep coming back wanting more," Tanya told us.
She's the author of a book called , which claims to help you "log off and wake up to less stress and more time".
Facebook Data Breach – what happened?
Here's what you need to know...
- A personality quiz app obtained data for 270,000 willing Facebook users
- But it also sucked up info on all of their Facebook friends
- That meant the app caught data for around 50-60 million users
- This data was reportedly sold on to UK research firm Cambridge Analytica
- Cambridge Analytica helps politicians and lobby groups create propaganda
- The data was supposedly used to boost the Brexit campaign and get Trump into the White House
- Facebook is said to have known about the data breach since 2015
- The social network asked companies with the data to delete it, but didn't enforce the rule
- The Guardian revealed the incident in an exposé thanks to Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie
- There are now serious questions about whether Facebook has broken laws by giving up this data
She told The Sun that Facebook's tricks to get you hooked are mostly "similar to gambling", because it's a "behavioural addiction".
But she said that most users aren't truly addicted. Rather, we're just "heavily dependent on getting the feedback that makes us feel good".
Back in 2016, Ofcom's Communications Market Report found that 62% of UK adults said they were "hooked" on their smartphones.
The report noted that users felt "lost without it", highlighting how difficult Brits find it to put down their mobiles.
That's why Tanya believes you shouldn't be too hard on yourself if you find it hard to kick Facebook.
"Given that the software is specifically designed to keep us coming back, we shouldn't beat ourselves up about the fact it is so hard to disconnect.
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"But lots of recent research shows that if we can disconnect from social media regularly, we are much happier when we do so."
If you're ready to kick the habit, check out our guide on how to delete your Facebook account.
Do you think you'd find it easy to quit Facebook? Let us know in the comments.
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