this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2026
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Programming
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Instagram and TikTok already made hundreds of thousands of users addicted, also causing suicides.
The mechanism behind addiction in LLMs, Instagram and TikTok is similar to the one of slot machines: variable rewards, rapid feedback loops, and the exploitation of deep-seated pattern-seeking tendencies.
I'd love to learn more about that.
These companies basically have found backdoors into our brain.
The best book about it is the one by Karen Hao: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_AI
A free book about why social media is addicting is The Social Media Hijacking by James Meridian: https://e-librairie.leclerc/product/9798231036318_9798231036318_10020/the-social-media-hijacking
Many thanks!