Technology - the Mind Hijacker

#152

“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they’ve been fooled.” — Anon

When we use technology, we often focus on all the things it does for us. But where all does it exploit human weaknesses?

Hijack #1: If you control the menu, then you also control the choices

Magicians do this a lot wherein they 'supposedly' give people a 'choice' but in reality, it's a fixed set of choices architected by the magician. That way, no matter what the audience chooses, the magician always wins. Why does this happen though? It's because we are focused on picking the ''right" choice as opposed to diving deep and questioning: "Are these the only choices? What's not listed here?" "Why are these the only set of options and not something else?" "What is the intent of the menu provider behind asking these questions - are the choices merely a distraction, a means to an end?"

Look at the photos on Yelp - what you'll see are pictures of colourful cocktails from different bars. It doesn't show you the park across the street from this bar. Similarly, when we wake up every morning, lift our phone to see a barrage of notifications, all it does is remind us how many things we've 'missed out on' since yesterday. Speaking of phones, we should probably start calling them slot machines from now on!

Hijack #2: Put a slot machine in a billion pockets

Every time we get a new notification sound indicating a new message from someone, dopamine is released in our brains. That's why we sometimes endlessly swipe down hoping to get a new notification. Wouldn't it be great if we did that and our phone displayed the message: “Really? Didn’t you check 10 seconds ago?”

Hijack #3: Fear of Missing Something Important (FOMSI)

We don't miss what we don't see. The thought, “What if I miss something important?” arises before rather than after we unsubscribe to something or turn things off. We must learn to reframe the 'what'd we miss' into a positive 'time well spent' perspective. Tech companies often claim that “we’re just making it easier for you to see the video you want to watch” with the autoplay feature, when they are actually serving their  own business interests. "Time spent" is the currency streaming and video companies compete for.

Hijack #4: Bundling customer's and company's reasons

When you visit a supermarket, have you noticed how milk and medicines are all the way at the back of the store? Well, that's by design. Grocery stores want to maximize how much people buy, and people most often purchase milk and pharmacy refills, so they put both at the back of the store rather than putting the popular items in the front and make it convenient for buyers. This is how they make what customers want tightly coupled to their business wants.

Similarly, for apps, there's always a "choice":

“If you don’t like it you can always use a different product.”

“If you don’t like it, you can always unsubscribe.”

“If you’re addicted to our app, you can always uninstall it from your phone.”

But how easily can those be done? For instance, NYTimes.com lets you “make a free choice” to cancel your digital subscription. But instead of just clicking “Cancel Subscription,” they send you an email with information on how to cancel your account by calling a phone number that’s only open at certain times.

If you want to see these in action, check out the movie 'Social Dilemma'. It'll make you think twice before using FAANG products and horrifyingly depicts how we're all mere lab rats in the eyes of the social media companies.