Posts citing: Alter, A. (2017) Irresistible: Why we can’t stop checking, scrolling, clicking and watching [online]. Kindle. London: Penguin.

‘Get a pocket computer, Try to do what you used to do…’ 19 February 2020

‘Bright dings of pseudo-pleasure’

Concerns among Silicon Valley insiders about the addictive nature of social media have led to their withdrawal from its use and denying it to their children. Concluding that these addictive qualities are psycholinguistic as well as neurochemical (as explored in the previous post), this series part examines the psychological compulsion to use social media with close reference to the psychoanalytical work of Jacques Lacan.

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‘Get a pocket computer, Try to do what you used to do…’ 19 February 2020

‘You can never beat the bandit no’

Based on its author’s experience of feeling compelled to make social media postings from the audience at a Rolling Stones concert, this exploration outlines research in behavioural psychology showing that addictive actions are driven by intermittent variable rewards. It goes on to examine how this behaviour is endemic in the use of communications technology and how social and other new media companies have identified it as a way of keeping their users’ attention.

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