Hi @techblogger. Thanks @thaicryptokitty. Thanks for the heads up on this article.
Ahh yes dopamine. That little substance that is our happy juice. For sure it is an integral part off social media activities and it along with other substances in the body and psychological tricks are some of the things that keep people glued to their smartphones and sometimes unable to move away even when they have important things to do like eat a meal or do some work.
I am familiar with this topic and what Sean Parker said (even though he made billions off of hitting people with dopamine). The truth is that this is not a Facebook issue nor a silicon valley one. Every good marketing exploits our need for dopamine on a regular basis and the positive things that can happen when you get it regularly. Dopamine hitting is also a key part of schools (testing has a dopamine aspect), and your job (projects that you are given and even how most people get promotions rely on dopamine boosting strategies. But with regard to social networking this is certainly an issue.
On the one hand you want people to be interested and the simplest way to do that is to create a reward system. And the best type of reward system is one that does not have to be explained, you just feel it. That describes dopamine perfectly. So it will I think always be at the heart of social networking.
But it does not have to be a bad thing because people can be moved towards positive behaviors that also produce rewards and that is up to the social network to do this.
This is one of the things I discuss about Steemit. They have a great challenge. The majority of people have been lured here by the promise of making lots of cash, but that is simply not possible for 95%+ of the people here. When that becomes evident, the dopamine hit they are experiencing when they write their blogs will cease. And Steemit will have issues. They will before that time I hope create alternative and equally compelling and stimulating reasons for being here. If not they will have serious issues attracting and keeping members or they will be forced into using other dopamine "tricks" to ty and keep people spending their time here.
Just my thoughts. Thanks.
Very interesting points. You may be absolutely right about the future of Steemit in lacking an additional system of rewards but there may be a factor which is very hard to account for. That is the access to people like yourself and myself in which you may never have access to otherwise. Beyond this blog for people who don't know me there's no easy way to contact me. For the 1pct of the world population that is involved in crypto at the moment this may be one of the largest platforms in which others can have access to them. Certainly not every crypto enthusiast is using Steem but I would say that the people I've met through interacting here have been extraordinary and I can't say that about people I've met elsewhere. If we want to be successful it helps to surround ourselves with others that are successful and see what makes them tick. I've found traits like positivity, passion, drive, creativity are quite common in people I've met on this platform so there seems to be a few unforseen benefits like the ones you are referring to but I agree, there needs to be more incentive for interaction besides monetary rewards because there simply aren't enough rewards to go around based on the way the system has been set up. Thanks for your thoughts.
Thanks for your thoughts and I definitely agree in terms of having a forum where we can interact. This place is great for that and one of the reasons I am here. Any platform has its inherent challenges and will need to face and work through them. What I always say is that there has been a shift in what people want and companies have to address that. People today are demanding more accountability, transparency and to be shown that they are appreciated for their time and input. We have that here, so the foundation is in place. Thanks for the interaction and I look forward to continued discussion with you.