I haven’t read the study, but I’ve read the comments so far.
I wonder if this mechanism is the same mechanism that impacts, say, swipe-focused dating websites, as well? And Twitter feeds with super-short messages. A lot of the most viral modern tech has been bite-sized content feeds of various types.
They are all reward hacking, but tiktok is audiovisual immersion, dating apps are romantic validation and twitter is outrage/information foraging
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16101310 (2018)
> "Matt Mayberry, who works at a California startup called Dopamine Labs, says it's common knowledge in the industry that Instagram exploits this craving by strategically withholding "likes" from certain users. If the photo-sharing app decides you need to use the service more often, it'll show only a fraction of the likes you've received on a given post at first, hoping you'll be disappointed with your haul and check back again in a minute or two."
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28763413 also speaks to this.
(Dopamine Labs is now boundless.ai, only one example, the reward hacking mentioned is everywhere in socials, adult content, sports betting, for reward maxxing)
That's a weird old myth. I don't know why you dug up an old quote from a startup founder pumping his startup from 2018 in The Globe and Mail.
There were investigations into it after that the conclusions was that nobody believed it or could replicate it: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/01/does-instagram-withh...
Either the person was making something up, or he just didn't understand how hyperscale apps work toward eventual consistency rather than having everything propagated the instant you press the button.
Additional citations:
Zuckerberg Knew. A Whistleblower Has the Emails to Prove It. - https://www.gadgetreview.com/zuckerberg-knew-a-whistleblower... - August 19th, 2026
> Armed with engineering documents and internal emails, the states allege Meta built specific features — infinite scroll, autoplay, beauty filters, engagement-optimized recommendation systems — to maximize time-on-platform for young users, while allegedly collecting data from children under 13 without parental consent. A federal judge already rejected Meta’s motion to dismiss, allowing the addictive-design and concealment claims to proceed.
> Frances Haugen’s 2021 disclosures first established that Meta reportedly knew its products could harm young users and chose not to prioritize fixes. Béjar arrives in court with the internal emails and survey data to back that narrative.
US states accuse Meta of covering up research on teen social media addiction in pivotal trial - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/18/meta-chil... - August 18th, 2026
> Lawyers representing 29 US states have accused Meta of covering up internal research showing Instagram was addictive for teenagers. In a packed courtroom Tuesday, on the opening day of a landmark legal challenge, they said the company knew its products harmed children but hid that information from the public.
> The attorneys general disagree, saying Meta “developed and refined a set of psychologically manipulative” features designed to maximize people’s time on its apps. Those include an infinite scrolling recommendation algorithm, constant notification alerts, thumbs-up “likes” and visual filters for altering one’s image.
> “AGs are in the perfect position to get this done,” he added. “We did it with the tobacco settlement in the 1990s. We did it with the companies behind the opioid crisis. We’ll do it again with Meta.”
Meta and YouTube designed addictive products that harmed young people, jury finds - https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/25/jury-verdict-u... - March 25th, 2026
Sharpe BT, Spooner RA. Dopamine-scrolling: a modern public health challenge requiring urgent attention. Perspect Public Health. 2025 Jul;145(4):190-191. https://doi.org/10.1177/17579139251331914 Epub 2025 Apr 12. PMID: 40219910; PMCID: PMC12322333.
> This manuscript examines the emerging phenomenon of dopamine-scrolling and its implications for public health, particularly regarding mental wellbeing and digital behaviour patterns. While extensive research exists on Internet addiction, problematic social media use, and doom-scrolling, the authors of this paper identify dopamine-scrolling as a distinct behavioural pattern that warrants specific attention from public health professionals and policymakers.
De D, El Jamal M, Aydemir E, Khera A. Social Media Algorithms and Teen Addiction: Neurophysiological Impact and Ethical Considerations. Cureus. 2025 Jan 8;17(1):e77145. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.77145 PMID: 39925596; PMCID: PMC11804976.
> Does it matter how many hours we spend scrolling through Instagram? This article examines the neurobiological impact of prolonged social media use, focusing on how it affects the brain's reward, attention, and emotional regulation systems. Frequent engagement with social media platforms alters dopamine pathways, a critical component in reward processing, fostering dependency analogous to substance addiction. Furthermore, changes in brain activity within the prefrontal cortex and amygdala suggest increased emotional sensitivity and compromised decision-making abilities. The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in this process is significant. AI-driven social media algorithms are designed solely to capture our attention for profit without prioritizing ethical concerns, personalizing content, and enhancing user engagement by continuously tailoring feeds to individual preferences. These adaptive algorithms are designed to maximize screen time, thereby deepening the activation of the brain's reward centers. This cycle of optimized content and heightened engagement accelerates the development of addictive behaviors. The interplay between altered brain physiology and AI-driven content optimization creates a feedback loop that promotes social media addiction among teenagers. This raises significant ethical concerns regarding privacy and the promotion of personalized content. This review article offers a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the neurophysiological impact of social media on adolescents and the moral concerns governing them. It also provides solutions for ethical social media use and preventing addiction among teenagers.
Addictive potential of social media, explained - https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2021/10/addictive-pot... - October 29th, 2021
What Makes TikTok so Addictive?: An Analysis of the Mechanisms Underlying the World’s Latest Social Media Craze - https://sites.brown.edu/publichealthjournal/2021/12/13/tikto... - December 13th, 2021
(I have provided subject matter expertise on this topic to federal policymakers, with peer reviewed citations in all cases, I hope I have helped improve your priors to bring them current)
Did any of those links provide evidence that Instagram deliberately withholds likes? If not, it seems like a non-sequitur.
Nope. They changed and edited the comment a lot to continue adding things, but nothing about the original claim. It looks like a combination of goalpost moving and link-bombing to change the subject.
I think that should be illegal. I don’t know how to legislate it in a way that makes sense and actually accomplishes the goal (or if that’s even possible), but I would support someone trying to figure it out.
Full social media ban, problem solved. There’s no point wasting more time discussing these things when they’re very obviously a large net negative on society.
Might be good to confirm that this is actually happening first :)
Hysteria typically doesn’t lead to particularly good policy
Call your state and federal representatives, it's the only way. Run for office if you have the appetite for it.
It’d be fairly easy to set up an experiment to validate if that were the case.
They definitely all play off emotions and have their own way to tapping into addictive behaviors. Youtube doom scrolling, reading endless reddits, etc. Lots of apps trying to get you hooked.
It's about the same amount of time that attention is given to any focus, most of those are less than a SFV length.
It really makes sense now. Emotional dysregulation comes into play and now I wonder that it's not just me who is quietly angry (at Match Group) all the time while still addicted to swipe based dating apps.
Leetcode became popular along the same time line.
Coincides with GenZ aging into adulthood after being educated in the debunked "3-cueing" or "whole language" reading education model. So far 40 states have pivoted away from it as states that switched first saw reading comprehension improve.
Whole lot of social experimentation without informed consent being put on people by 50+ year olds who run the world and never had to jump through the same thought policing.
Psychiatrist argues Americans have lost their grit for irrational reality we are forced to live in and actually are snowflakes: https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2024/02/how-we-...
Eeeh, Leetcode is older. I’m a millenial and it was popular when I was going through - 10ish years earlier.
[flagged]
I don't think this comment is inline with community guidelines. "Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes."
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
it's fine, the above comment was snarky as well.
[flagged]
You think people in their 50’s run the world? That’s adorable. Meanwhile people are living longer than ever, still going strong in their 80’s. You think they just retired or something?