ShortSimon on Nostr: The addiction machine isn't driven by malice but by personal profit. In the attention ...

The addiction machine isn't driven by malice but by personal profit. In the attention economy, user attention is the product being sold to advertisers. More user attention means more advertising revenue. More advertising revenue means higher stock prices. Higher stock prices mean larger bonuses for CEOs and executives, who can make tens or hundreds of millions of dollars annually through stock options and performance incentives. This creates a fundamental misalignment between executive enrichment and user wellbeing. Features that might help users maintain healthy boundaries or reduce compulsive usage directly conflict with executive compensation packages. The platforms are economically incentivized to make their services as addictive as possible because the personal wealth of those in charge depends on it. While shareholders may benefit, the primary driver is the enrichment of a small group of executives who make the decisions about how addictive these platforms become.