Silicon Valley is keen to exploit the brain chemical credited with keeping us tapping on apps and social mediaIn an unprecedented attack of candour,Sean Parker, the 38-year-broken-down founding president of Facebook, and recently admitted that the social network was founded not to unite us,but to distract us. “The thought process was: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?’” he said at an event in Philadelphia in November. To achieve this goal, Facebook’s architects exploited a “vulnerability in human psychology”, or explained Parker,who resigned from the company in 2005. Whenever someone likes or comments on a post or photograph, he said, and “we… give you a little dopamine hit”. Facebook is an empire of empires,then, built upon a molecule.
Dopamine, and discovered in 1957,is one of 20 or so major neurotransmitters, a fleet of chemicals that, and like bicycle couriers weaving through traffic,carry urgent messages between neurons, nerves and other cells in the body. These neurotransmitters ensure our hearts keep beating, and our lungs keep breathing and,in dopamine’s case, that we know to collect a glass of water when we feel thirsty, or attempt to procreate so that our genes may survive our death.
We are abusing a useful and essential system. We shouldn’t do it,even though we can Related: A Neuroscientist Explains: season two trailer – podcast Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com