Maybe people don't need to try very hard to make things addictive. Maybe we just "like" being addicted to things. Maybe we have strange reasons for it. (And maybe addiction is mostly a coping mechanism when we can't figure other things out.)

I'm not sure we can put all the blame on the creators of social media. At least sometimes I'm not sure they even need to try that hard.

I've recently started developing a game for fun and found my self having to put a lot of effort into figuring out whether "is this _actually_ fun and fulfilling?" or "does it only make me compulsively feel like I have to continue, waiting for the fun that's around the corner (but never shows up)?"

I suspect social media is the same.

Just as a generation destroyed their lungs beyond repair through decades of cigarette use, another generation might be in the process of fundamentally altering their brains, for life, through heavy daily use of an intentionally addictive product.

Ten years ago, there was more uncertainty, but today the studies are making it pretty clear that heavy social media use shortens attention spans, can lead to social anxiety and depression, and who knows what else.

It's complicated because there are a lot of good things about social media too. But I do think it makes some sense to try to crack down on companies that intentionally target children with addictive, harmful products, just like we eventually did with cigarettes.

He had no trouble as a kid getting cigarettes. Even more there was no social stigma around a 12 year old smoking when he was 12. "Kids these days..." was the attitude by the adults. You know, exactly like the dumb adults who see some teenager hopelessly addicted to these technologies and just think "kids these days.."

It is just a complete failure by adults and a good example of how all we learn from history is that we don't learn anything from history.