User Behaviour

While there are no hard and fast diagnostics for Internet addiction, most people today would agree that their Web usage habits exhibit some, if not many, aspects of addictive or “compulsive” behavior. Why is this? Is it simply that people today lack self-control? Not entirely.

Businesses, like Facebook, explicitly design their sites to “hook” users. Web designers use a four-part system designed to keep users browsing and clicking: a “trigger” that starts the user browsing, an “opportunity for action” such as continuing to click or scroll, a “variable reward” in which the user isn’t certain what they will see or find next, and an “investment” such as the chance to comment on or like something.

“Personal responsibility matters. But it’s important to realize that many websites and other digital tools have been engineered specifically to elicit compulsive behavior.”

Understanding website design is one thing, but the fact that sites facilitate compulsive Web habits becomes ethically problematic when you consider how companies benefit from this behavior. Websites appear to offer users what interests them – for example, entertainment or buying options – but in actuality, they lead users beyond their wants for the sake of profit.

“It’s possible to imagine regulation that actually expands users’ choices. It doesn’t need to be especially invasive or dramatic, and it would be designed to give users more control over their experiences online. ”

In the Internet landscape, companies make more money by pushing you through as many virtual “doors” as possible than they do by keeping you engaged with a single piece of content. Slate.com, for instance, doesn’t just want you to open and read a single article; they want you to keep clicking, whether to the next article or on one of their partners’ advertisements.

Some technologies, such as the app Freedom, can help you regain control of your Internet behaviors, but many people lack awareness of these technologies or the “know-how” to implement them. Moreover, expecting companies to self-regulate is naive. But what would external regulation entail? If the goal is to expand users’ “control over their experiences online,” regulatory measures might include allowing people to block notifications and other distracting elements online; banning web design elements which breed compulsive behaviors; forcing companies to “flag” users who are exhibiting signs of Internet addiction; or requiring websites to offer “tools” that would let users track their own behaviors.