You have to wade past a ton shit you'd never purposely look at, get side tracked along the way, and still never see everything you originally set out to see. It's a never ending loot box for content.
Infinite scroll is a loot box mechanic
5 days ago by MrOtingocni to c/showerthoughts
ChinoKawaii 11 points 5 days ago
Pages are so much better than infinite scroll
and ye, fuck youtube for making 80% of results be shorts, I'm not looking for this bullshit
kbal 9 points 5 days ago
How the scrollbar works says nothing about what's on the page. You could make similar claims about web pages in general — you never really know if you'll get what you were looking for. If anything, having to click "next" to try again would make it more like a loot box. But still not much like a loot box, usually.
MrOtingocni 3 points 5 days ago
The difference is the intention.
In general, a webpage has all the information it thinks you need. A forum allows the user to choose what content they want.
You find what you're looking for, you get the laugh, rub one out, whatever, call it a day and go about your business.
Oh, no, no, no... there's so much more attention to extract from the user... with a game.
Conversely, a scroll is designed to manipulate your dopamine by restricting your ability to choose and creating artificial scarcity. They deliberately inject not only ads and propaganda but content you're not interested in so that you will have to continually chase the content. The "loot" is the content. The "loop" is their payoff.
In fact, behavioral science has identified the optimal range of hit to miss odds your brain calculates that keeps target seeking behavior at the highest level.
Ever notice the "not interested in this kind of content" buttons don't work very well? Or are temporary at best? Hmm, wonder why that is. The illusion of choice, the restriction of choice, curated randomness... it's all packaged in the infinite scroll.
Of course, cut out the creepy stuff and it still functions as a kind of interactive content experience which is why it's pervaded every site. Too bad it's a shit design that wastes your time.
kbal 0 points 5 days ago
I do not accept "infinite scroll" as shorthand for all that bullshit. I don't like infinite scroll much myself, for other reasons, but this is the Fediverse. There are plenty of people around here looking at pages containing nothing but things in chronological order posted by people they chose to follow, and choosing to load more by scrolling down.
TheKaul 4 points 5 days ago
I think the difference with the Fediverse is there is an end. There is old content. You catch up to where you left off. It's not truly an "infinite scroll" in the way OP is referring to.
With stuff like Reddit, they organize to where it all feels recent, it's all relevant, and it's all new. Every time you refresh, new psuedo-random (algorithmic) content takes it's place. They almost prevent you from seeing old content. The "infinite scroll" is more like "infinite content".
In this way, they put people in an endless loop. People always have something to find, and because of the infinite scroll, you'll always have a good chance of finding "rares". It's exhausting once you notice it.
At least I can tell I've opened Lemmy too many times today because all of the recent posts are marked as read.
MrOtingocni 2 points 5 days ago
I have no doubt they do.
Aralakh 7 points 5 days ago
Wow, this might be beyond the scope of a showerthought meme because you've got my gears turning. This actually makes sense -- design is a series of decisions at the end of the day, never thought about it in the interaction element and intention sense. Algorithms of doom fucking everything up, puts this interaction element into dark pattern territory.
MrOtingocni 4 points 5 days ago
Right?
Stripped down to its core it's innocent enough. It's just the capacity for getting deep into the dopamine feedback loop that's worrisome. Meta's sites, Reddit, a ton of wannabe sites use it to its full potential. People can spend all day scrolling, brain fried, emotionally tapped out, and still feeling hungry and dissatisfied.
krisbalintona 3 points 5 days ago
yup, doomscrolling is basically waiting for something alluring to grab our attention
MrOtingocni 2 points 5 days ago
And yet here you are. 😛
MonkderVierte 3 points 5 days ago
About that, i have "infinite scrolling" off in Voyager but it doesn't paginate, still infinite scroll.
wolframhydroxide 2 points 3 days ago
I think it's more useful to think of it in terms of a Skinner box. Loot boxes, gacha, and most other mechanics in modern games are all variants of operant conditioning, and doomscrolling is a different, but equally insidious, manifestation thereof. The way the Skinner Box gets you is by giving you little, consistent hits of pleasure, keeping you performing a rote act, and so you get conditioned to perform that act continuously, even after you no longer derive pleasure, or after the actual reward has been removed. This is precisely what doomscrolling is.
showerthoughts
@lemmy.world
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
go to feed...
showerthoughts
@lemmy.world
44042
4160
5739
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
go to feed...
I've never thought about it like that but you're right. I definitely have that same burst of serotonin from finding a great post that you get when you get a rare.
save