Investigated
Are persuasive technologies addictive?
Short answer
Image: pixabay.com
Persuasive technologies can encourage repeated or prolonged use, and some design features may contribute to loss of control. But “addictive” is not a simple property of persuasion: problematic use appears to depend on the design, context, user, and behavior involved, while genuine addiction-like disorder may be relatively uncommon.
The views on this question
Two lenses on the same evidence. Source weight and the primary source ratio show what each rests on.
Alternative
Source weight 64%Lens adapted to this topic: Skepticism about the addiction label
A serious skeptical reading argues that public discussion often collapses ordinary engagement, habit, persuasive influence, and clinical addiction into one label. It also stresses that persuasive technology can be designed to help people change behavior, and that ethical concerns about attention capture do not by themselves establish addiction. This view accepts that some designs may be harmful while questioning broad, deterministic claims.
- The distinction between positive engagement and addiction-like disorder is important: available survey evidence found addiction to YouTube uncommon despite widespread experiences of some problematic-use components.
- Persuasive technology can be used for health-related behavior change, such as reducing smoking, overeating, or inactivity, rather than only for capturing attention.
- Persuasive design scholarship proposes ethical approaches and examines technologies intended to help users break unwanted smartphone habits, illustrating that persuasion is not inherently addictive.
- The evidence is better understood as indicating context-dependent risks from particular features than as proving that persuasive technologies as a class are addictive.