Facebook has been designed to cause psychological addiction in it's users (for the financial gain of it's shareholders). Steem tips the balance by rewarding users, but how does it's design compare in terms of exploiting addictive tendencies? Let's take a look...
DISCLAIMER: To be clear, I am not looking, here, to help Steem sites become MORE addictive - I am, in anything, looking to help users be able to use Steem and other social systems without suffering due to habits and addictive patterns.
Addictions are defined, by me, to be behaviour patterns which we continue to choose to use (consciously or unconsciously) even though we know they are harmful in some way - usually repetitively. Habits are similar, although they don't necessarily need to be harmful beyond the fact that they rely on part of us being unconscious (on auto-pilot), which in itself is not beneficial for wellbeing or embodying full awareness and understanding of self/life.
Facebook is well known to exploit the chemistry of human brains by having a high throughput of posts and thus new stimulation that triggers emotions and different subsystems in the self to produce 'feel good' chemicals. Once we stop using Facebook, those chemicals diminish and 'real life' seems dull in comparison. The real solution is to change our own real life to make it more exciting and fulfilling, however, since it is often a simpler task to just go back to using Facebook, that is what many people do and hence we see phone zombies all around
What about Steem?
Steem does also have a similar high speed post turnover - however, it's economic aspect means that people don't benefit from the main features of Steem unless they work together more than they might do otherwise. So from that perspective, there is a more active aspect to Steem automatically than there is in the passive consumption of material on Facebook. Steem rewards creativity and output whereas Facebook just sucks people in and attempts to make it's owners powerful and rich as a result.
Avoiding losses on Steem & In Life
There's another important aspect to Steem, though, which investors need to understand and that is very interesting. Since the Steem rewards pool is generated through inflation, the value of Steem will constantly decrease (until outside investment comes in) and so anyone holding tokens risks losing their money. However, this can be bypassed by making posts on Steem - earning more tokens and holding your position or increasing. This has a few effects:
- People are attracted to keep using the Steem network.
- Long term holding of tokens is less attractive than with crypto tokens which don't inflate - unless the holder is a prolific curator or poster.
- Sale of tokens to bid bots is attractive.
- Payout levels of posts seem higher than they are (until the value of crypto and Steem jumps up and then things switch around and posts suddenly become worth a great deal more.
In terms of addiction, the highs and lows are less stable when compared to Facebook's constant churning out of material - since not only do people's 'kick' from payouts fluctuate with the markets but so too does the amount of content on the network. Until Steem sites match Facebook for functionality, this will continue. However, less stability means more variation, which is to some extent a good thing in the prevention of forming addiction.
Steem gives a sense of building something and it is here that the involvement of 'addiction' can be cleared - since addiction requires a destructive element to be involved. As long as we are being productive while using the network, the destructive element is gone. It is surely still possible to use Steem in an out of balance way - too much phone/computer time is never a good thing - but in my experience at least, the higher level of intelligence among Steem users as compared to the average on Facebook, means we are more likely to design our lives to minimise that and support each other in doing that. A network is more than just software, it's the people too!
The Future of Social Software is?
At some point it is likely that Steem sites will surpass Facebook in terms of having the features that people want and need - with each site offering something slightly different. At which point, Steem will become a powerful force online - moreso than today. The higher standard that Steem requires from it's users in terms of conscious awareness of what is happening in the world (in order to understand the money systems connected to it) mean that generally, Steem is a more engaging experience and offers greater mental challenge/exercise.
My own social network at ureka.org is intended to offer the best of social features with the minimum of addicting and harmful effects - in fact, it is intended to help us heal. I'm in the process of adding Steem features to Ureka too - so I aim for Ureka to be at the forefront of delivering technology that works with our spirit, instead of against our best interests! In the meantime, let's learn and make intelligent choices together to optimise our online experience, without getting caught up in disempowering addictions and self denial patterns! We got this! <3
Wishing you well,
Ura Soul
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