How your apps control you

Danyl Fernandes
Sep 9, 2018 · 2 min read

The biggest trick apps efficiently pull is to make you believe that you are the one controlling it.

Well, aren’t you?

  • aren’t you the one who swipes that finger up and down the feed?
  • aren’t you the one that chooses what button to click

Oh! Sure. Then what do I mean and how does this strategy to keep you glued work? If you’re interested continue reading…

The Hook Model

The main strategy all your social media apps use is this very model (by Nir Eyal) that is based on T.A.R.I

  • T - Trigger (External or Internal)
  • A - Action
  • R - Reward
  • I - Investment

Trigger

  1. External Triggers: Has this ever happened to you, where you haven’t opened an app in weeks and one fine day, you get a notification saying your friend just uploaded a new picture, you click it and there you are inside the app
  2. Internal Triggers: So an Internal Trigger is your mind doing what you’ve programmed it to do. What do you do first thing in the morning after you wake up? Check your feed, messages? I see you grinning 😏

Now, what happens after you give in to the trigger?

Action

You click the trigger and flow into the app with an intention of being there for a few minutes, but little did you know about the next phase in the Hook Model

Reward

Once you’re in, the app will now serve you your favorites…

  • the posts you like
  • the memes you love
  • the photos that matter to you
  • the people that matter to you

Ever wondered why the feed of your favorite social media apps never end?

You are served, for as long as you swipe so you dive right into the next phase, unbeknownst.

Investment

As you’re being rewarded, you happily continue by investing your precious time into the app.

the decision you made earlier of spending only two minutes on the app goes into the drain and you end up spending hours

Conclusion

The very purpose of this simple and short write-up is for you to understand that your time is precious and you are being fooled every minute that you spend there

Someone great once said,

The worst decision is indecision.

Everyone has a life goal and I’m sure you do too. Take the first step into your future. Make a decision to control your apps and let them not control you.

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