$133 billion. Can you even grasp that number? In 2021 people spent $133 billion on apps across all smart phones. In-game purchases rope you in slowly with micro transactions. First it’s just a $0.99 starter pack or access to the next level. Less than a dollar for fun? You spend more on your morning coffee, why not for something fun, right?
Next thing you know, you are buying the $10 once-in-a-lifetime deal, and the “value” you get for it is another 10 minutes of dopamine-rush. But wait, you are the 4th on the leaderboard, if you just buy this pack for another $15 you can take the lead and earn more virtual crap that no one cares about and will be gone in an hour.
The real reward is staring numbly at a phone screen for hours — and a surprisingly large credit card bill at the end of the month. But it was only a few cents here and there, how?
The social media trap
People on average spend 38% of their online time on social media. In perspective, that accounts for 2.5 hours each day. That is 38 consecutive days a year. Longer than most of us spends on vacations.
It is 912.5 hours a year. For contrast, there are some languages out there that you could learn on a native level in a thousand hours. You could learn to play any instrument on various level — depending on the instrument. You could reach your weight goal, develop any skills tremendously, become better at your profession or start a new profession all together. Invest a 1000 hours in anything — it will yield awesome results.
Invest it in social media and it will yield anxiety and depression. For your thousand hours a year, you can feel inferior to those who seem to have these fabulous lives on social media. You get disconnected from your social circle, because you keep staring at that screen. You become lonely, isolate yourself from the world, while you think you are connected, holding your finger on the pulse of the Earth.
Social media is also biased. No one likes to face opinions opposing to theirs — and social media will serve you well with that one. It will recommend you content that cements in your view of the world, your opinion on contentious matters. Social media will not try to expand your view or push you out of your comfort zone.
We have the whole world at our fingertip — but it is narrowed down by our choices and preferences. It is not freeing, it is locking us up in our own ivory tower.
Money makes the world go round
Social media, as well as the mobile game industry is a huge business. There is unfathomable amount of money flowing through it every minute. Let’s assume it takes you 4 minutes to read this article: while you are reading, people spent 1 million dollar only on apps and in-game purchases, and let’s not forget the revenue from social media ads, that is roughly another 1 million in this 4 minutes.
As a consumer, knowing this makes my skin crawl. As a white female in my thirties living in a rich Western-European country, I feel like the main target audience for every useless-but-cute product out there. My impulse control is being tested every minute, and I am only human — I often lose.
Yay for all the devs out there
As a developer on the other hand, those numbers makes me feel relieved. And responsible. I am glad and feel safe knowing there will always be people pouring enormous amount of money in IT. I will always have a job.
But recently I started to feel responsible. Although I do not work for Big Tech, in fact my job has no affect on the every day life of the average people — as I started reading content targeted for developers, I see very little discussions about responsibility.
Developers have access to our life — every aspect of it. We create things that surround us, and let’s face it, software is everywhere. Yet developers make no vows to do no harm. Sometimes we don’t even know how or where our code solutions will be used. We just do our job, provide for our family, build our own life. We do want people to pay for our products. We do want people to enjoy the features we worked so hard on. We do want our creation to become a success.
Where does our responsibility end?
We are proud of what we did. But what if we know for a fact, that certain strategies applied in our product WILL make people addicted? It brings in good money for our customer or employer or us, but sometimes it is money people don’t actually have. It is money from unpaid credit cards or money that should be spent on fixing the roof or buying the kids new shoes. And we do everything in our power to trigger the impulse buying habits of our end users — and are happy when we see exceptional revenue.
Mobile apps can make or break lives. It is the users problem. They should control their spending. Same way as alcohol addicts should control their cravings.
In my youth I have met 2 types of bartenders. The ones that will refuse to serve you when you seem like you had enough, and the ones who will pile it on and go out of their way to serve you the most expensive drinks they can find for a good income and a higher tip.
But if you know for a fact that your guest is a recovering addict — will you refuse to serve them? I mean if you do, someone out there will serve them anyway. There will always be someone else who is willing to do the job. There will always be someone out there who will take the big bucks you refused for ethical or moral reasons. If you say no, it saves no one, but you lose a great opportunity to make loads of money…
Would you say no if you know your creation is most likely to be mentally of financially harmful for the users?
To which degree are we responsible for the impact our creations have on peoples life?
Is “just doing my job” a good excuse to participate in a project that makes big bucks for big companies while does a disservice for it’s users?
Where do you draw the line?
