How does social media take advantage of our cognitive vulnerabilities?

–Nathan, Age 20, Troy, MI

We’ve learned that persuasive technology is designed to shape our attitudes and behavior. From features like infinite scroll to algorithmic recommendations, social media presents a special case of persuasive technology where psychological buttons are poked and prodded again and again, often without our awareness.

Our cognitive biases make us vulnerable to these features, leading us to click, scroll, and engage for hours on end. Consider the following ways social media exploits these vulnerabilities:

Because our attention is a limited resource, at any given moment our brains need to determine what is important. The “salience network” of the brain¹ helps us do that by alerting us to threats and opportunities. Notifications (vibrations, red dots, flashing lights, banners) constantly trigger the salience network. Most notifications are designed to pull us into an app rather than offer important information.

The brain circuit involved in wanting is much more powerful than the brain circuit involved in satisfaction. Social media capitalizes on this, providing endless possibilities for seeking in the form of features like infinite scroll, recommendations, and swiping to new content.

Have you ever noticed that if you get five positive comments and one negative one you still tend to focus more on the negative? Research shows that negative information gets more attention and shapes emotion and behavior more powerfully than positive information does. To keep us safe, our brains process negative information—especially if it causes fear—more quickly and thoroughly than positive information. Social media content that generates fear, anger, or disgust sees higher engagement, and spreads much more quickly, than positive content. Recommendation algorithms often multiply this effect.

Social media creates an environment in which we are constantly comparing ourselves to others. Our brains pay close attention to information about ourselves, and tend to compare information about ourselves to what we learn about other people so we fit in socially. Our feeds are filled with highly curated images featuring people in select moments showing only what they want you to see, validated by likes that activate powerful reward circuits in the brain. This environment dramatically escalates the scope and stakes of our comparisons.

Just as our brains are sensitive to social comparison, they’re also sensitive to social exclusion. Our brains process rejection and physical pain using some of the same neural pathways, meaning that when your feelings “get hurt,” your brain processes it in a similar way to how it processes physical pain. Social media algorithms take advantage of this vulnerability. They learn about our preferences and curate the information we receive. In our individualized feeds with limited perspectives, we struggle with the fear of rejection (what happens if I say no?).