Social Approval and Feedback Loops

The quest for social approval is biological, and necessary in some instances. It is important to get social approval from different people at different stages of our lives, and it is certainly no vice. It is an important component of growing up, figuring out who we are, who we are not, and who we’d like to be. As with other psychological traits of ours, this concept has taken on a new importance with smartphones and social media. In this section, we’re going to examine 1) how our biological need for social approval is used by social media companies, 2) how social media is deliberately designed to keep us immersed, and 3) how variable positive reinforcement keeps us on our smartphones.

Supporting Social Studies series episodes: 1, 2

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