[ahallock]

HN is addictive, but I think we're dramatizing things. Is a product that people like to use a lot a bad thing? Maybe that just speaks to having a good product that gives people what they want, rather than some insidious mind-control scheme where people have no agency to stop using it. Are creators supposed to make their products worse so people don't use them as much? I don't get it.

[Loughla]

I think the split comes now that companies, such as FB, have focused to maximize 'engagement' with zero thought on the repercussions. Cigarette companies knew people were addicted to nicotine, but I guarantee in their planning sessions they talked about engagement or some other corporate fluff word.

It's less about having a good product or making a worse product, and more about the moral and ethical responsibility to consider what that addicting product's end result will be.