[champagnois]

Social media addiction can lead to severe mental health issues, eating disorders, depression, and even suicide.

Video game addiction often leads to children and adults completely destroying their professional or academic lives. In many cases, a child grows up to find a balance between working just enough to afford their videogame habbit.

I have read stories of an adult who was so addicted to a simple cellphone game that they were compulsively telling lies to create more game time and ultimately destroyed all of their social relationships and lost their job. All of that dysfunction stems from their brain's addiction to the rush of progress bars, levelling up, victory screens, and success chimes.

Not all people are wired the same. A lot of brains are hopelessly addicted to these two categories of stimuli and I feel you dismiss them a bit too carelessly.

[PuppyTailWags]

I remember a time where I was playing a phone game to get some sleep (the mindless stimulation works for my brain, which has hyperactivity issues). There were time-limited events that gave bonuses for completion. One of the things I distinctly remember was that there were teams you could join, followed by team vs team competition for rewards at the end of the week. Competitive teams then had minimum floors of activity... It became like a job to keep track of your own contribution for... for... some bonuses at the end of the week? I remember becoming disappointed/unhappy that the game was asking more from me than I wanted to give (10-30 min of playing before being calm enough to sleep) and quitting. Now I only play phone games without a team/online component, like the stupid merge games or bubble games.

[champagnois]

I grow concerned with the increase in addiction research among technology companies. The language is disguised as user retention, engagement, social, gamification, etc.

I do not have a solution to this problem and it is a problem that I myself would contribute to if I was trying to design an app that people would use. Greater addiction mechanisms trend toward wider market adoption which leads to a higher value for shareholders. The current system of incentives to a company makes this focus inevitable.

[matheusmoreira]

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. If the game has a timer anywhere, it's a deliberate habit-forming design. They're spaced reward schedules intended to make you come back.

The job-like feeling is real. Before they even realize it, people start organizing their own schedules around some stupid phone game. Setting alarms to wake up at 3 AM because that's when the timer resets and they can play again.

[matheusmoreira]

I don't dispute any of that. I once fell into the mobile game trap myself, it's really bad. I've posted many times here on HN about how these games are deliberately designed to form habits in players and I think they should be illegal.

The thing is I've personally seen opioid addicts do literally anything for a drug. Not for pleasure, just to avoid the pain of abstinence. One guy killed his own mother because she tried to cut off his access to the drugs, he ended up homeless and reduced to crime and was eventually arrested and forced to undergo treatment. The power of these substances cannot be underestimated. As bad as predatory video games are, I'm convinced opioids are worse.

[iSnow]

I think you are spot on but many people haven't experienced opiate (or benzo) addiction or talked to ex-addicts. It's really something else.

[matheusmoreira]

Indeed. I have experience at a neurology practice, I suppose it has skewed what "severe" addiction means to me.

Benzodiazepines addiction is severe as well. Not as bad as opioids but still pretty bad. I've seen patients get violent because a doctor didn't want to renew their prescription for their own good.