[and-not-drew]

While casino is probably the best comparison, I've always thought of social media as kind of the high fructose corn syrup for this generation. We took something that in small doses isn't really an issue and over optimized without thinking of the human cost. We've figured out the most addictive part and have turned that up to 11 and are now realizing, "oh shit, maybe that was too much".

[xtracto]

This is the problem with most "free" digital services now: games, social nets, news sites, etc. They are optimizing user behaviour to cater their customers (advertisers), so they estimulate addictive behaviour.

I blame advertising based internet. It pushes the wrong incentives for service providers.