Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato
“Digital environments like social media platforms are designed to deliver rewards intermittently and unpredictably, imitating the psychologically addictive qualities of slot machines. The randomness, opacity, and variability are all there on purpose to provoke compulsive engagement. If we take a step back and consider this system, it is strange beyond words: the system links the most personal, private aspects of life and identity to a gambling mechanism, co-opting the most fundamental human feelings and motivations. It has colonized life’s inherent uncertainty and unpredictability, leveraging these fundamental features of existence to generate anxiety and disciplinary power. Digital capitalism has changed the concept of uncertainty itself.” (04/17/26)