A taxonomy of technology design features that promote potentially addictive online behaviours

Abstract

Gaming disorder was officially recognized as a disorder of addictive behaviour in the International Classification of Diseases 11th revision in 2019. Since then, other types of potentially problematic online behaviour have been discussed as possible candidates for inclusion in the psychiatric nosography of addictive disorders. Understanding these problematic online behaviours requires further study of the specific psychological mechanisms involved in their formation and maintenance. An important but underdeveloped line of research has examined the ways in which technology design features might influence users' capacity to exert control over how they engage with and use websites and applications, thereby amplifying uncontrolled, and perhaps addictive, use. In this Review, we critically examine the available research on the relationships between technology design features and the loss of control and harms experienced by those who engage in online video gaming, online gambling, cybersexual activities, online shopping, social networking and on-demand TV streaming. We then propose a theory-driven general taxonomy of the design features of online applications that might promote uncontrolled and problematic online behaviours.

Dark Patterns, Enforcement, and the emerging Digital Design Acquis: Manipulation beneath the Interface

“…138 System architecture can be designed to exploit psychological principles that encourage addictive behavior and increase user engagement. 139 For instance, developers can implement features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, and variable reinforcement schedules that manipulate users into spending more time on a platform than they otherwise would. 140 By providing users with unpredictable rewards or positive reinforcement at varying intervals, platforms can create a sense of anticipation and excitement.…”

The landscape of open science in behavioral addiction research: Current practices and future directions

“…Fostering the reliability and transparency of research results should reflect core values of any research field, including that of behavioral addiction. Indeed, although behavioral addiction research has had a growing impact on international public health policies in recent years (e.g., recognition of Gaming Disorder by WHO, which contributed to the regulation of loot boxes and other gaming-related design features amplifying uncontrolled, and potentially addictive use; see Drummond et al, 2020;Flayelle et al, 2023), it has been criticized for largely not endorsing the current best practices in open science research (e.g., Grubbs et al, 2022;van Rooij et al, 2018). Video gaming, gambling, online sexual activities, shopping, social networking and on-demand TV streaming are among the most popular leisure activities worldwide (Flayelle et al, 2023), and thus research on these behaviors has the potential to have a widespread impact on modern society.…”

Increased ventral anterior insular connectivity to sports betting availability indexes problem gambling

“…4 In this context where sports betting is ubiquitous, merely perceiving an environmental cue related to a sport event (e.g., a game schedule) can act as a powerful incentive to bet. 4 Accordingly, this increased accessibility to digitalized forms of gambling behaviours is fuelling the level of dysregulated and problematic sports betting behaviours among sports fans. 5 In a previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we employed a cue exposure paradigm where we manipulated gambling availability through a design making sport events available or unavailable for betting.…”

“…An inherent feature of this type of gambling is that it combines macro (e.g., betting on the outcome of a game) and micro (e.g., in‐play betting) sports outcomes with the prospect of winning money 3 . Furthermore, with the advent of online technology design features, it is now possible to place a bet on almost any sporting event, at any time and any place 4 . In this context where sports betting is ubiquitous, merely perceiving an environmental cue related to a sport event (e.g., a game schedule) can act as a powerful incentive to bet 4 .…”