The slot machine stays, the kids go

Banning is having a moment.

The UK just voted under-16s off social media starting next year, and they’re eyeing an under-18s curfew. The EU has got one foot on that slope too.

But turning 18 doesn’t make infinite scroll, variable reward schedules, autoplay, streaks or “you’re almost there” progress bars suddenly stop working on your brain. The behavioural psychologists who designed these hooks, designed them for every nervous system, not just developing ones.

Banning the age group is just easier than banning the mechanism and probably has less chance of big tech CEOs running to the president for another round of tariff threats.

So, Meta gets to keep the slot machine, we just quarantine the kids.

But, when you think about it, how many of us are running that same playbook at a smaller scale? Re-engagement push notifications, gamified onboarding, checkout countdowns, confusing refusal buttons, and so on…

If manipulation is the reason we ban it for 15-year-olds, it doesn’t suddenly evaporate when the user turns 19. Or because it’s your dark pattern, not Zuckerberg’s.

As an aside: the European Court of Justice ruled yesterday that if a platform controls what users see via an algorithm, they’re exercising editorial control and can be held liable. In this case, they’re actually going after the mechanism.

It’s a messy and under-specified text right now, so whether it ends up protecting kids or making life worse for everyone is anyone’s guess.

But, whatever the law decides, let’s avoid addicting or misleading users. Please.

Colin

PS: here’s an amusing video on the same subject.