Biology

• Dopamine: Constant overstimulation of the brain leads to increased pain afterwards, loss of motivation and resilience.
• Anxiety: Most popular or trending tend to be the most outrageous.
• Stress: Outrageous content can contain violence or negative news.
• Comparison: Manufactured highlight reels leads to low esteem.
• Habits: Constantly checking phone or impulsively scrolling becomes habitual due to addiction.
• Gratification: Instant rewards leads to impulsivity due to dopamine.
• Compassion: Outrageous content in the minority leads to a lack of compassion.
• Flow: Easy to access if meaningful things get hard.
• Values and Boundaries: The recommendation algorithm is only concerned with trending, most engagement, outrageous content.
• Escapism: Easy to access due to the reward pathway.

CBT Distortions

• Jumping to Conclusions e.g. (availability bias) These events feel like they’re happening everywhere.
• Overgeneralization e.g. What’s wrong with people?
• Mental Filtering: e.g. (negativity bias) The world is bad.
• Always Being Right: e.g. Arguing online.

Biases

• Algorithmic Bias
• Salience Bias
• Negativity Bias
• Anchoring Bias
• Hyperbolic Discounting
• FOMO
• Loss Aversion
• Survivorship Bias
• Availability Bias

Circ’s Principles

• Balance: Always think about keeping the user in allostasis.
• Esteem: Respect the values & boundaries or the user.
• Transparency: Reduce anxiety by removing uncertainty and explaining algorithm updates.
• Expectations: Reduce stress by providing control and reassurance of outcome.

Mental Health

• Depression: Avoid comparison, highlight reels and distorted realities.
• Chronic Stress: Avoid repetitive stimulation using outrage.
• Chronic Anxiety: Avoid the state of uncertainty and provide reassurance.
• ADHD: Avoid impulsive habit forming interactions and context switching.