Why we are no better than rats
The mid-century rat experiment that teaches social media platforms how to create addiction
Greetings folks and friends,
I am coming to you this week from a lovely family beach trip. I was inspired by ’s latest post about social media’s manipulation of artists to re-share this post from last year about how and why we incessantly scroll. I read a Substack note last week arguing that social platforms should “close” for the evening at 6pm, and “reopen” the next morning. This is one of the best ideas I have heard this year.
*** I wish I could remember who posted this so I could give credit. If anyone does please pop it in the comments***
Related, I have been taking an Instagram and TikTok hiatus for this month and it has been as refreshing as the dip in the ocean that I am about to take.
If you like this post, please like share and subscribe as it will help my work reach wider audiences.
Lastly, may the memories you make this week come from real life (and not the internet)!
xxC
Songpairing
*** Michael McDonald singing “minute by minute by minute by minute” sounds like these relentless rats pressing their levers ***
In the 1960s, a Harvard researcher named B.F. Skinner performed a seminal experiment on conditioning behavior.
He put some rats in a box with a lever. When a rat happened to press the lever, out came a delicious pellet of food. The rats soon learned to press the lever every time they desired another pellet.
What clever little rats!
But that was not the end of the experiment because Skinner soon pioneered the concept of intermittent reinforcement— otherwise known as the most powerful and manipulative method of behavior conditioning.
Skinner changed the settings on the lever. One group of rats was given a dead lever. No matter how many times they pressed, no pellet.
They soon gave up, for good.
The second group of rats was given a lever that produced a pellet at widely unpredictable intervals—sometimes it required 8 presses, sometimes 79, and sometimes just 1.
These rats soon began pressing the lever incessantly, dogged and determined.
They exhausted themselves, neglected themselves, and appeared zombified and hopeless—at least according to one observer.
If you’ve ever been in an abusive relationship, as I have, you may be candidly familiar with this dynamic of degradation, and its draining drama. (alliteration is awesome!)
You can also take a trip to the local gas station slot machine for a more literal example.
Or…glance down at the handy but oft sinister little rectangle machine in your hand.
This week I am asking you to zoom out and observe where you may be pressing for pellets in your life.
Here, I’ll go first—
Fucking social media, man.
Before I was a burgeoning pop star, I had a private little instagram page (no facebook!) where I would infrequently post little pictures of my kids and family at places, or re-share a a dog meme, or an infuriating news-bit ( before I wised up to fear-mongering).
Now here we are in the age of “GOTTA BLOW UP ON TIK TOK,” and I find myself pulling and pushing that lever, cranking out “content,” being intermittently reinforced with likes and comments and shares, (or not) and feeling compelled to do it all over again.
Maybe if I try it this way, maybe if I post at 11am instead of 2pm, maybe if I add a long caption this time, let me just see if anyone responded; refresh, repost, redouble.
Blather, rinse, repeat.
It might look different on you—
Maybe you’re in an online dating phase and the apps have you in a chokehold.
Maybe your work has you checking email and texts every three minutes.
Maybe you’re compulsively scrolling for dopamine hits.
My guess, though, is that if you are metaphorically pressing for pellets in your life, you are doing it on your smartphone.
As with most patterns, it can be hard to see from the inside. I knew social media was draining me, I just couldn’t articulate why until I serendipitously stumbled upon this study last week.
My only goal at the moment is to just be aware of the behavior, not to change it.
I’m not swearing off smartphones or social media ( I still gotta blow up), but now when I have the impulse to pick up my phone, I also have the metacognition to see it for what it is: a rude little lever.
That is all I am asking you to do, too.
We can all still press for pellets, but just not at the expense or neglect of ourselves.
Cool?
Cool.
Sources:
https://pressbooks.online.ucf.edu/lumenpsychology/chapter/reading-reinforcement-schedules/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner
https://myfamilypsychologist.com/what-is-intermittent-reinforcement/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-wise/201311/use-unpredictable-rewards-to-keep-behavior-going
The amount of times I pick up my phone is alarming! I should have toned arms by now 🥲🥲🥲. I appreciate the softness at the end, a call to notice. No drastic changes , just the powerful act of noticing. How is the beach???