1. solitude: single-player game loop 2. bottomlessness: infinite scroll 3. speed: instant delivery/gratification 4. teasing: generally satisfactory, never perfect; “maybe the next one is exactly what I want” ↘️ quoting NPR (@npr.org): Taken together, these four features can create a trancelike state that can keep us stuck on social media apps or video games for hours. Children are particularly vulnerable. n.pr/4mH6i6s
The surprising origin of 4 features that superglue kids — and adults — to screens
Taken together, these four features can create a trancelike state that can keep us stuck on social media apps or video games for hours. Children are particularly vulnerable.
The surprising origin of 4 features that superglue kids — and adults — to screens
Taken together, these four features can create a trancelike state that can keep us stuck on social media apps or video games for hours. Children are particularly vulnerable.
Growing up in the online world: a national consultation
We are consulting on further measures to prepare children for the future in an age of rapid technological change. This includes potential age restrictions on social media and other services such as gaming sites and AI chatbots, restrictions on addictive design features and risky functionalities, and better support for parents and families.
Bad Game Design - Clicker Games
We need more video games that are social platforms first, games second | TechCrunch
During these long, mundane physically-distant days, stretching on into an uncertain future like an ever-lengthening beigeish corridor, it's impossible not
Why Are There No Online Spaces For Kids Anymore?
Kittens Game - a Dark Souls of incremental gaming
spawnd
spawnd: high-quality games in your browser, no installs needed, fullscreen and distraction-free.
The Insidious World of Lolcows
Within the internet’s darkest ecosystems, provoking the mentally ill has become full-time entertainment.
Astrarium Digital (@astrariumdigital.bsky.social)
✨🎮Helping indie games find their players! 🎮✨ We help indie developers grow wishlists & launch with confidence - games don't fail because they're bad, they fail because no-one sees them. 📅 Let's chat: https://calendly.com/accounts-astrarium/30min
Temporarily Offline
A slightly unerving game on technological violence induced by pseudosimplicity and increasingly awful UI.
Why Being Bored Is Good | The Walrus
Technology keeps us constantly stimulated. What do we lose when we no longer have nothing to do?
Meta’s ‘Digital Companions’ Will Talk Sex With Users—Even Children
Chatbots on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp are empowered to engage in ‘romantic role-play’ that can turn explicit. Some people inside the company are concerned.
howard rheingold's | the virtual community
Those words have become a family code for the way my virtual community has infiltrated our real world. My seven-year-old daughter knows that her father congregates with a family of invisible friends who seem to gather in his computer. Sometimes he talks to them, even if nobody else can see them. And she knows that these invisible friends sometimes show up in the flesh, materializing from the next block or the other side of the planet.
Stuck In Time
A unique mix of adventure and idle game. Plan and optimise your loops carefully and let the grind happen automatically. Explore this unique world, meet strange characters and escape the loop. A high-quality idle game that elevate the mechanics through an old school pixel-art adventure.
Home
A gaming platform built on the open social web. Your identity, your scores, your data - all portable.