Do you ever feel an almost compulsive need to check your Facebook? Refresh your Twitter? Do you ever wonder why at the store, you're a "customer," but online, you're a "user"? See how the science of operant conditioning is being used on you by Facebook, Farmville, and WOW. Presented at Ignite Salt Lake, August 31, 2011 at the State Room in Salt Lake City, Utah: http://youtu.be/Ek3dDL0l8MA

1. The 6th Legal Addiction

2. Legal Addictive Substances

3. Addictive Behavior
Ad·dic·tion /əәˈdikSHəәn/
Noun: When an individual persists in the use of a substance despite problems related to
its use, often characterized by impairment in behavioral control, craving, inability to
consistently abstain, and a diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s
behaviors and interpersonal relationships.
From the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

4. FUN FACT: More than 40% of the English-speaking
Internet population in the developed world has a
personal Facebook page.

6. Intermittent Variable Reward (IVR) –
A method of behavioral reinforcement conditioned by
rewarding action intermittently (as opposed to consistently).

13. vs.

14. I’d Rather Give Up ______
August 3, 2011 by TeleNav, Inc.
Than Give up My Cell Phone for a Week:
55% said Caffeine
63% said Chocolate
70% said Alcohol
20% said Shoes
33% said Sex
26% of smartphone users admitted to using
their phone frequently at the dinner table

15. How to Know If You’re
Addicted to Social Media
1. You find yourself Facebooking at the expense of other activities: your
hobbies, your spouse or your job.
2. If you’ve ever denied that your use of social media is a problem.
3. If you’re spending your weeknights at group therapies or conferences
listening to someone explain that social media can be an addiction.
4. If you’ve ever used Twitter to communicate with someone living in
your own home.
5. If you’ve ever faked receiving a phone call so you could go and check
your Facebook on your phone.
6. If you’ve ever forced a friend or aging relative to join Facebook in
order to stay in touch with you.
7. If you’ve ever tweeted from the bathroom. Like, while using it.

16. Why Is This Bad?

17. Short List of the Most
Addictive Sites on the Internet
1. Failbook.Failblog.org
2. Twitter.com/FirstWorldPains
3. ClientsFromHell.com
4. DamnYouAutoCorrect.com
5. LeisureDive.com
Bonus: Twitter.com/ShawnPButler
WARNING: These sites are potentially habit forming!
And are basically not very useful to begin with.