Nir EyalSpeaker on Behavioral Science, NYT Bestselling Author, Former Stanford Lecturer

Escaping to Social Media #shorts

Name: Escaping to Social Media #shorts
Uploaded: 2023-07-13T15:00:26+00:00
Duration: 38 s
Channel: Nir Eyal
Description: Short spoken commentary by Nir Eyal observing that people turn to websites and apps (Facebook, Tinder, YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest, stock tickers, sports…

13 Jul 2023 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:38

Short spoken commentary by Nir Eyal observing that people turn to websites and apps (Facebook, Tinder, YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest, stock tickers, sports scores) to escape feelings of loneliness and boredom. He frames this pattern as a general claim: if behavior is motivated by avoiding discomfort, then time management is effectively pain management.

Chapters

What website or app do people check when they're feeling lonely? Where do we go? Facebook. Somebody said Tinder. Also true. Different kind of loneliness, but also true. And what about when we're feeling bored? Where do we go when we're feeling bored? We check YouTube. We look at Reddit, we look at stock prices, sports scores, Pinterest. All of these products and services cater to this uncomfortable emotional itch, this feeling that we don't want to experience. Therefore, if we conclude that all behavior is prompted by a desire to escape discomfort, that means that time management is pain management.