Ohri is experiencing the \u201c30-minute ick factor”. Coined by Alexis Hiniker, a computer researcher at the University of Washington, US, the phrase describes the \u201cwave of disgust or disappointment people feel when they realise they\u2019ve spent over half an hour on a platform they meant to check only briefly”. It\u2019s a classic symptom of \u201ctime-loss design” found largely on social media platforms. Or e-commerce apps that tend to recommend related products once you\u2019ve added something to the cart, instead of taking you directly to the checkout. Ohri is concerned she\u2019s now experiencing it on a quick commerce app, too.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just a time sink, it\u2019s costing her money, too. She orders groceries from the app roughly thrice a week, but the doomscrolling nearly doubles her bill every time. Fairy lights, a table runner, coasters, a plant\u2014just to confirm the app really delivers plants\u2014have all found their way into her cart through this route. Even a vacuum cleaner. \u201cYou think this is better than mindless doomscrolling on Instagram because it\u2019s adding value to your life in some way, but it ends up increasing material consumption,” she says.<\/p>\n
It all started last October around Diwali, when Blinkit expanded beyond groceries. Ohri was curious. Items that once took three days to arrive via online shopping, could now show up in three minutes; the platform\u2019s \u201cdark store” is only 700 metres from her apartment, she tells us. \u201cGifting my family members things via Blinkit has become my love language of sorts now,” she adds. Ohri likens her act of gifting via the app to the way people indulge in \u201cpebbling” on Instagram, the ritual of sending Reels or memes to friends as little tokens of affection. The comparisons she\u2019s drawing may not be incidental.<\/p>\n
For years, social media and streaming platforms have been finding ways to keep users glued to their apps. YouTube and Spotify \u201cautoplay” the next video, song or podcast. In-app browsers\u2014such as the ones allowing YouTube videos to play within a WhatsApp chatbox\u2014prevent you from exiting the messaging platform. And the infinite scroll\u2014born on TikTok\u2014now powers video feeds on Instagram and X.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s striking is how platforms across verticals\u2014social, e-commerce, fitness-tracking, news, beauty, fashion and even professional networking\u2014are finding newer, subtler ways not only to keep us hooked for longer but also de-incentivise leaving them.<\/p>\n
X (formerly Twitter) removes link previews to make you less likely to click away. Digital marketers note how LinkedIn throttles posts with external links, nudging users to bury URLs in the comments. Instagram lets you reply to Reels sent via DMs within the Reel itself. You don\u2019t have to go back to your chatbox. The design makes the \u201csocial interaction” part seem like a quick detour, something to get out of the way before getting back to the real task: scrolling on to the next Reel.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these feel like subtle nudges that eliminate the pause,” says Ohri, whose work explores the intersection of technology, design, and human behaviour. \u201cThat \u2018break\u2019 where you would normally switch off or close the app\u2026 it doesn\u2019t exist anymore. Now, you\u2019re forever contained in their world.”<\/p>\n
When author Nir Eyal published Hooked in 2013, he highlighted how tech companies remove friction to keep us hooked on apps, built on a simple loop: \u201ctrigger, action, variable reward, and investment”. Today, platforms have evolved far beyond Eyal\u2019s framework.<\/p>\n
From removing friction in UI\/UX design (user interface and user experience), many platforms are now adding friction at every exit point, thus not just shaping user behaviour but controlling it. It\u2019s no more about whether these apps are addictive, it\u2019s whether they\u2019ve already stolen our ability to choose.<\/p>\n
Hooked warned us that \u201capps were trying to be like bars\u2014places where you\u2019d happily order one drink after another,” says Himanshu Khanna, 38, founder of a Delhi-based design company, Sparklin. \u201cAt least bars have a cut-off policy when you have had too much.” Similarly, some apps introduced screen-time nudges, even though they were never aggressively marketed. \u201cBut platforms now behave like casinos, building a space\u2014with unlimited free food and no clocks or windows so you lose track of time\u2014to keep you inside for days ,” notes Khanna, who has spent close to two decades designing apps for consumer internet and B2B companies.<\/p>\n
Anushka Kulkarni, 24, experienced this app-hijacking behaviour with language-learning app Duolingo\u2019s streaks feature. After maintaining a 775-day streak of learning the German language over the last two years, she noticed, \u201cIt was just pushing me every day to keep a streak but had slowed down the learning path. I think the app makers figured if I learn faster, I won\u2019t use the app anymore.” What began as positive reinforcement gradually turned performative. \u201cI uninstalled the app earlier this year as it had become about showing off how long the streak has been going, instead of measuring progress,” says the marketer from Mumbai, who currently works with a fintech platform in Bengaluru.<\/p>\n
As the line blurs between user engagement and user manipulation, it forces a deeper reckoning with just how much we should hold platforms accountable for designing the trap, and ourselves for stepping into it.<\/p>\n
Forming habits<\/p>\n
Apps of all kinds are trying to build \u201chabit loops”. Think \u201cstreaks” on Snapchat, language-learning app Duolingo, and fitness apps like Strava, even the NYT Games app. A streaming platform like Netflix offers games to hold attention a bit longer. And so does, oddly, a professional networking platform like LinkedIn.<\/p>\n
When Netflix and Linkedin launched their gaming sections in 2021 and 2024, respectively, Neha Mathews did not find it at all odd. \u201cIt\u2019s what newspapers have done for decades with crosswords and Sudoku,” says the 33-year-old business development professional from Mumbai. \u201cMaintaining my daily streak on apps like Duolingo, NYT Games and LinkedIn\u2019s games section appealed to my competitive streak. I wanted that badge, that rank, that consistency.”<\/p>\n
But then she started to notice something else about this streakification of her life. For a week this year, Mathews got on the Strava fitness app that logs fitness activities and keeps a record of your \u201cstreak” as well as lets you see others\u2019 performance. \u201cI think I spent fewer hours running and more hours doomscrolling on Strava to see how friends and family were running, cycling, and being fit so much more than I was.”<\/p>\n
Notice how \u201cdoomscrolling” appears yet again, this time in the context of a fitness-tracking app trying to pull users into endless loops. Mathews has since uninstalled the app.<\/p>\n
Even AI platforms seem to be following the habit loop pattern now, Khanna of Sparklin points out. \u201cEvery time you ask GPT something, it answers your query and immediately hooks you with things it can do next for you, related to your initial query. All you need to do is say \u2018sure\u2019 or \u2018yes\u2019.”<\/p>\n
Soon, AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude may start nudging users with random notifications, much like Zomato or Amazon, he reckons, like \u201cThere are more inputs to XYZ business model since you last asked. Would you like to explore that?”<\/p>\n
Can we really call these tactics manipulative though and hold platforms accountable?<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, these features feel like nice touches, small conveniences that smoothen the experience. But they\u2019re not really about helping the user. These are behaviour-shaping choices, designed to reduce conscious decision-making and make it easier to fall into longer, more passive app usage,” says Khanna.<\/p>\n
In May, American peer-reviewed medical journal Neurotherapeutics published a study involving 7,212 adults from the 1999-2002 cohort which stated that higher leisure screen time (LST) was associated with accelerated biological ageing, independent of the individual\u2019s physical activity levels.<\/p>\n
In an emailed response to Lounge\u2019s query on streaks on the app, a Snap spokesperson says, \u201cUnlike features on other platforms that rely on public validation, Streaks are private and focused on personal connection, a reflection of Snap\u2019s commitment to designing interactions that are safe, authentic, and aligned with well-being, not pressure. To remove any potential pressure related to Streaks, we offer free restores, have extended the time frame for a Streak to continue, and this feature is opt-in.” Instagram, Duolingo, Strava, and Blinkit did not respond to Lounge\u2019s emailed queries on the topic.<\/p>\n
Can we really call these tactics manipulative though and hold platforms accountable?<\/p>\n
Most of these app features fall under what UI\/UX designers call \u201cpersuasive design”. That is features meant to persuade users into certain actions, often aligning user needs with business goals.<\/p>\n
Ankur Rander, CEO of BombayDC, a digital products company, says, \u201cEach of these features comes from studying user behaviour and turning those insights into hooks.” Rander\u2019s work of building digital products also involves building elements of persuasive design for apps. Unlike dark patterns\u2014like hidden fees, tricky subscription cancellations or sneaking items into carts, which are overtly deceptive\u2014persuasive design is a nudge, not a trap, he says.<\/p>\n
Companies do tend to prioritise growth over user well-being when designing apps, adds Rander. \u201cBeing truly user-centric is expensive. It demands process changes, extra costs, and letting go of established practices. It\u2019s costly in the short term, even if it pays off in the long run\u2014but not all clients are willing to take that long-term view. So, persuasive design will remain acceptable if it balances user and business value,” he adds.<\/p>\n
If the feature respects user intent, it feels like genuinely \u201cadding value”, says Adithi Sampath, a tech and product leader with two decades of experience at major consumer internet companies like Meta and Uber. \u201cFeatures that nudge users, but in service of the platform\u2019s own goals feel like \u2018value-add\u2019. But when it\u2019s designed primarily to capture attention or extract value for the company without serving the user\u2019s needs, it crosses the line into being exploitative,” adds Sampath, who currently works as vice-president of product at global auto firm, Stellantis.<\/p>\n
Personalised recommendations, nudging towards healthy behaviours, like finance apps helping people save more, fitness apps nudging users to exercise more, price drop alerts or safety notifications feel like value-add to her. Whereas, \u201cauto play, opt-out phrased negatively, social pressure notifications (your friend just surpassed you), feel exploitative,” she says.<\/p>\n
In larger, more mature companies, discussions around persuasive design tend to be more structured, often framed around user trust, well-being, or long-term retention, she notes. \u201cIn high-growth environments, ethical considerations may take a backseat,” she says.<\/p>\n
It makes you see certain instances of persuasive design in a different light. Take Instagram\u2019s in-feed reply to Reels sent via DMs, for instance. \u201cIt isn\u2019t just about building higher retention for the app but also funnelling us toward their most monetisable features,” says Bengaluru-based Ishtaarth Dalmia, who works as a marketer at a VC firm. \u201cBecause Reels have ads, whereas DMs remain ad-free for now,” he adds.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, Instagram head Adam Mosseri revealed on the 20VC podcast that teens were spending more time in DMs than on Stories or the feed, which led him to redirect company resources towards developing messaging tools. However, as more user attention shifts away from the traditional scrollable feed, the platform sees fewer ad impressions, making it harder for Instagram to justify its ad pricing. The move to enable in-feed replies to Reels, adds Dalmia, may also be an effort to recapture some of those lost ad views.<\/p>\n
Dalmia has also worked at a popular consumer internet company in his previous stint. He finds it interesting how WhatsApp letting you play a YouTube video inside a chat makes Google lose programmatic ad revenue on it.<\/p>\n
Today, \u201capps are working overtime\u2014not just to build tighter hooks, but to break the hooks of competing apps,” says Aditya Kothari, Bengaluru-based strategy consultant who has first-hand experience of building stickiness for an app as the former co-founder of Chingari, a homegrown TikTok alternative. For instance, Instagram pulls you back into the app after you share something externally\u2014quietly, without showing you a dialogue box blocking access to the other app. It’s so smooth you barely notice the choice to stay elsewhere was taken away from you. \u201cBig tech companies have dedicated teams tracking rising consumer apps. And once a smaller app gains traction, the playbook is simple: buy it, clone it, or crush it,” he adds.<\/p>\n
When Snapchat\u2019s Stories became popular, soon every other app had Stories. Delivery apps introduced tipping …now cab aggregators have it. The same happened with short-form videos, and now with micro-dramas: Instagram just announced Reel Series, which lets you link one Reel to the next, clearly a response to the format\u2019s growing popularity. \u201cWhat has happened as a result is that earlier the slot machine was just in a casino . Now it\u2019s in your home, office, bedroom, bathroom…essentially wherever you carry your device,” notes Kothari.<\/p>\n
Ohri, who now buys groceries offline, points out how just a few years ago, doomscrolling was considered a form of rest\u2014a way to switch off at the end of the day and scroll without thinking. \u201cNow, we seem to be unable to do anything without checking our phones in between. People tweet about sitting through an entire movie without looking at their phones as if it\u2019s some sort of a win.”<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are micro-reacting, micro-thinking about who to send something you saw online on one of these apps to. It has completely changed what \u2018rest\u2019 looks like for so many of us,” rues Ohri.<\/p>\n
It brings to mind a video essay by author Jonny Thomson, \u201cliked” by nearly 30,000 Instagram users, that Kothari shared with me. In it, the academician, who shares content on philosophical ideas with his 660,000 followers on @philosophyminis, talks about \u201ccreeping normality” in the context of technology and its impact on our lives. He describes the concept as when something harmful arrives gradually, each step feeling harmless. \u201cThe trick of creeping normality,” he says in the video, \u201cis that it hides the crunch points. None of the concessions seem worth objecting to, until link by link the chain is made.” The worst chains, he adds, are those that appear while you\u2019re looking elsewhere\u2014doing something else. \u201cAnd before you know it, you can\u2019t move.”<\/p>\n
But there are ways to break away from this creeping normality without taking extreme measures like locking your phone away or going on a digital detox retreat. Some content creators have started making content about how apps are hijacking our time and gaining traction for it on the same platforms they hold responsible for said hijacking. They share hacks like switching phone\u2019s homescreen to black-and-white to make screens less stimulating, burying time-sucking apps in folders to add friction, or using minimalist launchers that only display three or four key apps on the homescreen.<\/p>\n
Persuasive design may not qualify as a dark pattern yet, which keeps platforms out of regulatory sight, but it is quietly turning user delight into user dreariness. And if platforms can\u2019t be called out for thrusting these slot machines in our faces, the least we can do is refuse to pull the lever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ohri is experiencing the \u201c30-minute ick factor”. Coined by Alexis Hiniker, a computer researcher at the University of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[68333,68330,68336,68334,49,48,68331,68337,190,68328,68335,8982,61,68332,68329],"class_list":["post-123586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-app-design","tag-app-usage","tag-autoplay-apps","tag-blinkit","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-digital-products","tag-instagram-reels-infinite-scroll","tag-mobile","tag-persuasive-design","tag-quick-commerce-apps-india","tag-screen-time","tag-technology","tag-ui-ux-design-apps","tag-user-behavior"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}