Martina Devlin: One day, we'll look back in disbelief at how we pandered to tech giants at the expense of our children

"Social media is designed to be addictive - it's habit-forming, like gambling or drug use, with a feedback model that offers feel-good hits from other users."

"If you find yourself spending too long online, it's because platforms intentionally create a compulsion loop to keep you scrolling through endless streams of material targeted to your interests."

Social media platforms employ deliberately addictive design mechanisms comparable to gambling and drug use, utilizing feedback loops that provide psychological rewards to maintain user engagement. These compulsion systems are engineered to keep users scrolling through algorithmically targeted content streams. Governments hesitate to implement regulatory measures against major technology companies due to concerns about economic disruption and job losses. This regulatory reluctance prioritizes business interests over child welfare, allowing platforms to continue exploiting psychological vulnerabilities in younger users without meaningful constraints or accountability.

Read at Independent