It's a very good point that I think some commenters here should take to heart. No matter how enlightened we think we are, we're all part of the masses and behave this way at one point or another.
While this is true, it stands to question: why build systems to encourage this? Shouldn't we be trying to do better?
If nothing else, how can one avoid falling into these traps?
Perhaps due long tail effects.
Tech (platforms) will always be advertising focused, because information systems scale with compute. marginal costs are so minor, that the limit becomes human attention.
Which is also why apple may be able to focus on user centric design better. They are product + tech.
Then again I can see other physical product firms delving into advertising - so its most likely corporate behavior/values.
Take Signal for example - early days they had a ton of success with a core group of users, in spite of a number of product warts. Ever since then, they've been making usability improvements to lower friction and appeal to more and more marginal users. Is that good or bad? Based on the hn threads I've seen, it seems like the jury is pretty mixed?
Some software is like that. Most isn't - but the enshittification culture is affecting it all the same.
If you try to appeal to someone’s better parts, then there is a limit to the amount of attention that they can apply to your product.
If you try to appeal to someone’s base need for dopamine, then the limit of attention is much higher.
until incentives change, people will continue to encourage this. The base instinct behaviors when one is stressed and tired and checked out are the most profitable, the most susceptible to adverts etc.
The way to encourage conciencousness, taking pride in creation etc is to see a few (the right amount of) others (who are seen by the user as peers, not unnatainable far off creators) doing the same. Maybe stretched/challenged a little - one or two at most people above their skill level, who appear approachable and humble.
It's the format of most true knowledge creation, be it classrooms, effective workplaces, sports programs, and others
I cannot prove it, but this is how I think it is. For the record, I think I am smart; however, because of the Iron Rule of Intelligence above, it is equally possible that I am only average.