It's only "addictive" because it's fun, it's no more pointless than anything else you might do for fun. What are you really achieving by using this app? Do you have an unhealthy relationship with your phone, or are you just arbitrarily ranking it low on the "worthiness" of random shit you might choose to do to kill some time.
If I want to scroll Reddit, I would like to make a deliberate decision rather than doing it habitually in an "uncontrolled" way, just immediately out of boredom.
The app intervenes in this unconscious phone pickup habit loop and prompts me to reconsider this.
I'm not deleting social media apps from the device and I believe we shouldn't. I'm just trying to adjust the way how I reach them.
So they are trying to find hacks to counter their habits.
I can relate. Sometimes I'm on HN a bit more longer than ideal. But that's not a big issue for me and it's not very often so I'm not finding a fix for this.
ADHD brain is a bitch. "Gimmicks" help to trigger a intentional conscious response to break out of a pattern.
It’s the equivalent of getting up on a soapbox and exclaiming that we live in a society. (Except everyone is on their phone and won’t give you any attention)
Why? Why are you on your phone? Well, have you, the critiquer of the supposed malaise given any real thought to that? Or do you have no insights to offer, nothing more than a rhetorical one-word question to ask, nothing that penetrates the surface of the supposed problem?
Have you, OP?
At least propose a theory. Like: maybe people are overstimulated and have choice fatigue. Then what the hell does yet another automated nagger help? One more reminder that you should drink a cup of coffeine-free green tea and smile at a stranger?
Nothing was uncovered. Nothing was gained.
[1] This is not true. Making YouTube shorts takes some editing skills.
This is not true. Almost everything in mobile phones exploit human brain biases to keep us hooked. It's about regaining control of what you want to use your time for.
Basically anything I in-fact do when my phone's not around, is better than the phone.
The only thing I do without the phone that's almost as low-value is video gaming (gee, more electronics...)
And you know, you could mindlessly watch cable tv :)
people don't realise how addiction works - see the Vietnam veterans case: https://jamesclear.com/heroin-habits
we have bigger (social) problems that's causing the phone addiction: if it wasn't a phone, it would be video games, TV or alcohol or something else.
If your work, or lack of money, or your kids school, or your parents health are causing you stress, most often you can't simply "change your environment" to a less stressful one.