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April 9th, 2017
What i "rain hacking"? Tech inider on whou hould care
ilicon Valle i engineering our phone, app and ocial media to get ou hooked, a
a former Google product manager. Anderon Cooper report
The following cript i from “rain Hacking,” which aired on April 9, 2017. Anderon Cooper i
the correpondent. Gu Campanile, producer.
Have ou ever wondered if all thoe people ou ee taring intentl at their
martphone -- nearl everwhere, and at all time -- are addicted to them? According
to a former Google product manager ou are aout to hear from, ilicon Valle i
engineering our phone, app and ocial media to get ou hooked. He i one of the few
tech inider to pulicl acknowledge that the companie reponile for programming
our phone are working hard to get ou and our famil to feel the need to check in
contantl. ome programmer call it “rain hacking” and the tech world would
proal prefer ou didn’t hear aout it. ut Tritan Harri openl quetion the long-
term conequence of it all and we think it’ worth putting down our phone to liten.
Tritan Harri: Thi thing i a lot machine.
Anderon Cooper: How i that a lot machine?
multimedia.c.com
Tritan Harri, a former Google product managerPhoto : C New
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Tritan Harri: Well ever time I check m phone, I’m plaing the lot machine to ee,
“What did I get?” Thi i one wa to hijack people’ mind and create a hait, to form a
hait. What ou do i ou make it o when omeone pull a lever, ometime the get a
reward, an exciting reward. And it turn out that thi deign technique can e
emedded inide of all thee product.
The reward Harri i talking aout are a ig part of what make martphone o
appealing. The chance of getting like on Faceook and Intagram. Cute emoji in text
meage. And new follower on Twitter.
Tritan Harri: There’ a whole plaook of technique that get ued to get ou uing
the product for a long a poile.
Anderon Cooper: What kind of technique are ued?
“...ever time I check m phone, I’m plaing the lot machine to ee,‘What did I get?’ Thi i one wa to hijack people’ mind and create ahait, to form a hait.” Tritan Harri
Tritan Harri: Tritan Harri: o napchat’ the mot popular meaging ervice for
teenager. And the invented thi feature called “treak,” which how the numer of
da in a row that ou’ve ent a meage ack and forth with omeone. o now ou
could a, “Well, what’ the ig deal here?” Well, the prolem i that kid feel like,
“Well, now I don’t want to loe m treak.” ut it turn out that kid actuall when the
go on vacation are o treed aout their treak that the actuall give their paword
to, like, 됂ve other kid to keep their treak going on their ehalf. And o ou could ak
when thee feature are eing deigned, are the deigned to mot help people live
their life? Or are the eing deigned ecaue the’re et at hooking people into uing
the product?
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Anderon Cooper: I ilicon Valle programming app or are the programming
people?
Tritan Harri: Inadvertentl, whether the want to or not, the are haping the
thought and feeling and action of people. The are programming people. There’
alwa thi narrative that technolog’ neutral. And it’ up to u to chooe how we ue
it. Thi i jut not true.
Anderon Cooper: Technolog’ not neutral?
Tritan Harri: It’ not neutral. The want ou to ue it in particular wa and for long
period of time. ecaue that’ how the make their mone.
It’ rare for a tech inider to e o lunt, ut Tritan Harri elieve omeone need to
e. A few ear ago he wa living the ilicon Valle dream. He dropped out of a
mater’ program at tanford Univerit to tart a oftware compan. Four ear later
Google ought him out and hired him a a product manager. It wa while working
there he tarted to feel overwhelmed.
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Tritan Harri: Honetl, I wa jut omarded in email and calendar invitation and
jut the overload of what it’ like to work at a place like Google. And I wa aking,
“When i all of thi adding up to, like, an actual ene됂t to m life?” And I ended up
making thi preentation. It wa kind of a manifeto. And it aicall aid, ou know,
“Look, never efore in hitor have a handful of people at a handful of technolog
companie haped how a illion people think and feel ever da with the choice the
make aout thee creen.”
“Inadvertentl, whether the want to or not, the are haping thethought and feeling and action of people. The are programmingpeople.” Tritan Harri
Hi 144-page preentation argued that the contant ditraction of app and email are
“weakening our relationhip to each other,” and “detroing our kid ailit to focu.”
It wa widel read inide Google, and caught the ee of one of the founder Larr Page.
ut Harri told u it didn’t lead to an change and after three ear he quit.
Tritan Harri: And it’ not ecaue anone i evil or ha ad intention. It’ ecaue the
game i getting attention at all cot. And the prolem i it ecome thi race to the
ottom of the raintem, where if I go lower on the raintem to get ou, ou know,
uing m product, I win. ut it doen’t end up in the world we want to live in. We
don’t end up feeling good aout how we’re uing all thi tu墅�.
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Pla Video
60 Minute Overtime
When martphone ecome a teen' drug of choice
Anderon Cooper peak with two teen in a treatment center in Maliu who realized:
It' their phone the're hooked on.
Anderon Cooper: You call thi a “race to the ottom of the rain tem.” It’ a race to
the mot primitive emotion we have? Fear, anxiet, loneline, all thee thing?
Tritan Harri: Aolutel. And that’ again ecaue in the race for attention I have to
do whatever work.
Tritan Harri: It aolutel want one thing, which i our attention.
Now he travel the countr tring to convince programmer and anone ele who will
liten that the uine model of tech companie need to change. He want product
deigned to make the et ue of our time not jut gra our attention.
Anderon Cooper: Do ou think parent undertand the complexitie of what their
kid are dealing with, when the’re dealing with their phone, dealing with app and
ocial media?
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Tritan Harri: No. And I think thi i reall important. ecaue there’ a narrative that,
“Oh, I gue the’re jut doing thi like we ued to goip on the phone, ut what thi
mie i that our telephone in the 1970 didn’t have a thouand engineer on the
other ide of the telephone who were redeigning it to work with other telephone and
then updating the wa our telephone worked ever da to e more and more
peruaive. That wa not true in the 1970.
Anderon Cooper: How man ilicon Valle inider are there peaking out like ou
are?
Tritan Harri: Not that man.
We reached out to the igget tech 됂rm ut none would peak on the record and ome
didn’t even return our phone call. Mot tech companie a their priorit i improving
uer experience, omething the call “engagement.” ut the remain ecretive aout
what the do to keep people glued to their creen. o we went to Venice, California,
where the od uilder on the each are eing mucled out mall companie that
pecialize in what Rama rown call “rain hacking.”
Rama rown: A computer programmer who now undertand how the rain work
know how to write code that will get the rain to do certain thing.
Rama rown tudied neurocience efore co-founding Dopamine La, a tart-up
crammed into a garage. The compan i named after the dopamine molecule in our
rain that aid in the creation of deire and pleaure. rown and hi colleague write
computer code for app ued 됂tne companie and 됂nancial 됂rm. The program
are deigned to provoke a neurological repone.
Anderon Cooper peak with Rama rown, the cofounder of Dopamine LaPhoto : C New
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“A computer programmer who now undertand how the rain workknow how to write code that will get the rain to do certain thing.”Rama rown
Anderon Cooper: You’re tring to 됂gure out how to get people coming ack to ue the
creen?
Rama rown: When hould I make ou feel a little extra aweome to get ou to come
ack into the app longer?
The computer code he create 됂nd the et moment to give ou one of thoe reward,
which have no actual value, ut rown a trigger our rain to make ou want more.
For example, on Intagram, he told u ometime thoe like come in a udden ruh.
Rama rown: The’re holding ome of them ack for ou to let ou know later in a
ig urt. Like, he, here’ the 30 like we didn’t mention from a little while ago. Wh
that moment--
Anderon Cooper: o all of a udden ou get a ig urt of like?
Rama rown: Yeah, ut wh that moment? There’ ome algorithm omewhere that
predicted, he, for thi uer right now who i experimental uject 793 in experiment
231, we think we can ee an improvement in hi ehavior if ou give it to him in thi
urt intead of that urt.
When rown a “experiment,” he’ talking generall aout the million of computer
calculation eing ued ever moment hi compan and other ue to contantl
tweak our online experience and make ou come ack for more.
Rama rownPhoto : C New
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Rama rown: You’re part of a controlled et of experiment that are happening in
real time acro ou and million of other people.
Anderon Cooper: We’re guinea pig?
Rama rown: You’re guinea pig. You are guinea pig in the ox puhing the utton
and ometime getting the like. And the’re doing thi to keep ou in there.
The longer we look at our creen, the more data companie collect aout u, and the
more ad we ee. Ad pending on ocial media ha douled in jut two ear to more
than $31 illion.
Rama rown: You don’t pa for Faceook. Advertier pa for Faceook. You get to
ue it for free ecaue our eeall are what’ eing old there.
Anderon Cooper: That’ an intereting wa to look at it, that ou’re not the cutomer
for Faceook.
“You don’t pa for Faceook. Advertier pa for Faceook. You get toue it for free ecaue our eeall are what’ eing old there.”Rama rown
Rama rown: You’re not the cutomer. You don’t ign a check to Faceook. ut
Coca-Cola doe.
rown a there’ a reaon text and Faceook ue a continuou croll, ecaue it’ a
proven wa to keep ou earching longer.
Rama rown: You pend half our time on Faceook jut crolling to 됂nd one good
piece worth looking at. It’ happening ecaue the are engineered to ecome
addictive.
Anderon Cooper: You’re almot aing it like there’ an addiction code.
Rama rown: Yeah, that i the cae. That ince we’ve 됂gured out, to ome extent,
how thee piece of the rain that handle addiction are working, people have 됂gured
out how to juice them further and how to ake that information into app.
Larr Roen: Dinner tale could e a technolog-free zone.
While rown i tapping into the power of dopamine, pchologit Larr Roen and hi
team at California tate Univerit Dominguez Hill are reearching the e墅�ect
technolog ha on our anxiet level.
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Larr Roen: We’re looking at the impact of technolog through the rain.
Roen told u when ou put our phone down – our rain ignal our adrenal gland
to produce a urt of a hormone called, cortiol, which ha an evolutionar purpoe.
Cortiol trigger a 됂ght-or-适ight repone to danger.
Anderon Cooper: How doe cortiol relate to a moile device, a phone?
Larr Roen: What we 됂nd i the tpical peron check their phone ever 15 minute
or le and half of the time the check their phone there i no alert, no noti됂cation. It’
coming from inide their head telling them, “Gee, I haven’t check in Faceook in a
while. I haven’t checked on thi Twitter feed for a while. I wonder if omeod
commented on m Intagram pot.” That then generate cortiol and it tart to make
ou anxiou. And eventuall our goal i to get rid of that anxiet o ou check in.
o the ame hormone that made primitive man anxiou and hperaware of hi
urrounding to keep him from eing eaten lion i toda compelling Roen’
tudent and all of u to continuall peek at our phone to relieve our anxiet.
Larr Roen: When ou put the phone down ou don’t hut o墅� our rain, ou jut
put the phone down.
Anderon Cooper: Can I e honet with ou right now? I haven’t paid attention to
what ou’re aing ecaue I jut realized m phone i right down m right foot and
I haven’t checked it in, like 10 minute.
Larr Roen: And it make ou anxiou.
Anderon Cooper: I’m a little anxiou.
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Larr Roen: Ye.
We found out jut how anxiou in thi experiment conducted Roen’ reearch
colleague Nanc Cheever.
Nanc Cheever: o the 됂rt thing I’m going to do i appl thee electrode to our
됂nger.
While I watched a video, a computer tracked minute change in m heart rate and
perpiration. What I didn’t know wa that Cheever wa ending text meage to m
phone which wa jut out of reach. ver time m text noti됂cation went o墅�, the lue
line piked – indicating anxiet caued in part the releae of cortiol.
Nanc Cheever: Oh, that one i…that’ a huge pike right there. And if ou can imagine
what that’ doing to our od. ver time ou get a text meage ou proal can’t
even feel it right? ecaue it’ uch a um, it’ a mall amount of aroual.
Anderon Cooper: That’ facinating.
Their reearch ugget our phone are keeping u in a continual tate of anxiet in
which the onl antidote – i the phone.
Anderon Cooper: I it known what the impact of all thi technolog ue i?
Larr Roen: Aolutel not.
Anderon Cooper: It’ too oon.
A computer track minute change in Anderon Cooper’ heart rate and perpirationPhoto : C New
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Larr Roen: We’re all part of thi ig experiment.
Anderon Cooper: What i thi doing to a oung mind or a teenager?
Larr Roen: Well there’ ome project going on where the’re actuall canning
teenager’ rain over a 20-ear period and looking to ee what kind of change the’re
됂nding.
Gae Zichermann: Here’ the realit. Corporation and creator of content have, ince
the eginning of time, wanted to make their content a engaging a poile.
Gae Zichermann ha worked with dozen of companie – including Apple and C –
to make their online product more irreitile. He’ et known in ilicon Valle for
hi expertie in omething called “gami됂cation,” uing technique from video game to
inert fun and competition into almot everthing on our martphone.
Gae Zichermann: o one of the intereting thing aout gami됂cation and other
engaging technologie, i at the ame time a we can argue that the neurocience i
eing ued to create dependent ehavior thoe ame technique are eing ued to get
people to work out, ou know, uing their Fitit. o all of thee technologie, all the
technique for engagement can e ued for good, or can e ued for ad.
“Aking technolog companie, aking content creator to e le goodat what the do feel like a ridiculou ak.” Gae Zichermann
Gae ZichermannPhoto : C New
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Zichermann i now working on oftware called ‘Onward’ deigned to reak uer’ ad
hait. It will track a peron’ activit and can recommend the do omething ele
when the’re pending too much time online.
Gae Zichermann: I think creator have to e lierated to make their content a good
a poile.
Anderon Cooper: The idea that a tech compan i not going to tr to make their
product a peruaive, a engaging a poile, ou’re jut aing that’ not gonna
happen?
Gae Zichermann: Aking technolog companie, aking content creator to e le
good at what the do feel like a ridiculou ak. It feel impoile. And alo it’ ver
anti-capitalitic, thi in’t the tem that we live in.
Rama rown and hi garage tart-up Dopamine La made a hait-reaking app a
well. It’ called “pace” and it create a 12-econd dela -- what rown call a “moment
of Zen” efore an ocial media app launche. In Januar, he tried to convince Apple to
ell it in their App tore.
Rama rown: And the rejected it from the App tore ecaue the told u an app
that would encourage people to ue other app or their iPhone le wa unacceptale
for ditriution in the App tore.
Anderon Cooper: The actuall aid that to ou?
Rama rown: The aid that to u. The did not want u to give out thi thing that
wa gonna make people le tuck on their phone.