Part of the reason I blog is to put my ideas down in something more tangible than fleeting thoughts, hence the name of the blog. Others can benefit from my thoughts but sometimes I use the blog to record interesting things I have heard and seen. This blog entry is about that.
I was reading a blog and came across the term "intermittent variable reward". It is basically the quick happiness one gets from doing something that is repetitive but rewards you differently. The example given in the blog entry I was reading (see below) is a jackpot. You pull the handle and each time you get a different reward.
I think facebook is like that. Woo-hoo, a new friend, a new wall posting, a new comment, etc. MXit is even more like that. You are never sure when someone will contact you and what they will say. So hope is always there and the addiction comes very easily.
This is something I've been meaning to blog about for a long time but never really took the time until I saw something similar here but about "twitter" which I haven't really come into contact with much yet.
When I was in University I spent more time than I should have on IRC. I made some good friends along the way and found a beautiful wife. So, some good came out of it but I must say I was addicted to the the rush of seeing what is going to happen next even to the point where I would sit and stare at my computer screen doing nothing, just waiting. What a waste of time.
My brother-in-law is the next generation. Every time I see him he has his cell phone out and it is always beeping from some contact somewhere. MXit prides itself on being next to free but the amount of time spent on MXit by some of the youth of South Africa is scary.
And now I have a term for this addiction: "intermittent variable reward".
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