Under the Radar 38: Psychological Tricks
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welcome to under the radar a show but
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independent iOS and recently Mac app
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development I'm Marco Arment and I'm
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David Smith under the radar is never
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longer than 30 minutes so let's get
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so today we wanted to dive into a little
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bit about talking about the best term
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for it is probably cycled the
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psychological tricks that are often
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employed in apps to boosting retention
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engagement addictiveness or things are
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you trying to boost it in-app purchases
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a lot of these things you often see in
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in a like in these kind of in-app
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purchase focused applications these you
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know sort of pay to play games or things
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i've noticed a lot of them in like I was
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recently trying out took them on go and
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I kept seeing these kind of these trends
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in these tricks and these things that
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are going on into it and our point in
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this is definitely ought to be there's
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F&T atopic to talk through about like
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the moralizing part of that of like
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sometimes these things can get kind of
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abusive or really awkward and the way
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that they're being used but I think
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moreover woder is an interesting topic
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as app developers was to think through
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how these different ask these different
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tricks that you can do can be used
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positively in your applications you know
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there's some positive things that you
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can do when you're aware of these and
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also it's kind of a strange experience
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that I've had myself that when I started
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kind of researching and looking into
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these types of topics is that once
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you're aware of them you start noticing
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them in a lot of different places and
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it's kind of like if you ever see
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someone do a magic trick and then they
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show you how it's done and then they do
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the trick again the second time you see
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it it has a very different experience
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and it can still be interesting and
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compelling but it's a it's it's overall
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it's a it's nice to have that awareness
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of what's going on and she knows we're
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gonna kind of talk through some of these
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things and I think the first one I
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wanted to dive in and talk about is the
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concept of loss aversion and so this is
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something that you it's like a
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psychological phenomena and where people
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are much more affected by the prospect
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of losing something they have then the
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prospect of gaining something new or you
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can phrase it in a lot of different ways
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but essentially it's like if you have
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something or you feel like you have
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something you will work way harder to
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keep that thing
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then you would in regaining it or hadn't
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gaining it in the first place and so
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you'll see this so often in games like
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the first time I remember ever seeing
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this sort of concept really driven home
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for me was in a game the first time in
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like an in-app purchase game where
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you're going down here you're doing your
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run and you get to the end you die and
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the whole thing pops up and it says
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would you like to continue for three
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crystals or whatever it is like them
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whatever the made-up Smurf berry thing
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that they're they're using in the game
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and all but they're directly doing their
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is they're tying in to loss aversion
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because you've gotten to this point in
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the game you know you oh wow this is my
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new high score this is this thing that
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I've worked towards I want to keep it I
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want to keep it going and you'll be so
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much more apt to do it at that moment
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then you would to just start again and
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try and get there get there in the same
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place and as that can be a little bit
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tricky and a little bit perhaps not a
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not ideal but you can also on the
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positive side think of something like
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like streaks in a fitness app so in my
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app activity plus plus I have this thing
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where it tracks how long you've had you
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know each hits your standing goal or
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your move goal or your exercise goal and
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that you don't want to break a streak
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because you feel like you have it and
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you don't want to lose it and the reason
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that that is so said like the concept of
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keeping a streak going is so effective
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is this concept of loss aversion it's
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this weird feeling of people just don't
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like giving up things they have and
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often since some ways irrationally if
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you compare the effort that which
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someone will go to keep something they
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have versus just you know gaining it
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again or gaining it in the first place
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and so it's kind of a weird aspect is
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this something that you've ever run into
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like can you think of apps where you
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feel yourself being manipulated by loss
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aversion oh yeah
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Mario 3 because in Mario 3 the best
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possible powerup in the game is the
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hammer suit also called the sledgehammer
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suit the hammer Brothers suit whatever
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it is and you get like one of these in
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the whole game you're lucky if you get
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one and just like any other powerup if
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you get hit you lose it that's it and
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the sledgehammer suit is so much better
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than anything else in the game is like
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those sledgehammers can kill everything
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ghosts even like the big thumps like in
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the Catholic they kill everything it's
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amazing and you get one maybe in the
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whole game and so you gotta like really
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save it up and like I'm so afraid of
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using it and then just getting hit and
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losing it that I often will go through a
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whole game and forget I even have it and
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never even use it
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sure I know that's total the Rockets
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yeah it's fine it's this is the weird
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thing like people act irrationally about
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like this fear you have of losing
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something you have and it's a powerful
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tool I think as as developers for us to
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like you can think of in our apps like
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are there things that we can do where we
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make people feel like they have
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something that they don't want to lose
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because it really can be strongly
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impactful like it's this really weird
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conditioning thing that people really
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don't want to give up what they have and
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whether that's yeah it's like I think of
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things there's so many things in games
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where that same kind of thing happens
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where you're trying to make someone
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scared of losing something they have I
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mean I think you're even like in Pokemon
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go is the where I noticed this recently
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was they have this this the thing where
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like you discover a Pokemon yeah that's
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great but if you don't like feed it
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raspberries and use the fancy balls it
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may run away and having something appear
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and then disappear is way more painful
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than never finding it which is it what
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kind of a weird thing but it's that that
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kind of behavior you can totally see the
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way like a way that game like that is
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structured is entirely to manipulate you
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into making sure that you always feel
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like you have to use all your things
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because you never want to lose the thing
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that you just got and that's kind of
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weird I don't know like it's it's a
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strange thing how people just mindset
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just can be they can act against what is
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sort of their rational best interest I
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suppose you know you see as you said
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like you know once you notice this you
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kind of see it everywhere like this is
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in so many games and you know app
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developers you know that this is
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relevant to non game developers to some
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degree as well I mean obviously a lot of
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these kind of tricks or psychological
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plays obviously they tend to have I
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think the most direct
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uses in games especially in that
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purchase driven game as you said but
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there are certainly places and apps that
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you can use a lot of this stuff to like
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you know loss aversion is is kind of the
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idea between like a time-limited trial
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where you you can you can try out this
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app and have these great features but
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then after you know 30 days or whatever
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those features stop working and you have
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to pay and buy the app if you want to
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keep using those so it's like you had
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them you know how good they are and then
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oh now they're gone you got you better
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pay you know that's it can work the same
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way there for us oh sure I mean even in
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some ways I makes me think a little bit
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about though it's part of what makes
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subscription pricing compelling where
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you've built up this sense which is sort
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of like the lock-in kind of concept but
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if you build up a you know like I have
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an RSS sinking system that I run and if
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you build up all your they have all my
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RSS feeds tied into it and like part of
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why you may keep paying for it isn't
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necessarily because you use it but you
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don't want to lose the ability to use it
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or you don't want to but like you've
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built up a collection of notes in
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Evernote or something and you don't want
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to you keep paying almost like your
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plebs like you're paying like a ransom
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to this thing because you don't want it
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just like oh well if I stop paying all
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the stuff that I've built up over time
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will just go away and you may that above
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what it actually is reasonable to value
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it at because you for you don't to lose
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it and like it's interesting that like
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it sort of digs into these really deep
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parts of P of you where you start to
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like act irrationally totally and so the
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next one I wanted to talk about and this
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is a kind of a fascinating one when you
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actually sort of get into read like this
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is a weird one almost as a parent I've
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noticed myself since I was like did the
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research into kind of how reinforcement
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was the topic which is no I'm the
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concept of how if you're trying to
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condition a behavior into something or
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someone you know so you have this sort
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of experience and reward cycle where you
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know if you're maybe this maybe this
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rather than getting into parenting so
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you think it's like taking care of a dog
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or something right like the dog does the
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you know you tell it to sit
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it's it's you give it a treat you tell
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it to sit it's it's you give it a treat
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like that's a very simple reinforcement
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cycle like the direct positive they do
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the action they get the read they get
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the reward but the funny thing is in
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there's a lot of sort of research that
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backs this up is that the strongest and
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most powerful form of conditioning is
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where you have they call variable
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reinforcement where it is still
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predictable insofar as the average
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number of reinforcing events is sort of
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still somewhat constant but the timing
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in which they happen is not the same you
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know so in the example of trying to
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train a drug say if ever if roughly
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every third time the dog sits you were
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to give it a give it a treat but if you
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did it on exactly every third and then
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it's much as a much weaker reinforcer
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then just on average giving it every
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third and this is the concept of science
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behind slot machines and many many
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things where you if you add just a
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little bit of randomness in it so that
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the person can get the feeling that on
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average they're being fairly rewarded
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because if I if it doesn't feel fair
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then it's kind of self-defeating because
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it's it's consistent enough that it
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feels fair but on any particular
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opportunity they don't know if they're
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going to be rewarded or not it is really
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powerful for creating that kind of
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classically addictive kind of behavior
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where you want to keep trying the the
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reinforced activity and you keep trying
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and trying and trying in in the hopes
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that you'll get it but you never know
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when you're going to get it and so
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creates this you know it's the cycle and
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you know you can imagine this on the
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more you know tricky side with a lot of
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a lot of things in apps where you kind
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of you get an item that will be
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upgradeable or has some other value down
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the road or like in Pokemon go there was
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the thing with eggs where like you get
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an egg and you never know what's in it
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sometimes it's gonna be something boring
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and sometimes it's going to be awesome
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and as long as it happen as long as it's
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consistent enough that you feel like
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it's fair you'll keep trying it in a
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more strong way but even in like in a
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weird way on the positive side I was
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thinking about in a lot of my apps I
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have confetti to celebrate when you hit
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your goals and in a weird way I'm using
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variable reinforcement to get people to
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keep opening my app because they don't
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know if they've hit their goal when they
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open the app you know every it's like if
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the whole point of the app is to show
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them how many steps they've taken and so
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as someone goes around their day every
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time you open the app you have this
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feeling of like you know it's like
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you're pulling the arm on the slot
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machine in some ways and saying like
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have I done it yet have I done it yet
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have it done it yet I did hurray but
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that's it's variable you never know when
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it's gonna happen you know if it's like
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the third time you open the app and
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every day you got confetti well it's not
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really it it wouldn't be nearly as
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compelling and so you is this but if as
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long as you add that variability that
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randomness into it is where it starts to
00:12:01
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get really interesting that's amazing
00:12:03
◼
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it's gif and see even that I mean like
00:12:05
◼
►
the way you're doing it is a little bit
00:12:07
◼
►
different than like a like a slot
00:12:08
◼
►
machine kind of thing like the way
00:12:09
◼
►
you're doing it is based on reaching a
00:12:12
◼
►
goal whereas like the the just kind of
00:12:15
◼
►
randomly fail and randomly give people
00:12:17
◼
►
what they want sometimes that that just
00:12:19
◼
►
feels a little bit dirty to be I don't
00:12:21
◼
►
know I mean it's kind of the problem all
00:12:23
◼
►
these things kind of feel a little bit
00:12:25
◼
►
dirty if you think about them as like a
00:12:27
◼
►
way to manipulate people but you know
00:12:29
◼
►
the with a lot of these things there are
00:12:31
◼
►
obviously like ways to do it in a way
00:12:34
◼
►
that makes that let you sleep at night
00:12:36
◼
►
so you know with this this though I I
00:12:39
◼
►
have a hard time coming up with those
00:12:41
◼
►
ways that aren't actually driven by
00:12:43
◼
►
things that are within the user to
00:12:45
◼
►
control in reality like your app sure
00:12:47
◼
►
and that's the thing that's so
00:12:49
◼
►
interesting about this is a topic that I
00:12:51
◼
►
kind of found fascinating as a developer
00:12:53
◼
►
because it's like if you can it's like
00:12:56
◼
►
if you can be aware of these things and
00:12:57
◼
►
find ways to judiciously and responsibly
00:13:00
◼
►
use them in your app it can be really
00:13:02
◼
►
compelling like that's I mean in many
00:13:05
◼
►
ways this is what makes things like
00:13:07
◼
►
Facebook or Twitter or Instagram
00:13:09
◼
►
effective it's the same this exact same
00:13:11
◼
►
concept where
00:13:12
◼
►
you keep going to the thing in the hope
00:13:14
◼
►
like it's like you never know if you're
00:13:16
◼
►
gonna open up Twitter and it's just some
00:13:19
◼
►
it's kind of like more boring or not
00:13:22
◼
►
interesting to you but every now and
00:13:24
◼
►
then you get this really interesting
00:13:25
◼
►
exciting thing or you feel like wow I'm
00:13:27
◼
►
the first person to know this things it
00:13:28
◼
►
happened just a moment ago and that
00:13:31
◼
►
conditions you don't want to go into
00:13:32
◼
►
there and in a lot of apps like that can
00:13:34
◼
►
be a useful thing that can be a helpful
00:13:37
◼
►
thing to actually think back to thank us
00:13:40
◼
►
my first WWDC hack in 2009 I remember I
00:13:44
◼
►
signed up for one of the UI design labs
00:13:46
◼
►
and the person who was you know looking
00:13:50
◼
►
at my apps design one of his comments
00:13:52
◼
►
was do you have a place in your app that
00:13:56
◼
►
has a constantly changing sort of set of
00:14:02
◼
►
items or a set of anything because if
00:14:05
◼
►
you do you can start to even create this
00:14:08
◼
►
this habit and this you know this
00:14:10
◼
►
pattern that people will start to do to
00:14:12
◼
►
go and check it you know it's in this
00:14:13
◼
►
case if there's an audiobook app and
00:14:15
◼
►
it's like he wasn't wondering if I
00:14:16
◼
►
should start to do something where you
00:14:18
◼
►
know each day I put a new you know a
00:14:22
◼
►
particular book and spotlight it or
00:14:24
◼
►
something and it creates that same
00:14:26
◼
►
pattern it's where you even if sometimes
00:14:28
◼
►
you'll go there and there's nothing it's
00:14:30
◼
►
it's like oh it's not for me it's not
00:14:31
◼
►
for me oh that's interesting I've never
00:14:33
◼
►
seen that the first is you have that one
00:14:35
◼
►
experience of going there and being
00:14:37
◼
►
rewarded for it it starts to build that
00:14:39
◼
►
habit and starts to build it in and that
00:14:41
◼
►
can be a good thing but like this one in
00:14:43
◼
►
particular is really worrying to me a
00:14:46
◼
►
lot of ways and as a side note it always
00:14:48
◼
►
kind of bothers me when I see app
00:14:50
◼
►
descriptions in the App Store where it
00:14:52
◼
►
has like super addictive as listed as a
00:14:56
◼
►
positive bullet point like you know what
00:15:00
◼
►
I'm talking about you'll have the little
00:15:01
◼
►
thing and it's like this it's like an
00:15:02
◼
►
anti ad like being like being on the top
00:15:04
◼
►
grossing list I think is also kind of an
00:15:05
◼
►
anti ad four-and-a-half is it's like oh
00:15:07
◼
►
if I've down was that I'm probably gonna
00:15:09
◼
►
spend a lot of money
00:15:10
◼
►
I always just drove me crazy or it's the
00:15:13
◼
►
guilty these things and it's like
00:15:15
◼
►
warning super addictive and like it's
00:15:18
◼
►
not really a warning in the way that
00:15:19
◼
►
it's like a health and safety label like
00:15:20
◼
►
they're trying to pitch it is like he's
00:15:22
◼
►
like try this app you'll get super
00:15:23
◼
►
addicted to it like
00:15:25
◼
►
translated your head as warning huge
00:15:27
◼
►
ripoff it's like I don't want like the
00:15:29
◼
►
last thing I the last thing my life
00:15:30
◼
►
needs is another is like something to be
00:15:33
◼
►
addicted to like that's that's not ever
00:15:35
◼
►
going to be a good thing in my life and
00:15:38
◼
►
so that's definitely something that I
00:15:39
◼
►
I'd never find like this in particular
00:15:41
◼
►
like you start to look out for it where
00:15:43
◼
►
anytime there's kind of a random random
00:15:45
◼
►
way in which you're reinforced it's like
00:15:47
◼
►
take a step back like I'm being messed
00:15:50
◼
►
with some someone someone is
00:15:51
◼
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manipulating me in a way that I may or
00:15:53
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may not actually like exactly alright we
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respond to this week by a new sponsor
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alright the next one of these things
00:17:15
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that I thought would be fun to talk to
00:17:17
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dive into a little bit is not as much of
00:17:20
◼
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a trick like the first two bar but is
00:17:22
◼
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something that is a psychological
00:17:23
◼
►
phenomenon that is pervasive in people
00:17:25
◼
►
and that is impatience oh boy so this is
00:17:29
◼
►
something that I start to notice and
00:17:31
◼
►
obviously none of us like waiting right
00:17:34
◼
►
like we always feel like we want things
00:17:36
◼
►
faster better if like faster and
00:17:38
◼
►
even with less waiting and you see this
00:17:41
◼
►
in games a lot like I mean you might
00:17:43
◼
►
also see it in podcast audiences that
00:17:45
◼
►
only listen to 30-minute podcasts that's
00:17:47
◼
►
true we may be a particularly impatient
00:17:49
◼
►
group so maybe this will resonate with
00:17:50
◼
►
our audience but in a lot of games
00:17:52
◼
►
you'll have a thing where this is
00:17:54
◼
►
concept of like a timeout or a weight or
00:17:56
◼
►
an energy meter that you have to fill up
00:17:58
◼
►
and if you don't you know when you've
00:18:00
◼
►
spent all your energy you have to wait
00:18:01
◼
►
24 hours while you recharge you know or
00:18:04
◼
►
you can pay money to recharge your
00:18:07
◼
►
energy meter or I don't you know it gets
00:18:10
◼
►
very convoluted at a certain point but
00:18:11
◼
►
it's always tying back to this concept
00:18:13
◼
►
of impatience that we don't want to wait
00:18:15
◼
►
that we don't like to have a timeout or
00:18:17
◼
►
anything like if there's something that
00:18:18
◼
►
we can do to feel like we're saving time
00:18:21
◼
►
he'll like we will disproportionately
00:18:23
◼
►
value it but the interesting thing I was
00:18:26
◼
►
thinking when I was kind of preparing
00:18:27
◼
►
this episode is I was thing about smart
00:18:29
◼
►
speed so and when you made smart speed
00:18:33
◼
►
like it is in it's a straight a
00:18:35
◼
►
fascinating feature because it taps into
00:18:37
◼
►
my sense of impatience in such a way
00:18:39
◼
►
that if I don't listen to audio from run
00:18:42
◼
►
through sparked speed like I feel like
00:18:45
◼
►
I'm wasting my time and that is a really
00:18:48
◼
►
powerful like I remember reading at an
00:18:50
◼
►
episode of developing respective years a
00:18:51
◼
►
couple years ago about this where it's
00:18:52
◼
►
like it's an insidious feature like in
00:18:54
◼
►
the best possible way that like smart
00:18:56
◼
►
speed tadka has now like gotten into my
00:18:59
◼
►
brain such that if I'd listened to
00:19:01
◼
►
something that isn't smart speed it's
00:19:02
◼
►
like why am I doing this I'm wasting
00:19:04
◼
►
time 10% that could be you know I could
00:19:06
◼
►
have 10% more audio listened to in a
00:19:09
◼
►
particular amount of time because that's
00:19:10
◼
►
what smarts B does and I wouldn't notice
00:19:12
◼
►
it because that's the whole cool thing
00:19:14
◼
►
with smart speed you know just shortens
00:19:16
◼
►
those silences that I never hear anyway
00:19:17
◼
►
it really ruins YouTube for me I have a
00:19:19
◼
►
very hard time watching youtube videos
00:19:20
◼
►
because like these are so slow sure I
00:19:24
◼
►
mean it's true I've definitely had that
00:19:27
◼
►
same thought when I was going through
00:19:28
◼
►
WWDC videos I was like oh man I wish I
00:19:30
◼
►
could smart speed these right and it's
00:19:32
◼
►
time tapping into that sense of
00:19:33
◼
►
impatience like we hate waiting we hate
00:19:36
◼
►
feeling like things couldn't if it could
00:19:38
◼
►
be faster we want it to be faster I
00:19:40
◼
►
guess in some ways we could just tap tap
00:19:42
◼
►
for me like how this is relevant to app
00:19:43
◼
►
developers perspective it's like well we
00:19:45
◼
►
could always just make everything faster
00:19:46
◼
►
like that's a definitely a good thing
00:19:48
◼
►
that people hate waiting so if we can
00:19:50
◼
►
make our apps patter if that faster
00:19:51
◼
►
better perform
00:19:52
◼
►
and etc then that's cool and if there's
00:19:55
◼
►
any areas that we can take out weights
00:19:57
◼
►
then people will definitely like it and
00:19:59
◼
►
will notice and appreciate that but I
00:20:02
◼
►
guess on the flip side is if we
00:20:03
◼
►
introduce artificial weights we can
00:20:06
◼
►
potentially find ways to make people
00:20:08
◼
►
work to avoid them
00:20:09
◼
►
yeah that's ooh have you seen like any
00:20:12
◼
►
of the big games like I think the worst
00:20:14
◼
►
ones like the real racing games yes like
00:20:17
◼
►
you try these games out like on your
00:20:18
◼
►
Apple TV or something and like oh it's
00:20:20
◼
►
this free racing game it looks pretty
00:20:21
◼
►
good all right cool and it's like oh
00:20:23
◼
►
well congratulations you just bought
00:20:25
◼
►
this upgrade for your car with these
00:20:27
◼
►
cool with use coins you earned it's
00:20:29
◼
►
going to be installed over the next 45
00:20:31
◼
►
minutes or you can pay more coins and
00:20:34
◼
►
have it installed faster it's like it's
00:20:35
◼
►
such man it drives me crazy like
00:20:38
◼
►
unfortunately I've never gotten too into
00:20:40
◼
►
these games but I've seen them enough
00:20:41
◼
►
and every time I see it it just makes me
00:20:43
◼
►
angry like I just feel like there's
00:20:46
◼
►
that's just a progress bar to nothing
00:20:47
◼
►
and it's just a completely artificial
00:20:49
◼
►
delay insert for no reason other than to
00:20:52
◼
►
try to get more people to pay more money
00:20:54
◼
►
for nothing like they're getting nothing
00:20:58
◼
►
for it's I don't know I mean I say this
00:21:01
◼
►
as somebody who you know my app is
00:21:03
◼
►
funded by people paying for nothing but
00:21:05
◼
►
still like it just feels really
00:21:07
◼
►
manipulative and wrong to me when I see
00:21:09
◼
►
it when I see the way these games do it
00:21:10
◼
►
sure yeah and it's like you can take
00:21:13
◼
►
advantage of people's impatience in
00:21:15
◼
►
positive ways like I just said of a
00:21:16
◼
►
smart speed right like I don't think you
00:21:18
◼
►
necessarily set out to do it that
00:21:19
◼
►
specifically in mind but like for me as
00:21:21
◼
►
a user that's why I why I use over house
00:21:24
◼
►
to listen to podcasts and I now use it
00:21:27
◼
►
to listen to audiobooks to like I use it
00:21:29
◼
►
to listen to everything that I listen to
00:21:30
◼
►
you that's audio related is I'll put it
00:21:32
◼
►
into run it through overcast because in
00:21:34
◼
►
my mind the impatience in me thinks that
00:21:37
◼
►
if I'm not I'm wasting time and I you
00:21:41
◼
►
know it has tremendous retention as a
00:21:44
◼
►
result like I think it's a well it's a
00:21:46
◼
►
really powerful feature in that way and
00:21:47
◼
►
if you can find these little hooks that
00:21:49
◼
►
people make people feel like they're
00:21:50
◼
►
saving time that's huge but yeah like
00:21:52
◼
►
you the flip side of it can be so so
00:21:56
◼
►
awkward where you it's like this
00:21:57
◼
►
artificial scarcity kind of concept
00:21:59
◼
►
where people are just like inventing
00:22:01
◼
►
things that take longer or need more
00:22:05
◼
►
what Evers to create or use when you
00:22:09
◼
►
know it's just a it's just a number in a
00:22:12
◼
►
database somewhere it's not any that
00:22:14
◼
►
doesn't cost anything to create yeah
00:22:16
◼
►
like you have to create this out the
00:22:18
◼
►
sense of artificial scarcity this is
00:22:20
◼
►
like oh you know we only have so many
00:22:22
◼
►
installers in the virtual car each car
00:22:24
◼
►
garage who are able to install new
00:22:26
◼
►
spoilers like that's really what they're
00:22:30
◼
►
saying it's like there's only so many of
00:22:31
◼
►
these virtual guys who are able to run
00:22:33
◼
►
around like no there's not like you just
00:22:34
◼
►
you just you know flip flip a number
00:22:38
◼
►
around and then it's done it's that
00:22:39
◼
►
doesn't cost you know doesn't take time
00:22:41
◼
►
or effort so yeah it's like impatience
00:22:44
◼
►
is it is a tricky tricky one for for me
00:22:47
◼
►
to feel okay with when you start using
00:22:49
◼
►
it too much in an app and anything that
00:22:50
◼
►
isn't other than just like making it
00:22:52
◼
►
faster yeah like it's more you know like
00:22:53
◼
►
if you're if you are creating artificial
00:22:56
◼
►
delays just for the purpose of people
00:22:59
◼
►
paying you money that feels a little bit
00:23:01
◼
►
weird and I can't think of a lot of good
00:23:03
◼
►
ways to do that off the top of my head
00:23:04
◼
►
whereas if you are taking something that
00:23:06
◼
►
is slow for like I don't know quote
00:23:09
◼
►
natural reasons and you are adding value
00:23:13
◼
►
to the world or something by making that
00:23:15
◼
►
faster that's obviously a very different
00:23:18
◼
►
kind of game you're playing like that
00:23:19
◼
►
that is like adding to the world that is
00:23:21
◼
►
making things better for people or like
00:23:23
◼
►
inserting artificial delays so that like
00:23:26
◼
►
kids beg their parents to let them pay
00:23:28
◼
►
you more money I don't know that just
00:23:30
◼
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feels wrong yeah and there's a lot of
00:23:31
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this thing they can go that way but
00:23:33
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anyway we can move on to our next slide
00:23:35
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we get too too stuck in the weeds of
00:23:37
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moralizing about it because it just
00:23:39
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makes me sad so I think the last place
00:23:42
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we've sort of wanted to touch on is the
00:23:44
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in US gets a bit more social I think is
00:23:46
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sort of the a combination of sort of the
00:23:48
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fear of missing out or what you'd call a
00:23:50
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fail I think it's what the hipsters call
00:23:52
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FOMO and competition so this is these
00:23:58
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are very similar so like at least
00:24:00
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fundamentally and I thought I went to
00:24:02
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Wikipedia when I was preparing for this
00:24:03
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and I thought they had a really
00:24:04
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interesting definition of the fear of
00:24:06
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missing out and it's there a pervasive
00:24:09
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►
apprehension that others might be having
00:24:11
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►
rewarding experiences from which we are
00:24:13
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absent it is such a true thing and this
00:24:18
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►
I think people say why things like
00:24:20
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Twitter are really and Facebook are so
00:24:24
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►
compelling and interesting for you
00:24:26
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►
because you feel like you're never
00:24:27
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►
missing out in someone else's experience
00:24:29
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►
and in a weird way you're almost part of
00:24:31
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►
it because you can see what they're
00:24:35
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►
doing you know you can see go on
00:24:37
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►
Instagram and see a picture of every
00:24:39
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►
meal they've had and so even if you do
00:24:41
◼
►
weren't there and you didn't you have
00:24:43
◼
►
that same meal you still sort of got to
00:24:44
◼
►
experience a little bit of it and it
00:24:46
◼
►
kind of can create that feeling of it
00:24:48
◼
►
helps you deal with that that that you
00:24:51
◼
►
know the apprehension that someone else
00:24:52
◼
►
could be having an experience that
00:24:53
◼
►
you're not having and so a lot of apps
00:24:56
◼
►
have sharing built into them you have
00:24:59
◼
►
this concept of sharing what you're
00:25:02
◼
►
doing to create that kind of that that
00:25:06
◼
►
reinforcement or that people can go and
00:25:08
◼
►
feel like they're experiencing other
00:25:09
◼
►
people's lives and not missing out as a
00:25:13
◼
►
result you know and so a lot of apps
00:25:14
◼
►
will have a little share button or
00:25:15
◼
►
something like that and you can on the
00:25:17
◼
►
flip side are similarly related to it
00:25:19
◼
►
you have like the competition side of
00:25:21
◼
►
things which is where you can kind of
00:25:24
◼
►
share your experiences almost in a
00:25:26
◼
►
overtly challenging way that like you're
00:25:29
◼
►
almost saying like this is my experience
00:25:31
◼
►
is yours is good which is in some ways
00:25:35
◼
►
you're like directly tapping into
00:25:36
◼
►
someone's fear of missing out by saying
00:25:38
◼
►
like I just went for a great run you
00:25:41
◼
►
know I look these are my steps or you
00:25:43
◼
►
didn't like kid the Fitbit I think has a
00:25:45
◼
►
whole lot of this and watch OS 3 has
00:25:46
◼
►
this in the activity sharing like you
00:25:48
◼
►
have this concept of saying like here's
00:25:50
◼
►
something I did can you do any better
00:25:51
◼
►
which is a really powerful way to make
00:25:54
◼
►
people attach to something you're doing
00:25:56
◼
►
because it feels more personal and it
00:25:58
◼
►
almost says like taps into like
00:25:59
◼
►
elementary school peer pressure kind of
00:26:02
◼
►
stuff that if someone else is doing it
00:26:03
◼
►
then maybe I should do it too oh and
00:26:05
◼
►
also like that that kind of it helps you
00:26:08
◼
►
and your app latch on to and likely
00:26:11
◼
►
profit from people's existing
00:26:14
◼
►
competitive relationships in their lives
00:26:16
◼
►
so like if you have like you know two
00:26:17
◼
►
friends who are always trying to outdo
00:26:19
◼
►
each other or are having like a friendly
00:26:21
◼
►
competition with with you know the
00:26:23
◼
►
activity they have in a day or whatever
00:26:24
◼
►
else to have them competing in a way
00:26:26
◼
►
that means using your app more is good
00:26:29
◼
►
news for you yeah because it
00:26:31
◼
►
that's ultimately like so much of this
00:26:34
◼
►
ultimately is coming down to trying to
00:26:37
◼
►
find ways that are beyond just like the
00:26:41
◼
►
fundamental functionality of your app
00:26:42
◼
►
but finding other ways for making people
00:26:44
◼
►
to want to keep opening it you know it's
00:26:46
◼
►
like it's retention I guess is the like
00:26:48
◼
►
the KPI the keeper I don't know the
00:26:53
◼
►
parking lot yeah it's the thing that you
00:26:56
◼
►
that you're that you're kind of looking
00:26:57
◼
►
for where and this is I mean I ran into
00:26:59
◼
►
this a lot with like a lot of my apps
00:27:01
◼
►
are now supported from advertising and
00:27:03
◼
►
if you have an advertising supported app
00:27:05
◼
►
like you want to have people keep
00:27:07
◼
►
opening your app and so anything you can
00:27:09
◼
►
do to give them a reason to do that is
00:27:12
◼
►
you know is pretty interesting like and
00:27:15
◼
►
in sharing or these kind of these
00:27:16
◼
►
competitive kinds of things it's you can
00:27:18
◼
►
get into really funny places too and you
00:27:20
◼
►
start to think about it of you know when
00:27:23
◼
►
someone shares their steps with someone
00:27:27
◼
►
else and say you have a system in your
00:27:28
◼
►
app where you sent them a push
00:27:29
◼
►
notification there's nothing I've
00:27:32
◼
►
actually gotten into but I've been
00:27:33
◼
►
trying to think through those kinds of
00:27:34
◼
►
things you can get into really funny
00:27:36
◼
►
questions of should you show the
00:27:39
◼
►
information in the app because you just
00:27:42
◼
►
say that you know so ins you know Marco
00:27:44
◼
►
sent you a step challenge or something
00:27:46
◼
►
or should you be specific about it or
00:27:49
◼
►
you know someone just updated they're
00:27:51
◼
►
sort of like you'll see this I think on
00:27:52
◼
►
Matt actually on Facebook but I've seen
00:27:54
◼
►
these on other people's like phones and
00:27:57
◼
►
screenshots we have like so-and-so
00:27:58
◼
►
updated their status and you don't tell
00:28:00
◼
►
anybody why like what actually they did
00:28:02
◼
►
oh yeah well the worst one is like this
00:28:04
◼
►
person you know commented on your photo
00:28:06
◼
►
but they won't tell you what the comment
00:28:07
◼
►
is sure it's like and the reason is
00:28:09
◼
►
because it creates it improves retention
00:28:12
◼
►
and going to something if you have to go
00:28:15
◼
►
to the app to find out and so you can
00:28:17
◼
►
take advantage of the fact that people
00:28:18
◼
►
are competitive and we don't miss out on
00:28:20
◼
►
other people's experiences and you can
00:28:23
◼
►
tap into that in an app that it's like
00:28:25
◼
►
by making it social you can make it
00:28:26
◼
►
compelling a little weird in some ways
00:28:30
◼
►
but overall like a lot of this it people
00:28:33
◼
►
are doing this moron thing on their own
00:28:35
◼
►
and maybe you can be aware of it and see
00:28:37
◼
►
it as an opportunity for helping your
00:28:38
◼
►
app to spread like I love when my apps
00:28:41
◼
►
are growing because of social sharing
00:28:42
◼
►
that people are saying you know I
00:28:45
◼
►
you know I I got your app I loved it I
00:28:47
◼
►
recommended it to three friends like
00:28:49
◼
►
that's awesome that's like the really
00:28:50
◼
►
positive version of this but you know
00:28:52
◼
►
maybe it says with all these things like
00:28:53
◼
►
there's definitely this balance of you
00:28:56
◼
►
can use it in a good way or you can use
00:28:57
◼
►
it in a not so good way and maybe at the
00:29:00
◼
►
very least if you're aware of it you'll
00:29:01
◼
►
be able to better take care of yourself
00:29:03
◼
►
as a result yeah all right we're out of
00:29:06
◼
►
time this week thanks a lot for
00:29:08
◼
►
listening everybody please use these
00:29:10
◼
►
tricks responsibly and use them to make
00:29:13
◼
►
people's lives better not worse make the
00:29:14
◼
►
world a better place don't subtract from
00:29:16
◼
►
it thanks everyone and we'll see you
00:29:18
◼
►
next week bye