Based on his childhood, Nikola had energy on his mind from an early age.Young Nikola dreamed of harnessing the power of Niagara Falls.By 1887, he had developed the alternating current as a way to transmit power over long distances.But the concept wasn’t immediately accepted.It wasn’t until the 1893 World Fair in ChicagoTesla was able to demonstrate the effectiveness of his idea and when he did,It was glorious by any measure.

Trust in your Life Long Goal

Many CEOs have unusual preferences and personal habits.Whether they’re motivated by wellbeing or organization, these quirks seem integral to their success.Nikola Tesla was eccentric and had a strong aesthetic sensibility.He teaches us to embrace our presence on the earth.No matter what you look, where you are from, it doesn’t matter.The only thing matters are what you can do for the future.

Embrace your You-ness

Though he took cat naps throughout the day.Tesla also claimed he never slept more than 2 hours.Once he stopped eating solid foods, opting instead for liquid sustenance like warm milk and juices.Tesla strongly believedThe ability to focus on something is directly proportional to the food he consumed.Tesla also smoked excessively for a short period,which he claimed threatened to ruin his health and he wasn’t able to focus.

Habits for being Productive

Nikola Tesla believed deeply in the power of solitude.“Be alone is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born”.We can reflect and think creatively, rather than diluting our attention with endless distractions.

Learn to love your own company

He regularly collaborated and socialized with some of the greatest minds of his time:Fellow scientists Politicians, Business people• Rudyard Kipling• John Muir• Henry Clay Frick• Albert EinsteinTesla Even received a celebratory letter from Albert Einstein himself on his 75th birthday.Surround yourself with people whom you respect and admire,from a variety of backgrounds and industries.

Surround yourself with interesting people

<ul><li>Be Fearless</li><li>Trust in your Life Long Goal</li><li>Embrace your You-ness</li><li>Habits for being Productive</li><li>Learn to love your own company</li><li>Surround yourself with interesting</li></ul>

TL;DR


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He lived his whole life with Humility and Solitude, tinkering with his imaginations. Here are 6 lessons from him to improve ourselves. Tesla was the poster child for divergent thinking and refused to…

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Personal Development

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Communication

6 Lessons to learn from the Life of Nikola Tesla

Carl Sagan (November 9, 1934–December 20, 1996) was many things — a <a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/12/10/pale-blue-dot-motion-graphics/">cosmic sage</a>, <a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/07/11/carl-sagan-reading-list/">voracious reader</a>, <a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2011/12/27/the-voyagers-penny-lane-carl-sagan/">hopeless romantic</a>, and <a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/12/20/carl-sagan-varieties-of-scientific-experience/">brilliant philosopher</a>. But above all, he endures as our era’s greatest patron saint of reason and critical thinking, a master of <a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/05/23/carl-sagan-the-burden-of-skepticism/">the vital balance between skepticism and openness</a>. In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/The-Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle/dp/0345409469/?tag=braipick-20">The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark</a>Sagan shares his secret to upholding the rites of reason, even in the face of society’s most shameless untruths and outrageous propaganda.

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

In a chapter titled “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,” Sagan reflects on the many types of deception to which we’re susceptible — from psychics to religious zealotry to paid product endorsements by scientists, which he held in especially low regard, noting that they “betray contempt for the intelligence of their customers” and “introduce an insidious corruption of popular attitudes about scientific objectivity.”

The Fine Art of Baloney Detection

But rather than preaching from the ivory tower of self-righteousness, Sagan approaches the subject from the most vulnerable of places — having just lost both of his parents, he reflects on the all too human allure of promises of supernatural reunions in the afterlife, reminding us that falling for such fictions doesn’t make us stupid or bad people, but simply means that we need to equip ourselves with the right tools against them.

We All Fall For Baloney

Through their training, scientists are equipped with what Sagan calls a “baloney detection kit” — a set of cognitive tools and techniques that fortify the mind against penetration by falsehoods. The kit is brought out as a matter of course whenever new ideas are offered for consideration. If the new idea survives examination by the tools in our kit, we grant it warm, although tentative, acceptance. If you’re so inclined, if you don’t want to buy baloney even when it’s reassuring to do so, there are precautions that can be taken; there’s a tried-and-true, consumer-tested method.

The “Baloney Detection Kit”

But the kit, Sagan argues, isn’t merely a tool of science — rather, it contains invaluable tools of healthy skepticism that apply just as elegantly, and just as necessarily, to everyday life. By adopting the kit, we can all shield ourselves against clueless guile and deliberate manipulation. Sagan shares 9 of these tools:

A Kit As Useful And As Necessary To Everyday Life

Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the “facts.”

Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.

Arguments from authority carry little weight — “authorities” have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts.

Spin more than one hypothesis. If there’s something to be explained, think of all the different ways in which it could be explained. Then think of tests by which you might systematically disprove each of the alternatives. What survives, the hypothesis that resists disproof in this Darwinian selection among “multiple working hypotheses,” has a much better chance of being the right answer than if you had simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy.

Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it’s yours. It’s only a way station in the pursuit of knowledge. Ask yourself why you like the idea. Compare it fairly with the alternatives. See if you can find reasons for rejecting it. If you don’t, others will.

Quantify. If whatever it is you’re explaining has some measure, some numerical quantity attached to it, you’ll be much better able to discriminate among competing hypotheses. What is vague and qualitative is open to many explanations. Of course there are truths to be sought in the many qualitative issues we are obliged to confront, but finding them is more challenging.

If there’s a chain of argument, every link in the chain must work (including the premise) — not just most of them.

Occam’s Razor. This convenient rule-of-thumb urges us when faced with two hypotheses that explain the data equally well to choose the simpler.

Always ask whether the hypothesis can be, at least in principle, falsified. Propositions that are untestable, unfalsifiable are not worth much. Consider the grand idea that our Universe and everything in it is just an elementary particle — an electron, say — in a much bigger Cosmos. But if we can never acquire information from outside our Universe, is not the idea incapable of disproof? You must be able to check assertions out. Inveterate skeptics must be given the chance to follow your reasoning, to duplicate your experiments and see if they get the same result.

Just as important as learning these helpful tools, however, is unlearning and avoiding the most common pitfalls of common sense. Reminding us of where society is most vulnerable to those, Sagan writes:“In addition to teaching us what to do when evaluating a claim to knowledge, any good baloney detection kit must also teach us what not to do. It helps us recognize the most common and perilous fallacies of logic and rhetoric. Many good examples can be found in religion and politics, because their practitioners are so often obliged to justify two contradictory propositions.”

What To Do And What Not To Do

Sagan admonishes against the 20 most common and perilous of these fallacies of logic and rhetoric— many rooted in our chronic discomfort with ambiguity — with examples of each in action:

20 Most Common And Perilous Fallacies Of Logic And Rhetoric

Latin for “to the man,” attacking the arguer and not the argument. e.g., The Reverend Dr. Smith is a known Biblical fundamentalist, so her objections to evolution need not be taken seriously

1. Ad Hominem

e.g., President Richard Nixon should be re-elected because he has a secret plan to end the war in Southeast Asia — but because it was secret, there was no way for the electorate to evaluate it on its merits; the argument amounted to trusting him because he was President: a mistake, as it turned out.

2. Argument From Authority

e.g., A God meting out punishment and reward must exist, because if He didn’t, society would be much more lawless and dangerous — perhaps even ungovernable. Or: The defendant in a widely publicized murder trial must be found guilty; otherwise, it will be an encouragement for other men to murder their wives.

3. Argument From Adverse Consequences

The claim that whatever has not been proved false must be true, and vice versa. e.g., There is no compelling evidence that UFOs are not visiting the Earth; therefore UFOs exist — and there is intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe. Or: There may be seventy kazillion other worlds, but not one is known to have the moral advancement of the Earth, so we’re still central to the Universe.) This impatience with ambiguity can be criticized in the phrase: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

4. Appeal To Ignorance

… often to rescue a proposition in deep rhetorical trouble. e.g., How can a merciful God condemn future generations to torment because, against orders, one woman induced one man to eat an apple? Special plead: you don’t understand the subtle Doctrine of Free Will. Or: How can there be an equally godlike Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in the same Person? Special plead: You don’t understand the Divine Mystery of the Trinity.

5. Special Pleading

Also called assuming the answer. e.g., We must institute the death penalty to discourage violent crime. But does the violent crime rate in fact fall when the death penalty is imposed? Or: The stock market fell yesterday because of a technical adjustment and profit-taking by investors — but is there any independent evidence for the causal role of “adjustment” and profit-taking; have we learned anything at all from this purported explanation?

6. Begging The Question

Also called the enumeration of favorable circumstances, or as the philosopher Francis Bacon described it, counting the hits and forgetting the misses. e.g., A state boasts of the Presidents it has produced, but is silent on its serial killers.

7. Observational Selection

A close relative of observational selection. e.g., They say 1 out of every 5 people is Chinese. How is this possible? I know hundreds of people, and none of them is Chinese. Yours truly. Or: I’ve thrown three sevens in a row. Tonight I can’t lose.

8. Statistics Of Small Numbers

e.g., President Dwight Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence.

9. Misunderstanding Of The Nature Of Statistics 

e.g., Prudently plan for the worst of which a potential military adversary is capable, but thriftily ignore scientific projections on environmental dangers because they’re not “proved.”Or: Attribute the declining life expectancy in the former Soviet Union to the failures of communism many years ago, but never attribute the high infant mortality rate in the United States (now highest of the major industrial nations) to the failures of capitalism.

10. Inconsistency

Latin for “It doesn’t follow”. e.g., Our nation will prevail because God is great. But nearly every nation pretends this to be true; the German formulation was “Gott mit uns”). Often those falling into the non sequitur fallacy have simply failed to recognize alternative possibilities.

11. Non Sequitur 

Latin for “It happened after, so it was caused by” e.g., Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila: “I know of … a 26-year-old who looks 60 because she takes [contraceptive] pills.” Or: Before women got the vote, there were no nuclear weapons.

12. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

e.g., What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? But if there is such a thing as an irresistible force there can be no immovable objects, and vice versa.

13. Meaningless Question

Considering only the two extremes in a continuum of intermediate possibilities. e.g., “Sure, take his side; my husband’s perfect; I’m always wrong.” Or: “Either you love your country or you hate it.” Or: “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”).

14. Excluded Middle, Or False Dichotomy

A subset of the excluded middle, but so important I’ve pulled it out for special attention. e.g., We can’t afford programs to feed malnourished children and educate pre-school kids. We need to urgently deal with crime on the streets. Or: Why explore space or pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?

15. Short-term Vs. Long-term

Related to (14) excluded middle. e.g., If we allow abortion in the first weeks of pregnancy, it will be impossible to prevent the killing of a full-term infant. Or, conversely: If the state prohibits abortion even in the ninth month, it will soon be telling us what to do with our bodies around the time of conception.

16. Slippery Slope

e.g., A survey shows that more college graduates are homosexual than those with lesser education; therefore education makes people gay. Or: Andean earthquakes are correlated with closest approaches of the planet Uranus; therefore — despite the absence of any such correlation for the nearer, more massive planet Jupiter — the latter causes the former.

17. Confusion Of Correlation And Causation

Caricaturing a position to make it easier to attack. e.g., Scientists suppose that living things simply fell together by chance— a formulation that willfully ignores the central Darwinian insight, that Nature ratchets up by saving what works and discarding what doesn’t. Or — this is also a short-term/long-term fallacy —Environmentalists care more for snail darters and spotted owls than they do for people.

18. Straw Man

e.g., An amazingly accurate and widely quoted “prophecy” of the assassination attempt on President Reagan is shown on television; but — an important detail — was it recorded before or after the event? Or: These government abuses demand revolution, even if you can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs. Yes, but is this likely to be a revolution in which far more people are killed than under the previous regime? What does the experience of other revolutions suggest? Are all revolutions against oppressive regimes desirable and in the interests of the people?

19. Suppressed Evidence, Or Half-truths

e.g., The separation of powers of the U.S. Constitution specifies that the United States may not conduct a war without a declaration by Congress. On the other hand, Presidents are given control of foreign policy and the conduct of wars, which are potentially powerful tools for getting themselves re-elected. Presidents of either political party may therefore be tempted to arrange wars while waving the flag and calling the wars something else — “armed incursions,” “protective reaction strikes,” “pacification,” “safeguarding American interests,” and a wide variety of “operations”.

20. Weasel Words

Sagan ends the chapter with a necessary disclaimer:“Like all tools, the baloney detection kit can be misused, applied out of context, or even employed as a rote alternative to thinking. But applied judiciously, it can make all the difference in the world — not least in evaluating our own arguments before we present them to others.”

Sagan’s Disclaimer

Necessary cognitive fortification against propaganda, pseudoscience, and general falsehood. A brilliant read and a humbling read. 

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Psychology

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Science & Nature

The Baloney Detection Kit: Carl Sagan’s Rules for Bullshit-Busting and Critical Thinking

Instinctive design has created a process where we reach an understanding of the world around us that feels safe and beneficial, based on what we deem the most realistic values according to our individual circumstances. As we traverse through this life and those ideals become reaffirmed or challenged and adjusted, there is a comfortable familiarity that we can be reluctant to even question, let alone part with, despite the realisation that it's in the best of our interests.So, when presenting an issue that requires the discomfort of change, what tools can be of use?Subtlety is crucial.

It's Human To Fear That Which We Don't Understand.

<ul><li>Find common ground- we are more likely to hear those like us</li><li>Reduce the element of risk- use simple, overt reasoning. Complex language/jargon is the enemy</li><li>Popular opinion- examples for the acceptance of the notion add value. People don't want to feel different.</li><li>Reciprocation- if your subject feels you are offering something of personal worth, it's more attractive</li><li>The success story- older people especially value the opportunity to carry on a perceived "winning spree".</li><li>Start small- insignificant change is often a stepping stone</li><li>Open with the focus point- concentration only worsens</li></ul>

Ways To Challenge The Thinking

<ul><li>"No wonder there was doubt!"- The reason for misunderstanding is totally relatable.</li><li>Reassure that ego- the existing idea was absolutely right in light of the failings of others.</li><li>Give possible reasons for a simple misunderstanding.</li><li>Providing poor information was morally wrong- they are entitled to the same information as any expert and are of equal value.</li><li>Remind them again of their worth- everyone needs to feel needed and loved. </li><li>You matter more than you know- events in our lives have a ripple effect. These things often remain unsaid.. words can mean everything.</li></ul>

Tried And Tested Ploys

Changing established thought is possibly the greatest challenge there is.

Engaging your readership

"Henry Ford said it best: “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” Thinking is not only hard—it’s the single most important thing in life. Remember: The quality of our thoughts determines the quality of our lives. And our decisions are a result of our thoughts."

Thinking 

Quality of our thoughts determines the quality of our lives. 

I know something about you without knowing you. I bet you spend A LOT of time in your head. You know, thinking, worrying, stressing, freaking out -- call it whatever you want. I call it a preoccupied mind. And with what? 99% of your thoughts are useless. William James, once the leading psychologist in America, and one of the founders of the philosophical school of pragmatism, put it best: "A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices." Pragmatism believes that the mind is a tool. Your mind should work for you, not against you. People who don't master their mind, don't believe it's possible. They say: "I can't help but thinking these things." Well, you can TAKE CONTROL of your mind with enough practice. I've done it. And in THINK STRAIGHT, I share exactly how. It's a quick read and you can use it to immediately to improve your thinking. You have the ability to decide what you think. Or, you can choose NOT to think. And that is one of the most important and most practical things you can learn in life. Before I learned that skill, I would spend hours and hours inside my head. Just think about how much you think. - "I wonder what my boss thinks?" - "What happens if I screw up and lose my job?" - "What if my business never takes off?" - "Does she love me?" - "Why does my life suck?" - "What if I get cancer?" - "I can't finish anything. What's wrong with me? And the list goes on. THINK STRAIGHT reveals the recipe for taking control of your mind so you can improve your life, career, relationships, business. I wrote this little book in a way that you can read it more than once. And I hope that this book serves as an anchor to you--especially during trying times. The mind is the most powerful tool on earth. Change the way you think. And you'll change your life.

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Health

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Motivation & Inspiration

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Books

I know something about you without knowing you. I bet you spend A LOT of time in your head. You know, thinking, worrying, stressing, freaking out -- call it whatever you want. I call it a preoccupied mind. And with what?99% of your thoughts are useless. William James, once the leading psychologist in America, and one of the founders of the philosophical school of pragmatism, put it best:"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."Pragmatism believes that the mind is a tool. Your mind should work for you, not against you. People who don't master their mind, don't believe it's possible.They say: "I can't help but thinking these things."Well, you can TAKE CONTROL of your mind with enough practice. I've done it. And in THINK STRAIGHT, I share exactly how. It's a quick read and you can use it to immediately to improve your thinking.You have the ability to decide what you think. Or, you can choose NOT to think.And that is one of the most important and most practical things you can learn in life. Before I learned that skill, I would spend hours and hours inside my head.Just think about how much you think.- "I wonder what my boss thinks?"- "What happens if I screw up and lose my job?"- "What if my business never takes off?"- "Does she love me?"- "Why does my life suck?"- "What if I get cancer?"- "I can't finish anything. What's wrong with me?And the list goes on.THINK STRAIGHT reveals the recipe for taking control of your mind so you can improve your life, career, relationships, business.I wrote this little book in a way that you can read it more than once. And I hope that this book serves as an anchor to you--especially during trying times.The mind is the most powerful tool on earth. Change the way you think. And you'll change your life.

Darius Foroux (pronounced as Da-reeus Fo-roo) is the author of 7 books, and the creator of 6 online courses. He writes about productivity, business, and wealth building. His ideas and work have been featured in TIME, NBC, Fast Company, Inc., Observer, and many more publications. Until now, more than 30 million people have read his articles.

Darius Foroux

THINK STRAIGHT: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

Think Straight

The wealth of societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails appears as an 'immense collection of commodities'; the individual commodity appears as its elementary form

<ul><li>Use-value</li><li>Exchange-value</li></ul>

The Two Factors Of Commodities:

Use-value of a commodity is the aspect of a thing that satisfies human needs.It makes no difference what the nature of the need is or how the commodity satisfies it.A thing can also be useful in more than one way, depending on what is known about it.Use-values constitute the material content of wealth.

Use-value

Exchange-value appears as the proportion in which a use-value of one kind is exchanged for a use-value of another kind, e.g. a certain quantity of wheat for a certain quantity of iron.

Exchange-value

Learn about the two aspects of commodities. 

'A groundbreaking work of economic analysis. It is also a literary masterpice' Francis Wheen, Guardian One of the most notorious and influential works of modern times, Capital is an incisive critique of private property and the social relations it generates. Living in exile in England, where this work was largely written, Marx drew on a wide-ranging knowledge of its society to support his analysis. Arguing that capitalism would cause an ever-increasing division in wealth and welfare, he predicted its abolition and replacement by a system with common ownership of the means of production. Capital rapidly acquired readership throughout the world, to become a work described by Marx's collaborator Friedrich Engels as 'the Bible of the working class'. Translated by BEN FOWKES with an Introduction by ERNEST MANDEL

politics

Politics

'A groundbreaking work of economic analysis. It is also a literary masterpice' Francis Wheen, Guardian One of the most notorious and influential works of modern times, Capital is an incisive critique of private property and the social relations it generates. Living in exile in England, where this work was largely written, Marx drew on a wide-ranging knowledge of its society to support his analysis. Arguing that capitalism would cause an ever-increasing division in wealth and welfare, he predicted its abolition and replacement by a system with common ownership of the means of production. Capital rapidly acquired readership throughout the world, to become a work described by Marx's collaborator Friedrich Engels as 'the Bible of the working class'. Translated by BEN FOWKES with an Introduction by ERNEST MANDEL

Karl Marx

Capital

Unlike chemical addictions that may come to mind more easily, Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) is not caused by a substance. It is part of behavioural addictions, along with gambling disorder, gaming disorder, and more. That doesn’t make it less serious, and it can still dramatically affect someone’s life.
Just like chemical addictions, Internet Addiction Disorder includes the following symptoms:
<ul>
<li>Mood alteration</li>
<li>Loss of control</li>
<li>Pleasure derived from the addiction</li>
<li>Withdrawal: anxiety and/or irritation when the person can’t access the Internet or their devices, cravings</li>
</ul>

Internet Addiction Disorder

There are several IAD tests that you can find online, but you can mostly tell addiction from bad habits with the following:<ul><li>One’s Internet use negatively affects other areas of their life, yet they keep at it</li><li>They plan their life around their time online</li><li>They can’t control their Internet use</li></ul>

Key Factors Proving Addiction

Persuasive design is the technology that “changes” human behaviour. Ethics related to persuasion is about to what extent we may influence the behaviour and thoughts of our users.How do we identify persuasive design? Here are some powerful questions to guide our assessment:<ul><li>What is motivating the use of a given design decision?</li><li>Are users feeling pressured?</li><li>Would they react differently if they better understood how the product works? If it was more transparent or straightforward?</li><li>Would they then feel deceived?</li></ul>

Persuasive and addictive design

<a href="https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s13347-019-00376-5">User benefit</a> is an interesting dimension to look at, but it’s not a criterion to categorise a design pattern as non-persuasive or non-addictive. Resorting to persuasive mechanisms can be framed as being in the user’s best interest, and user benefit is subjective. A dating app sending you 4 <a href="https://thistooshallgrow.com/blog/mindful-notifications">notifications</a> per day to complete your profile is good for you, because it will help you attract the right people. Meditation app Headspace uses a daily streak feature, creating artificial pressure on users so that they meditate daily if they don’t want to lose their streak.

User Benefit

Is the persuasion used to align user behaviour with goals that they themselves explicitly selected? Let’s look at the recommendations YouTube makes after you finished watching a video. What if, instead of pushing the video most people watched next — which can be <a href="https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/regrets-reporter/findings/">harmful</a> as recommendations promote more and more extreme videos — it pushed one from your own “Watch later” list?The only form of ethical persuasion that exists in the world is when the goals of the persuaders are aligned with the goals of the persuadees(users).

Aligning To User Behaviour

Addictive design can bring a variety of burdens into someone’s life. An obvious one is spending more time online than they wanted to, but the drawbacks can also consist of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and a sense of isolation, a drop in happiness levels, self-esteem and body image issues, dopamine dependency, and experiencing more outrage. Physiologically, addictive design can also lead to sleep issues and eye strain.

Design implications

The variable rewards used by many online platforms keep us scrolling or returning to a product because they provide us with dopamine surges we get hooked on. For instance, displaying an image feed with very aesthetically pleasing items next to ones we’re indifferent to, or sending completely irrelevant notifications mixed with very enticing ones are ways to induce rewards variability. As it turns out, we experience these addictive rewards <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3480687/">even more intensely</a> when they come from mood-enhancing content, such as pornography, video games, dating platforms, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/1CC67609A12E9A912BB8A291FDFFE799/S1052150X20000329a.pdf/div-class-title-ethics-of-the-attention-economy-the-problem-of-social-media-addiction-div.pdf">social media</a>, and gambling.

Variable rewards

You should only display that there is only 2 items left in stock, or only 4 hours left to participate in something, if it’s truthful and relevant.<a href="https://uxdesign.cc/do-stories-make-social-media-more-addictive-3a1519983565">Social media stories</a> also create a sense of urgency: you have 24 hours to view them. The reduced friction (easily moving from one story to the next), induced FOMO, and variability of content are also addictive factors. If your product contains stories, you could downplay the ephemerality by extending their lifetime.

Truthfulness In Scarcity and Urgency

These can be used persuasively. Testimonials are useful, but some metrics don’t make any sense. Here are the “Top Rankings” from AliExpress, displaying the amount of followers a product has, the number of times it was ordered, and how many people have expressed interest in it. As you’ve noticed, none of these signs actually says anything about the quality of the item, or the satisfaction from people who purchased it. “3123 orders” and “605406 followers”

Social proof and Authority

Do you remember when we didn’t have a “seen” icon in messaging apps? Good old times. Have you ever felt more pressure to reply because of it? Do you feel that you need to reply faster and not “leave them on read” (we use such a telling expression)? Does it stay on your mind until you do so?

Reciprocation

Obligations are often artificially created by streaks, that many platforms use, nudging people into visiting them daily. The bigger the commitment, the bigger the pressure: if you are to lose your streak, a 3-day one doesn’t take as long to rebuild as a 256-day one.Contrary to reciprocation that we saw just above, this pattern doesn’t involve anyone on the other end of the line expecting a certain behaviour from you.

Technology-induced guilt or obligations

Inserting natural stops in the experience is a good way to avoid people being stuck in a <a href="https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-break-the-ludic-loop-and-stop-scrolling-2beef97955a1">ludic loop</a>, which is an addictive pattern. You could use pagination instead of infinite scroll, or at least regularly verify with users whether they do want to keep scrolling. A few self-reflective check-ins:<ul><li>How well are you spending your time? (on a 5-point scale)</li><li>Are you happy with what you are doing in this instant? (closed question)</li><li>What is your current activity bringing you? (open question, adds more friction because it’s not binary, but gives a greater opportunity for introspection)</li></ul>

Lack of friction

Gamification consists of incorporating game mechanics into non-gaming software. Its whole point is to ignite dopamine surges with frequent rewards.Gamification is particularly bad when it looks like this:<ul><li>Created your account on the app? You get a badge for signing up!</li><li>Took your first photo? Get 25 points!</li><li>Published your first post? Woah, level-up!</li></ul>

Gamification

We’re all familiar with being caught up in an article and when a pop-in suddenly blocks our view and asks us to subscribe to a newsletter. And how about being stopped dead in our tracks to download an app when we’re using a mobile site, as Reddit does?These nudging interruptions can be frustrating and confusing, and particularly so to <a href="https://uxdesign.cc/inclusive-ux-in-an-era-of-anxiety-dc89c39ec202">people with anxiety</a>. My immediate reaction is that I just want this thing out of my way, and while these are persuasive design patterns, I only experience them as annoying ones.

Interruptions

In 1996, Dr Kimberly Young was one of the first scientists to warn against the addictiveness of computer use. That’s right, 25 years ago. Fast-forward to today, dark patterns are still rampant, and…

product

Product & Design

What designers can do about internet addiction

Innovation is making existing things better. It’s taking an existing piece of innovation and improving it. Invention on the other hand is creating something entirely new. Something which has never existed before.

Innovation ≠  Invention 

<ol><li>Make existing content more real. You want to captivate an audience? You don’t need to find new material you just need to work on your expression of it. </li><li>Make existing content more emotional, when we feel emotionally connected to something, we’re more likely to remember it. That’s why character development is important in movies.</li><li>Make existing content more approachable. You don’t need to be over the top in your presentation, instead make it more casual, more everyday to make it more inviting.</li></ol>

Giotto’s 3 Rules For Innovating Inside The Box 

Giotto’s rules for innovating inside the box.

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creativity

Creativity

podcasts

Podcasts

Giotto and Innovating inside the box 📦

Communication to first impressions, to gaining admiration, attracting someone and self improvement, psychology tricks can do wonders for you! Don’t underestimate what you are about to read, practice them and see how they work. Scroll down now!.

Psychological Tricks That Will Make Your Life Easier. 

If you want someone to volunteer information, eye contact is what you need to work on. Just ask if everything is okay, or any other question you want an honest answer to and maintain eye contact while keeping quiet. People tend to spill it all especially if they had been hiding something for a while as the silence makes them uncomfortable and they want to break the tension.

To make someone spill the beans

This is very interesting indeed. If you feel that an environment is about to turn hostile or people are about to fight, order food, serve food and make people eat. This activity calms people down!.

Serve food to calm down people

If you want people to agree with you, start nodding while talking about the subject. The action of nodding makes the person also believe in your words and they mostly end up getting convinced and nodding back.

To make them agree to what you are saying

If you think that someone is about to pick a fight with you, simply go and sit next to them. This makes the person awkward and then calms them down. Turn your body towards them first and then calmly go and sit next to them.

Before he or she picks up a fight. 

To build trust with someone quickly, mirror their body language but in a subtle way. It then looks as if you are in sync with them and this helps in building trust.

Mirror them to gain trust. 

Before shaking hands with someone you want to connect more with, make sure your hands are warm. A warm hand shake means you are warm as a person and easier to approach and it has a good impression too.

Warm your hands before introduction

Communication to first impressions, to gaining admiration, attracting someone and self improvement, psychology tricks can do wonders for you!

Psychological tricks. 

When two people enter a relationship, they should choose who will be the sun and who, the moon. Then, they should decide if the sun should be hot or joyful and the moon dark or beautiful.

Sun or Moon

Seeking for ways to have good relationships

mindfulness

Mindfulness

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

Love

Find 100+ Philosophy Ideas, Insights & Facts - Curated from popular Videos, Podcasts, Books & Articles - Genuine Insights from like-minded Users like You!

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Capital

What designers can do about internet addiction

Giotto and Innovating inside the box 📦

Psychological tricks.

Love

Sadhguru Quotes (Author of Inner Engineering)

It's time to
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6 Lessons to learn from the Life of Nikola Tesla

The Baloney Detection Kit: Carl Sagan’s Rules for Bullshit-Busting and Critical Thinking

Engaging your readership

Think Straight

Capital

What designers can do about internet addiction

Giotto and Innovating inside the box 📦

Psychological tricks.

Love

Sadhguru Quotes (Author of Inner Engineering)

It's time to Read like a Pro.

It's time to
Read like a Pro.