TY - JOUR
T1 - Digital Slot Machines
T2 - Social Media Platforms as Attentional Scaffolds
AU - Voinea, Cristina
AU - Marin, Lavinia
AU - Vică, Constantin
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - In this paper we introduce the concept of attentional scaffolds and show the resemblance between social media platforms and slot machines, both functioning as hostile attentional scaffolds. The first section establishes the groundwork for the concept of attentional scaffolds and draws parallels to the mechanics of slot machines, to argue that social media platforms aim to capture users’ attention to maximize engagement through a system of intermittent rewards. The second section shifts focus to the interplay between emotions and attention, revealing how online attentional capture through emotionally triggering stimuli leads to distraction. The final section elucidates the collective implications of scaffolding attention through social media platforms. The examination of phenomena such as emotional contagion and the emergence of group emotions underscores the transition from individual experiences to shared collective outcomes. Employing online moral outrage as a case study, we illustrate how negative emotions serve as scaffolds for individuals’ attention, propagate within social groups, and give rise to collective attitudes.
AB - In this paper we introduce the concept of attentional scaffolds and show the resemblance between social media platforms and slot machines, both functioning as hostile attentional scaffolds. The first section establishes the groundwork for the concept of attentional scaffolds and draws parallels to the mechanics of slot machines, to argue that social media platforms aim to capture users’ attention to maximize engagement through a system of intermittent rewards. The second section shifts focus to the interplay between emotions and attention, revealing how online attentional capture through emotionally triggering stimuli leads to distraction. The final section elucidates the collective implications of scaffolding attention through social media platforms. The examination of phenomena such as emotional contagion and the emergence of group emotions underscores the transition from individual experiences to shared collective outcomes. Employing online moral outrage as a case study, we illustrate how negative emotions serve as scaffolds for individuals’ attention, propagate within social groups, and give rise to collective attitudes.
KW - Attentional scaffolds
KW - Digital slot machines
KW - Hostile scaffolds
KW - Social media platforms
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85186870188&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11245-024-10031-0
DO - 10.1007/s11245-024-10031-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85186870188
SN - 0167-7411
JO - Topoi
JF - Topoi
ER -