Gamify Your Life

In 2009, a few lines of code changed the world forever. Webblen is using the same tactics to gamify your life.

In 2009, a few lines of code changed the world forever.

In 2009, Facebook invented the ‘like’ button. At the time, it likely didn’t seem like a big deal. It was just a simple way for users to interact with content that they — well… Liked. Justin Rosenstein, one of the initial designers at Facebook, explained it like this:

“The main intention I had was to make positivity the path of least resistance. And I think it succeeded in its goals, but it also created large unintended negative side effects. In a way, it was too successful.”

The negative consequences Rosenstein is talking about is the way the ‘like’ button hijacked our brains to think that ‘likes’ equals social validation, and the more likes we get, the better we feel.

Since Facebook’s massive success with the like button, every tech giant has hopped on the bandwagon using a carbon copy of the button or something very similar. This is gamification… and it’s extremely addicting.

Think of a slot machine. After you pull the lever, you wait in anticipation to find out if you’ve won while bright lights captivate your childlike imagination. Of course, most often, you lose — Casinos have to make money somehow — but sometimes, you win. The adrenaline rush of the big win is just enough to keep you at the slot chasing that same high. No wonder why so many people get addicted to gambling.

Social media is the same way. Every time you refresh your Instagram notifications or swipe right on Tinder, you’re hoping to hit a jackpot. The apps are even fixed with the bright lights and satisfying pings to capture that same wonder. No wonder why so many people get addicted to gambling.

Its effect on our lives.

It’s no question that social media is negatively impacting our communities and social well-being. If you’re interested in reading more doom-and-gloom, feel free to read another article specifically on that topic below.

Social media gives us instant pleasure. We don’t have to leave our house or even our bed. We can just keep on scrolling. We know that we would be happier, more fulfilled and satisfied with life if we were more social; it’s logical. But we want pleasure NOW… so we keep scrolling

Webblen’s Solution

Social media companies are so successful because they make life online more engaging than social lives and there is no incentive to engage in our communities. Webblen (The company’s blog your on right now… if you haven’t noticed) is trying to change that.

Webblen is an app that gamifies your life by delivering our users real incentives with real value. Every time you, as a user go to an event, host an event, watch local streams, or just about anything else, Webblen rewards you. And not with an arbitrary number of ‘stars’ or ‘hearts’ …

Webblen will literally pay you to be social.

Now you might be asking, “did you just take a bunch of ideas of gamification from casinos and social media companies?” Our answer: “Yup, and we made it better”

It’s time to take back our lives. Don’t allow yourself to be addicted to pixels in front of your face right now, get addicted to LIFE!

To summarize

Facebook, in just a matter of years, was able to completely rewire the brains of billions of people by adding a single button. Since then, every one of the most successful apps used the same tactics to get us hooked on their dopamine-inducing, community-killing products.

Our lives have suffered because of it. We got addicted without even knowing it and we are paying the price.

Webblen unapologetically uses the same tactics but in completely opposite ways. We don’t want to get you addicted to the app, we want you to get addicted to your community. And if it takes bright lights and some reinforcement every time you do something good for yourself, then so be it!

More than anything, we want to build a product that will make your life better and more fulfilling. We hope you will join us in our mission to build involved communities by downloading the app today.‍

Originally published at https://www.webblen.io.