About

It started with a story about slot machines — the same design tricks that keep gamblers at a machine for hours have been rebuilt into the apps on everyone's home screen. What made DarkBadge possible was realizing AI could research and score those tricks across thousands of apps, not just describe them in one article.

Social media addiction is real, and it hits kids hardest, since they're least equipped to resist it. Knowing what you're up against is the first step to pushing back.

DarkBadge names and measures those techniques for every app it scores. See how scoring works · Browse the five dimensions

Core inspiration

The surprising origin of 4 features that superglue kids — and adults — to screens

NPR Morning Edition · Michaeleen Doucleff · 2026

Anthropologist Natasha Dow Schull traces how four design features from video slot machines — solitude, bottomlessness, speed, and teasing — migrated into social media apps, and why they are especially harmful to children.

BROADCASTPeople Strategies

What is DarkBadge?

DarkBadge analyzes apps based on people's reviews and feedback. It scores their dark patterns across dimensions, creating each app's unique badge. See the dimensions · See the badge

It collects articles and research on how these designs work and who they affect. Read the news · Explore the research

It reviews books that dig deeper into the science. See the books

And it suggests real-world ideas — alternatives that get you and your kids un-superglued from the screen. Get ideas

The badge

The dark shape is a vortex. Its area is the addiction footprint based on the scoring of each dimension. The more darkness fills the badge, the deeper the compulsion mechanics run.

AGENCY — Engineered to override your own stopping cues
BOTTOMLESS — No natural end — content always continues
SPEED — Fast reward cycles prevent pause or reflection
TEASING — Unpredictable payoffs resist extinction — the slot machine trick
SOCIAL — Others' activity creates invisible pressure to stay

example badge

Scoring

All scores are generated by Claude (Anthropic) from publicly available app store descriptions and user reviews. Scores reflect design patterns present in the evidence — not the developer's intent, not the user's willpower.

How the site works

Navigation on DarkBadge isn't just menus. Every page follows the same design goals: show the simple version first, let people go deeper only if they want to, and never spring sudden changes on the screen. See the full design decisions

How it was built

DarkBadge was built using Shmorch, an orchestration system from Shming that keeps the whole build process organized. More on Shmorch

Support DarkBadge

DarkBadge is free and ad-free. If it's useful to you, you can support it on Ko-fi — it helps cover hosting and scoring costs.

Created by James Saxon / SHMING · darkbadge@shming.com