Library

Persuasive Technology

B.J. Fogg · 2003

B.J. Fogg's foundational text on "captology" — computers as persuasive technology. Named the design triggers (tunneling, social proof, reward schedules) that later became the standard playbook for habit-forming apps.

Hooked

Nir Eyal · 2014

Nir Eyal's blueprint for building habit-forming products, structured around a four-step "Hook Model": trigger, action, variable reward, investment. Written as a how-to for product teams — DarkBadge treats it as a map of the mechanisms it scores.

How this relates to DarkBadge →

Irresistible

Adam Alter · 2017

Adam Alter on the rise of behavioural addiction and the design patterns that drive it — infinite scroll, variable rewards, social feedback loops. Argues these aren't incidental side effects but the deliberate product of A/B-tested engagement engineering.

How this relates to DarkBadge →

Stolen Focus

Johann Hari · 2022

Johann Hari on why we can't pay attention — reported across interviews with researchers and tech insiders. Frames shrinking attention spans as a systemic, engineered problem rather than a personal willpower failure.

How this relates to DarkBadge →

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.

Center for Humane Technology

Tristan Harris

Framework for understanding addictive design as an engineering choice, not an accident.

Deceptive Design — UX dark patterns

A cataloged taxonomy of dark patterns — confirmshaming, roach motels, forced continuity, and more — with named, real-world examples of each. The reference DarkBadge's own pattern names are indebted to.

Aza Raskin — inventor of infinite scroll, now vocal critic

Raskin built infinite scroll in 2006 and has since become one of its most prominent critics, co-founding the Center for Humane Technology to push for design that respects attention rather than exploiting it.