Dimensions
The five axes of the DarkBadge score
Every app is scored across these five behavioral dimensions. Each one has a name, a definition, and research behind it.
Difficult to Self-Regulate
How hard is it to stop once you've started? High scores indicate design choices that undermine users' ability to set and keep their own limits — no natural pause points, no "you're done" signal.
Bottomlessness
Whether the content stream has a visible end. Infinite scroll, autoplay, and endless feeds remove natural stopping cues, keeping the session open indefinitely.
Speed
The pace of rewards, feedback, and content delivery. Fast loops of action → reward train the brain's dopamine pathways and make slower, offline activities feel dull by comparison.
Teasing
Techniques that create anticipation or FOMO — notification dots, streak counters, unread badges — designed to pull users back even when they had no intention of opening the app.
Social Pressure
Whether the app leverages social comparison, public performance metrics, or peer visibility to drive engagement. Likes, follower counts, and leaderboards all score here.