The scientists who make apps addictive
Silicon Valley’s most successful tech companies use the insights of behaviour design to pump us with dopamine and keep us returning to their products. But, as Ian Leslie learns, some of the…
More from The Economist’s 1843 magazine
Death of the calorie
For more than a century we’ve counted on calories to tell us what will make us fat. Peter Wilson says it’s time to bury the world’s most misleading measure
Why do we work so hard?
Ryan Avent reckons that our jobs have become prisons from which we don’t want to escape
The good delusion: has effective altruism broken bad?
A group of young idealists wanted to live the most ethical lives possible. Now some wonder whether the movement they joined has lost its moral compass
You May Also Like
If the internet is addictive, why don’t we regulate ...
Websites and apps are designed for compulsion, even addiction. Should the net be regulated like drugs or casinos?
Kids’ Video Game Obsession Isn’t Really About Video Games. It’s About Unmet Psychological Needs.
Fortnite has created concern about technology addiction. However, when people say they are addicted to chocolate, they are generally not addicted.
The Rise of Mobile Gambling Is Leaving People Ruined and Unable to Quit
Financial catastrophe is now only a few clicks away, a problem that is showing quiet signs of becoming a crisis. "I can't just get rid of my phone," one problem gambler says.
Is the Answer to Phone Addiction a Worse Phone?
A small group of people have turned their phone screens to shades of gray to make them less stimulating. That’s the opposite of what tech companies want.
Why the pull of addictive cravings is so hard to resist
The neuroscientific picture of addiction overlooks the psychological and social factors that make cravings so hard to resist
What is Refind?
Every day Refind picks the most relevant links from around the web for you. Picking only a handful of links means focusing on what’s relevant and useful. We favor timeless pieces—links with long shelf-lives, articles that are still relevant one month, one year, or even ten years from now. These lists of the best resources on any topic are the result of years of careful curation.
How does Refind curate?
It’s a mix of human and algorithmic curation, following a number of steps:
- We monitor 10k+ sources and 1k+ thought leaders on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
- In addition, our users save links from around the web using our Save buttons and our extensions.
- Our algorithm processes 100k+ new links every day and uses external signals to find the most relevant ones, focusing on timeless pieces.
- Our community of active users gets the most relevant links every day, tailored to their interests. They provide feedback via implicit and explicit signals: open, read, listen, share, mark as read, read later, «More/less like this», etc.
- Our algorithm uses these internal signals to refine the selection.
- In addition, we have expert curators who manually curate niche topics.
The result: lists of the best and most useful articles on hundreds of topics.
How does Refind detect «timeless» pieces?
We focus on pieces with long shelf-lives—not news. We determine «timelessness» via a number of metrics, for example, the consumption pattern of links over time.
How many sources does Refind monitor?
We monitor 10k+ content sources on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
Can I submit a link?
Indirectly, by using Refind and saving links from outside (e.g., via our extensions).
How can I report a problem?
When you’re logged-in, you can flag any link via the «More» (...) menu. You can also report problems via email to hello@refind.com
Who uses Refind?
200k+ smart people start their day with Refind. To learn something new. To get inspired. To move forward. Our apps have a 4.9/5 rating.
Is Refind free?
Yes, it’s free!
How can I sign up?
Head over to our homepage and sign up by email or with your Twitter or Google account.