Many have argued that digital technologies such as smartphones and social media are “addictive.” Is this true? If so, what are the policy implications? In this talk, Hunt Allcott of Microsoft Research discusses digital addiction from the perspective of behavioral economics, using a large randomized experiment with American smartphone users. His results suggest that self-control problems combined with habit formation cause 31 percent of social media use.

For more on the Digital Initiative, check out https://digital.hbs.edu​.