Claim · claimSorter/cs-036
Social media platforms are designed to exploit psychological vulnerabilities in ways that structurally resemble addictive drug use
Education, not medical advice. Drafts and study material from an independent research library. Citations on this page were checked on Oct 13, 2026; claims in the body text and organizational sources are still under review. What was checked.
Social media platforms are designed to exploit psychological vulnerabilities in ways that structurally resemble addictive drug use
Confirmed recorded as “Confirmed (By Designer Admission)” Food of the Gods
Sean Parker (founding president of Facebook) stated in 2017: 'How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible? ... We give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while.' Tristan Harris (former Google design ethicist) documented persuasive technology design in The Social Dilemma (2020). Haidt's The Anxious Generation (2024) documented correlations between smartphone social media adoption and adolescent mental health decline. McKenna's 1992 argument about television as dominator drug applies with greater precision to social media.
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Drafts on the same book
- The Stoned Ape at the Edge of History Editorial draft
- Paonia to Berkeley: McKenna's Education Editorial draft
- Botanical Dimensions: The Garden McKenna Built Editorial draft
- Before Food of the Gods: The Invisible Landscape Editorial draft
- The Handbook That Changed Everything Editorial draft
- The Brain Tumor and the Last Year Editorial draft
- The Case Against McKenna Editorial draft
- Language as Reality: McKenna's Linguistics Editorial draft
- McKenna and the Noosphere: Before the Internet Editorial draft
- McKenna vs. Sagan: Two Cosmologies Editorial draft
- The Stoned Ape: Between Hypothesis and Myth Editorial draft
- The Dominator Screen: McKenna's Media Critique in the Algorithm Age Editorial draft
- The Ecological Drug War: What Prohibition Costs the Planet Editorial draft
- Ibogaine and the Veterans: McKenna's Afterlife in Policy Editorial draft
- Decriminalization Models: Oregon, Colorado, and What Comes Next Editorial draft
- The Right to Alter Your Own Consciousness Editorial draft
- The Mushroom Spoke: McKenna's Literal Claim Editorial draft
- Television Is a Drug: The Argument That Aged Best Editorial draft
- The Archaic Revival: Is It Happening? Editorial draft
- The Notion of Illegal Plants Editorial draft
- In Defense of the Stoned Ape (As a Question) Editorial draft
- The Stoned Ape: What the Evidence Actually Shows Editorial draft
- Passage: Television as Dominator Drug Editorial draft
Reading list for this book
- Reading list: Food of the Gods Reading list
NotebookLM packs on this book
- The Stoned Ape NotebookLM source pack
Bridge pieces that use this book
Science annotations on this book
- Psilocybin mushrooms catalyzed the evolution of human consciousness and the doubling of the hominin brain... Science annotation
Then vs. Now comparisons on this book
- The Stoned Ape: Was McKenna Right? Then vs. Now comparison
- The Stoned Ape in 2025: Neuroscience Weighs In Then vs. Now comparison
- The Dominator Culture Argument: McKenna's Political Analysis Then vs. Now comparison
- Television as Dominator Drug: McKenna's Media Theory Then vs. Now comparison
- Psychedelics and the War on Drugs: McKenna's Prediction Then vs. Now comparison
- The Archaic Revival: Has It Happened? Then vs. Now comparison
- The Ibogaine-Veterans Coalition: McKenna's Afterlife in Policy Then vs. Now comparison
- The Illegal Plant Argument: McKenna's Constitutional Challenge Then vs. Now comparison
- McKenna's Ecological Argument: Psychedelics and the Environmental Crisis Then vs. Now comparison
- The Botanical Dimensions Archive: Did McKenna's Garden Survive? Then vs. Now comparison
- The Decriminalization Models McKenna Called For: Oregon, Colorado, and What Came Next Then vs. Now comparison
Other pages in this library that link here
- The Science of the Experience Course module
- The Cultural Reckoning Course module
- Decolonizing Psychedelic Research: Frameworks and Practices Teaching module