People are just realising that social media notifications are all the same colour - and it's for one specific reason.
In a recent video, YouTuber Arun (aka Mrwhosetheboss), who is known for smartphone performance tests and tech product reviews, explored how the platforms are designed to keep users hooked.
His recent video explored the concept of social media being a 'casino' revealing the tricks developers use to create anticipation and addiction among its users.
To quote the YouTuber: "Social media doesn't keep you addicted by giving you something good, it keeps you addicted by giving you anticipation of something great."
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One thing that’s surprising people is the psychology behind the colours.
Unless you're not on social media or have been living under a rock, you've probably seen the colour of most social media notifications is red.
According to the YouTuber, this is no accident.
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Psychologically speaking, red is the colour that humans respond to the quickest because we 'associate it with danger that requires immediate action.'
Not only that but all social media has the same notification noise across the board.
"It's social media's advantage to have their notifications blend in with each other," Arun added.
It all ties back to dopamine, the brain's reward chemical.
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Without getting too science-y, dopamine drives us to chase goals, anticipating a reward.
When we see a notification, our dopamine spikes, making us curious about what’s waiting for us.
But as soon as we check, that dopamine rush fades, leaving us wondering what else could be happening, causing us to keep checking our phones.
It makes us drop everything that we're doing and look what's alerted us.
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People are horrified after only just realising and have expressed so in the YouTube comments.
"FOMO. It's real and scary. Look at drivers around you when you're at a red light (unless you yourself are one of these) - most people have to check things on their phones," one pointed out. "[...] It's scary what we've become... Even at dinner time, in restaurants, families, people no longer interact with each other - they have to scroll to see what they may be missing when what they're truly missing is who is in front of them..."
Another user added: "These tech companies have truly turned the psychology of addiction into a science. Little did we know, we've all been lab rats in this grand experiment."
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One user realised that even comment sections on the likes of X (formerly Twitter) have themselves become feeds within feeds.
They wrote: "I'm glad he talked about comment sections on twitter being just more feeds and not actual comments idk when it changed But it has been like this for like half a year or something it's so unsettling to the point that even in the comments there are comments commenting how the comments are just more videos instead of actual comments."
The video has opened a lot of people’s eyes to how social media manipulates our attention and it's causing some people to turn off their notifications and even take a break from social media altogether.
"I solved that problem with Facebook. I deleted the app," said one whilst another added: "Social media is soooo bad if you use it wrong. I've been severely limiting my time on YouTube recently."