Social media trains and programs us like rats were trained to get hits of dopamine in well known experiments
At his company's recent F8 conference in San Jose, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had a message for developers: Keep building.
On Tuesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai will take the stage at the search giant's I/O event, where he'll likely make similar exhortations.
But amid the calls for more apps and gadgets, a group of tech insiders - some of whom worked closely with Facebook and Google's top brass - are preaching a different Silicon Valley gospel: Slow down and think about what you're doing.
The Centre for Humane Technology, a non-profit organisation formed earlier this year by engineers and investors who profited from the past decade's social and mobile boom, is having a moment, as concerns over the reach, power and influence of tech grow.
The problems, they say, go beyond headlines about data leaks, password breaches and election interference.
Tech giants like Facebook and Google have gained sway over billions of people through subtle Pavlovian techniques that keep them coming back for more.
Comment: If the above doesn't put things into better perspective, the following video surely will; warnings straight out of the mouths of social media programmers: