@mr_penguin millions of dollars goes in to tuning the platforms to avoid psychological triggers where someone would organically walk away from it. they like them just under the level where you'd have any sense of fulfillment.

something that took me a while to identify as an adult and paying a lot of attention to time records. somewhat publicly documented nowadays.

then there's the issue that alternatives may not really be available. as a child i couldn't get any encouragement from anywhere to keep doing other more productive things.