OK so in this comment, and child comments, a number of hypotheses are mentioned for why HN is fine:
* HN is text-only
* HN lacks infinite scroll
* HN adds new content slowly
* HN is cognitively demanding
My guess is that these factors are most important. If you held them constant and added a recommendation engine in HN, I doubt HN would become considerably more addictive.
* HN is text-only
* HN lacks infinite scroll
* HN adds new content slowly
* HN is cognitively demanding
My guess is that these factors are most important. If you held them constant and added a recommendation engine in HN, I doubt HN would become considerably more addictive.