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Facebook is causing Addiction says the man who invented the Like Button

Justin Rosenstein was the inventor and engineer who created the “awesome” feature in 2007 but now worries the mental effects apps are having on people throughout the world.

The 34-year-old is so concerned, he has prevented himself from Reddit and Snapchat, and forced strict time-limits on his use of Facebook, News reports.

The tech exec has now purchased a new iPhone and told his Assistant to set up a characteristic that stops him downloading any apps at all.

Mr. Rosenstein explains Facebook “Likes” as “bright dings of pseudo-pleasure”, one of the several features that add to what Silicon Valley critics call as the new “attention economy”.

“It is very usual for humans to realize things with the best of purposes and for them to have unintended, negative consequences,” Mr. Rosenstein told the News.

A 2016 study discovered that the more time young adults spend on social media, there is a higher likelihood they are to become pessimistic. Of those tested, characters who checked their apps most regularly were 2.7 times from likely to catch it than those two used them least often.

Instagram was ordered as having the worst effect on young people’s psychic health, according to a different study.

And in January health administrators warned the distribution of fake health news on social networks was probably dangerous to people’s physical health.

As well as making users addicted and affecting their mental health, there is developing concern social media makes people more stupid. Known as “continuous incomplete attention”, it is feared apps limit the capacity to focus and potentially lower IQ.