Social Media Architecture: Breaking the Addiction Loop

In this episode of the Hello 50:50 World Podcast, we speak with Vardon Hamdiu, co-founder of Sparkable, and Sofiia Kaminska, behavioral researcher and creator of the Option Control project. Together, we explore how social media platforms are architected: - Why many of today’s platforms are optimized for attention and what that does to users - How engagement-based algorithms amplify polarization, outrage, and addictive behavior - Why awareness alone is not enough to change how we use technology - And what it takes to design social media that supports healthier interactions From working in political communication and with refugee communities to researching digital behavior across generations, Vardon and Sofia share what it means to understand both the structural and human side of technology. For engineers, designers, and product builders, this episode challenges a core assumption: that better technology automatically leads to better outcomes. Because in reality, the incentives behind platforms shape behavior more than the features themselves. What would social media look like if it was designed to bring out the best in people instead of keeping them hooked? Learn more in this episode.