PHOTOGRAPHER TEACHES RATS TO TAKE SELFIES, AND THEY CAN’T STOP

Augustin Lignier, a professional photographer in Paris, wanted to find out why so many of us feel compelled to photograph our lives and share those images online. So, he taught a couple of rats to take photos of themselves, and found out they wouldn’t stop doing it. Mr. Lignier built his own version of a Skinner box — whenever the rats pressed a button inside the box, they got a small dose of sugar and a camera snapped their photo. The resulting images were immediately displayed on a screen where the rats could see them. Soon, he reduced the number of times the rats got a sugar fix. Yet they still hit the button to be photographed. Lignier admits that the rats probably can’t comprehend the photos. It was the intermittent reward that kept them pressing the picture button. Mr. Lignier noted the obvious: Digital and social media companies use the same intermittent reward concept to keep the attention of the viewer as long as possible. Social media doles out periodic, unpredictable rewards — a “like,” a tweet, a promising romantic match — that keep us glued to our phones.
* And as long as that intermittent science grant money keeps coming, he’ll keep coming up with goofy experiments.
* The worst part? When the rats make a “duck face” for their selfies. Not pretty.
* It’s also not pretty when they use Snapchat filters.
* The rats don’t ACTUALLY go on social media, ’cause they have no money to get blue checkmarks on X.
* What exactly are you implying, Mr. Lignier? And pass the cheese.
* Meanwhile, he says, anyone want to buy a picture book about rat selfies?