President Donald Trump writes most of his tweets himself, because he apparently enjoys the dopamine rush he gets from social media engagement.
The president frequently announces White House staffing changes or even foreign policy on his Twitter account, but how those sometimes misspelled and oddly capitalized tweets get made is a closely guarded secret, reported Politico.
The website reported an anecdote about Trump interrupting a meeting with lawmakers over his announcement to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria to call for his social media adviser, Dan Scavino.
Trump asked the former golf caddy-turned-White House official to explain to the legislators how popular his policy appeared to be, based on the positive reaction the announcement had picked up on social media.
The president told Politico he writes most of his own tweets, but he admitted that sometimes Scavino and other aides helps him compose the messages "on occasion."
At the start of his presidency, White House officials tried to stop Trump's frequent and sometimes hastily composed tweets, or at least help craft the messages.
Scavino would sometimes draft several tweets Trump could use as a "release valve" to let off steam, and ask the president to circle the one he liked best, according to a person close to the president.
But that setup didn't last long, that source said.
Trump "wasn’t feeling the actual euphoria of typing the tweet himself," the source said. "Then within 15 seconds seeing it blasted on one of the cable shows.”
Social media companies intentionally exploit a "vulnerability in human psychology" to keep users distracted -- and addicted, according to the founding president of Facebook.
“The thought process was, ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?’” said Sean Parker, who resigned from the company in 2005. “We ... give you a little dopamine hit."
Dopamine is a brain chemical that causes people to seek out enjoyment and pleasure -- whether that's food, sex, drugs or social media interaction.
"And the dopamine system is most powerfully stimulated when the information coming in is small so that it doesn't full satisfy," according to Psychology Today. "A short text or twitter ... is ideally suited to send your dopamine system raging."