How information is like snacks, money, and drugs—to your brain

While the research does not directly address overconsumption of digital information, the fact that information engages the brain’s reward system is a necessary condition for the addiction cycle, he says. And it explains why we find those alerts saying we’ve been tagged in a photo so irresistible.

With all due respect, no it fucking doesn't. This is an experiment where participants are asked to gamble for money and are presented with the opportunity to purchase information that may drastically alter their decisions and ultimately help them win, or avoid losing, a monetary reward. There's a very big gap between what they actually tested and the entirely unrelated example this article is pushing.

Here is an alternative explanation: If you prime me to think that information can help me earn a lot of money, I will probably assign a high, perhaps irrationally high, utility value to information. Is this what's happening, or is there some general mechanism where information, completely independent of context, is inherently rewarding to the point of addiction? Who knows. This paper certainly doesn't address that question.