What is Bribed Attention?
Rewarded ads turn a commercial into a mission with a prize, so watching advertising starts to feel like game progress rather than an interruption.
Where it comes from
Mobile Gaming (early 2010s)
How it hooks you
Exploits extrinsic motivation: pairing ads with rewards trains players to seek out advertising voluntarily.
What the research shows
Reviews of ad monetization in children's apps find kids focus on the immediate reward and often fail to recognize the persuasive intent.
How to resist it
Set a fixed daily limit on rewarded ads, and only watch them in games you would play anyway.