As the UX designer sits around thinking of the gamification or ways to keep you engaged with your phone apps, did he care or have any concerns for the consequences? It’s insidious and nearly impossible to get away from. I turn off most of my notifications and am still harassed every few minutes by my phone.
What is wrong with adding these features? Nothing except this is scientifically driven psychological manipulation. So what is the problem? People are free to make their own decisions. The apps are just trying to make things more convenient.
Designers need to consider the ethical impact of manipulating human behavior for little benefit for the individual. The impact is being documented and reported almost every day so you cannot hide. You need to ask yourself, where do you draw the line.
Do you work for Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft or any number of other consumer product and service companies that are hoovering up individual information and feeding it back to hook people on more things? Is this really improving the user experience?