If our brains have two systems: one (1) for “intuitive” and relatively thoughtless thinking, and another (2) for complex math problems and weird experiences, and we spend most of our time in system (1) while looking at and ignoring ads, then what happens if system (2) sees ads?

Try scanning someone’s Timeline. It’s a very unpleasant experience. When information is organized in a list, it’s trivially easy to scan it, but with Timeline your eye has to dart around and try to combine the layout into an understanding of what the person’s been up to. It induces cognitive strain and brings System 2 online.

Jeff DeChambeau theorizes that Facebook’s eye-strain layout might be done to intentionally force us to view ads while in a different “brain state” than we normally view ads in, perhaps with the hope that those ads will be more effective that way.