Apple iPhone X smartphone (Dreamstime/TNS)
It started out for Sam Machado as a relatively low-effort way to get free pizza. In 2014 Machado was a 20-year-old junior at California State University, Chico, when he came across an app called Pocket Points.
The app earned him rewards such as free slices whenever he shut off his phone during classes. Machado, who was partly putting himself through school, was often strapped for cash. The easy rewards outweighed the temptation to pull out his phone in the middle of lectures.
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