Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter

2 reviews

albernikolauras's review

informative medium-paced

3.5

This was a solid entry in books that discuss the negative impacts of technology addictions on health - mental and physical. It discusses how developers construct games and apps to be very addictive, and the similarities and differences technology addictions have to substance addictions.  The main difference being that no matter what you do in the modern world, you have to deal and use technology every day, so dealing with a technology addiction involves setting better boundaries and not eliminating it from your life. He touches on how early use of technology is stunting some childhood development and leads us to more of an isolated world.

Overall, there wasn't a lot of new information I got from this, but I enjoyed the information from the case studies (especially the discussion of the Vietnam War Vets and their addiction issues) and Alter isn't a bad writer by any means. I just didn't find it as revolutionary as I was expecting.

Note - While the drug addiction similarity was useful as a reference, I do not have experience with people who have had one and so cannot discuss the representation of it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction

gbark's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction