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300 reviews for:
Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked
Adam Alter
3.7 AVERAGE
300 reviews for:
Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked
Adam Alter
3.7 AVERAGE
Good stuff. Learned a lot from reading this. I like the grounding in psychology research.
I think this book gave a well-balanced POV on technology, how it’s impacted the prevalence of behavioral addictions, and how to approach/combat them. I started this looking for tips to help myself navigate the often toxic feeling relationship I have with my devices and social media, and I believe I’ve come away from it knowing how to prevent falling into those mental traps. Overall would definitely recommend!
Listened to this audiobook while I played Tony Hawk. sounds like stuff is pretty addictive. Gotta try hard to set your phone down every now and then.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Very interesting insight into how and why we get hooked so easily.
It started off a bit slowly, talking mostly about addiction in itself, how it works and where else in our society we will find addictions, such as gambling, gaming and drugs. Adam talks a lot about how they are supposed to work and how people have gotten out of it.
One part I found interesting was the one where he talked about heroin use in the Vietnam War, how a lot of american soldiers over there was using that stuff because they were bored. Lots of the time in the war was spend waiting, waiting for orders, waiting for transfer.... And it scared the US government, because they were afraid of having 100 000 heroin addicts returning from 'Nam.
But it didn't happen, partly because addiction is also connected to a location and a feeling. That is why you won't find any recovering alcoholics at the old bar drinking soda. Or that if you get out of a serious drug problem you should probably get a new circle of friends or move to another place, so you don't get that trigger.
Now, when one reads this a question would probably be "What has this got to do with new technology?" It was to me when I first read it, what does heroin abuse and social media and new technology have in common? One is a chemical substance you shoot up your veins, the other is just a screen you look at!"
Well, it does have some similiarities: People who have tried to quit social media usually fall back simply because they are used to grabbing for their phones whenever they are bored. Like say they wait 10 minutes for the bus, out comes the phone. And what do people do with their phone? They scroll instagram, facebook, twitter, tiktok, reddit, tinder, bumble... The list goes on.
It's about habits and triggers. When I am sitting down at my computer right now, I might just hop into social media because I get bored. Or when I am having lunch with my coworkers and the conversation dies down, I might just open it up and look at it. Or when I am feeling lonely I might pick up my phone and shoot a DM via facebook to a friend, like a digital pacifier. You will hear drug addits using the same explanation when asked why they are on the stuff: "I need it because I am bored, lonely or whatever".
I think it's funny when I talk to someone and I mention my intentions of quitting social media. The reaction is a very defensive "Oh, but I could never do that because (insert reason here)". It's especially funy because I have never ever suggested they should get off the stuff. What they do is up to them.
So in the beginning the book is rather slow because it has several stories and examples like this that makes you go "okay, but what has this got to do with addictive technology?", but at least it DOES tie everything up at a later point.
The latter half of the book was in my opinion much more interesting where there was a lot of talk about what can actually be done. Say you are a self-proclaimed social media addict, what can you do to break out of that circle?
One part I found interesting was the one where he talked about heroin use in the Vietnam War, how a lot of american soldiers over there was using that stuff because they were bored. Lots of the time in the war was spend waiting, waiting for orders, waiting for transfer.... And it scared the US government, because they were afraid of having 100 000 heroin addicts returning from 'Nam.
But it didn't happen, partly because addiction is also connected to a location and a feeling. That is why you won't find any recovering alcoholics at the old bar drinking soda. Or that if you get out of a serious drug problem you should probably get a new circle of friends or move to another place, so you don't get that trigger.
Now, when one reads this a question would probably be "What has this got to do with new technology?" It was to me when I first read it, what does heroin abuse and social media and new technology have in common? One is a chemical substance you shoot up your veins, the other is just a screen you look at!"
Well, it does have some similiarities: People who have tried to quit social media usually fall back simply because they are used to grabbing for their phones whenever they are bored. Like say they wait 10 minutes for the bus, out comes the phone. And what do people do with their phone? They scroll instagram, facebook, twitter, tiktok, reddit, tinder, bumble... The list goes on.
It's about habits and triggers. When I am sitting down at my computer right now, I might just hop into social media because I get bored. Or when I am having lunch with my coworkers and the conversation dies down, I might just open it up and look at it. Or when I am feeling lonely I might pick up my phone and shoot a DM via facebook to a friend, like a digital pacifier. You will hear drug addits using the same explanation when asked why they are on the stuff: "I need it because I am bored, lonely or whatever".
I think it's funny when I talk to someone and I mention my intentions of quitting social media. The reaction is a very defensive "Oh, but I could never do that because (insert reason here)". It's especially funy because I have never ever suggested they should get off the stuff. What they do is up to them.
So in the beginning the book is rather slow because it has several stories and examples like this that makes you go "okay, but what has this got to do with addictive technology?", but at least it DOES tie everything up at a later point.
The latter half of the book was in my opinion much more interesting where there was a lot of talk about what can actually be done. Say you are a self-proclaimed social media addict, what can you do to break out of that circle?
This book reads like a pop science book (because it is), but it is strikingly well researched and sourced. In some ways, this book was preaching to the choir for me - I have recently decided to try to take some steps back from social media and technology use in general - but even then, there are plenty of powerful examples and anecdotes to be found here. The most useful and fascinating thing this book did, for me, was to discuss technology addiction under the umbrella of behavioral addiction. Which makes complete sense, but I had never previously thought of it in that realm.
I do think that his message got a little muddled at the end when he started talking about gamification. He was all down on wearable technology (like Fitbits) near the beginning of the book, but then talked about how gamifying certain unpleasurable activities (like going to school or working out) might be a good thing. But isn't that exactly what Fitbits do? Gamify a part of your life that isn't pleasurable? I had a hard time understanding where and why he drew the line.
Regardless, this is an easy one to recommend, about a topic that is only going to get hotter in the coming years.
I do think that his message got a little muddled at the end when he started talking about gamification. He was all down on wearable technology (like Fitbits) near the beginning of the book, but then talked about how gamifying certain unpleasurable activities (like going to school or working out) might be a good thing. But isn't that exactly what Fitbits do? Gamify a part of your life that isn't pleasurable? I had a hard time understanding where and why he drew the line.
Regardless, this is an easy one to recommend, about a topic that is only going to get hotter in the coming years.
Interesting info. The book gives a new perspective to our data-driven society, and it goes as far as saying Fitbits are harmful. Some really cool parts on habit forming and habit breaking too. Seems most of the claims are weakly supported though, and most of the research was done on Reddit. A bit wordy for the amount of content too
I enjoyed this one and it definitely gave me some things to think about! There was a lot of pop psychology in here but I still found it interesting and relevant. It made me be a little bit more deliberate about my online choices (trying to lighten up on FB) and also very thankful that I haven't fallen down the video game hole. There were some solutions that were interesting and I really liked the last few chapters. Simple things like setting up your life so the technology wasn't just so available seems easy and obvious. All in all a worthwhile read.