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nrichtsmeier 's review for:
This is a smart and thorough examination of the role of technology in behavioral addiction. The book smartly starts by rightly reframing the concept of addiction from something akin to disease to "an illegitimate means of meeting a legitimate need." This moves us from medicalizing addiction, to truly dealing with the whole-person concepts which lead folks down a path from which they don't know how to return.
Under this umbrella, our chemical and neurological reactions to technology should not surprise us. I think we all have a generalized sense that this tech is not all good for us, but we go awry in the belief that our personal usage of it is not the problem. As Alter successful broadens and deepens our understanding of addiction and shows the coercive effects of online games, fitness trackers and other familiar features in our lives, it does not take long to wonder, "Could he actually be talking about me?" What a wonderful and unwelcome gift of self-awareness.
The book misses the 5-star mark by its ending; Alter attempts to move from diagnosis to treatment quite stodgily. His suggestions are cumbersome and sometimes logical fallacies from the premises he started with. He borrows heavily from the CBT movement for behavioral correction, a movement which has had little success in chemical addiction, so one must wonder why it would be effective in tech? His final suggestion comes down to "find a friend and live life in the real world so the fake world is not so tempting." Solid advice, if everyone else wasn't staring at their screens.
Under this umbrella, our chemical and neurological reactions to technology should not surprise us. I think we all have a generalized sense that this tech is not all good for us, but we go awry in the belief that our personal usage of it is not the problem. As Alter successful broadens and deepens our understanding of addiction and shows the coercive effects of online games, fitness trackers and other familiar features in our lives, it does not take long to wonder, "Could he actually be talking about me?" What a wonderful and unwelcome gift of self-awareness.
The book misses the 5-star mark by its ending; Alter attempts to move from diagnosis to treatment quite stodgily. His suggestions are cumbersome and sometimes logical fallacies from the premises he started with. He borrows heavily from the CBT movement for behavioral correction, a movement which has had little success in chemical addiction, so one must wonder why it would be effective in tech? His final suggestion comes down to "find a friend and live life in the real world so the fake world is not so tempting." Solid advice, if everyone else wasn't staring at their screens.