irresistible the rise of addictive technology

He advises “demetricating” social media, showing how users engage with platforms much more responsibly when measurements read “users like this” rather than “155 users like this.” He cites examples of companies shutting down email from 9 p.m.

He talks about creating a “behavioral architecture” that limits exposure to screen times and technology, including avoiding tempting situations. He offers solutions to the problems technology poses going forward. You can hold a job…without using drugs and alcohol, but not without using the Internet.” His thesis is that tech companies know these things, and design their products and platforms to trigger addictions in users-whether the bottomless stream of content on Facebook, or the metrics of social media where users strive for approval, or the constant attention required of games like FarmVille and World of Warcraft.īut the major threat he identifies with technology is that unlike substance abuse, “it’s almost impossible to return to society without using the Internet. He likens the dopamine release of a new “like” social media to that of a fix, essentially.

How an editor for the technology magazine Wired severely limits his kids’ screen times “because we have seen the dangers of technology firsthand.”Īlter’s book sets out to show how behavioral addictions related to technology are no different than substance addictions, how despite the user’s desire to change this behavior, too often the immediate pleasure derived from a click or a refresh wins out over long-term dissatisfaction. How Evan Williams, a cofounder of Twitter, won’t either. How Steve Jobs wouldn’t let his kids use an iPad. He opens Irresistible with some juicy anecdotes. Irresistible, published this past spring, is a study of how contemporary technology uses sophisticated means to draw out a mostly primitive trait in humans: addiction. He has written one other book, the New York Times bestseller Drunk Tank Pink, which explores how environment influences our choices. Some may want to rationalize this attentiveness as being “present,” but Alter goes on to cite one estimate that it takes nearly half an hour to fully re-engage in the interrupted task.Īlter is a professor of marketing at New York University. The pleasing (or in some cases, annoying) ding of a new email notification, the strong bold type of an unread email, all of this is designed to make us click and click fast.

Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us HookedĪccording to Adam Alter in Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, 70 percent of office emails are read within six seconds of arrival.

Irresistible the rise of addictive technology