In the age of behavioural addiction, half of the American population is addicted to at least one behaviour. This phenomenon is fuelled by obsessive consumption of social media, TV, and smartphones. Adam Alter, a psychology and marketing professor at NYU, explains the rise of addictive products and how they become irresistible due to their design by companies.
Alter suggests that by reverse engineering behavioural addiction, we can harness addictive products for good, improving communication, spending, and setting boundaries between work and play. This approach can also mitigate the damaging effects of addictive products on our well-being and the health and happiness of our children.
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About the Author
Adam Alter teaches psychology and marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Irresistible, a book about the rise of tech addiction and what we can do about it, and Drunk Tank Pink, a book about the forces that shape our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.
Alter has written for a number of magazines, including the New York Times, New Yorker, Wired, Washington Post, and The Atlantic. He was recently listed as one of the 400 most outstanding business school professors under 40 in the world by Poets and Quants. At the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and with several businesses worldwide, he has presented his ideas.
Alter graduated from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Science (Honours Class 1, University Medal) in Psychology. He then went on to Princeton University to earn his M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology, where he was awarded a fellowship in the Woodrow Wilson Society of Scholars and a Charlotte Elizabeth Procter Honorific Dissertation Fellowship.
Review
Adam Alter, a best-selling author and associate professor of marketing, explores the prevalence of behavioral addiction in our day and age and provides some tips for reducing your own addictive behavior in his intriguing new book. I would want to know where your phone is at the moment.
It’s probably within reach, and as Alter states, a portable gadget is always a more effective method to become addicted. The prevalence and ease of technology these days make it easy to understand why behavioral addiction to video games, Facebook, checking email on your phone, and even your Fitbit is on the increase. Convenience is a weapon that weaponizes temptation.
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There is a lot to consider in Irresistible, a comprehensive and in-depth examination of addiction. Given that they are the most susceptible of all of us, Alter is particularly worried about how kids and teenagers use technology.
We may believe that we are just engaging with a screen, but it’s crucial to keep in mind that there are dozens of well paid individuals behind that screen whose sole responsibility is to ensure that we don’t stop. As adults, we are far more vulnerable than most of us realize. –The Amazon Book Reviewer, Chris Schluep
Adam Alter’s book about the emergence of addiction is genuinely captivating, as if to support his argument. An intriguing and much-needed examination of one of the most concerning contemporary issues is provided by Irresistible. —New York Times bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell Outliers, Goliath, and David
“Alter’s scope is wide: He covers social networking, dating apps, online shopping, and other programs that encourage binge-watching in addition to the more evidently addictive technology like video games and slot machines. He absorbs everything, which nowadays includes the majority of items, whose business strategy relies on being seductive.[A] fun yet frightening novel.—The Washington Post
“Set down your device and read Adam Alter’s Irresistible, a significant and groundbreaking book about why we are addicted to technology, how we got here, and what we should do next, if you can’t stop checking, clicking, surfing, and liking.”
—Arianna Huffington, author of Thrive and The Sleep Revolution
“Among the most captivating and significant books I’ve read in a long time.” Alter provides the resources we need to save our companies, our families, and our sanity while vividly illuminating the new obsessions that are taking over our lives.
—Adam Grant, author of Originals and Give and Take, New York Times bestseller
“This significant book examines how we become addicted to technology, why that is harmful, and how to regain control.” Individuals
“Adam Alter presents the evidence for behavioural addiction, a hidden threat in our lives, in this astutely argued book. From measuring our steps to monitoring social media “likes,” the design of the tools we use is dictating more about how we behave than our own free will. You will be both informed and scared after reading IRRESISTIBLE.
—To Sell Is Human and Drive author Daniel H. Pink
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For many people, social media is the perfect way to express themselves, but it also has the potential to become a crutch or, as Adam Alter’s excellent new book shows, a behavioral addiction that jeopardises our relationships and mental health.
In order to live full, fulfilling, and healthy lives in an era that is becoming more and more reliant on technology, Irresistible provides essential insights into how we are psychologically bound to our gadgets as well as much-needed remedies.
—Susan Cain is the New York Times bestselling author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking and a co-founder of Quiet Revolution.
“A book that is significant, perceptive, and enjoyable to read is the Holy Grail that Adam Alter has attained. He calms us with innovative ways to wean us off of our social networks, cellphones, games, fitness trackers, and other devices based on his cutting-edge study on our tech-obsessed society.
He also demonstrates the stakes, showing how these tools are keeping us from developing deep connections, producing children with empathy, and keeping work and play apart. If you’ve ever wondered why certain experiences are so addicting and how to get back in control of your time, money, and relationships, Irresistible is a must-read.
—Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, a New York Times bestseller
The biological and psychological links between a child pressing all the buttons in an elevator, a surgery patient requesting painkillers, and the millions of individuals addicted to Facebook are shown by Adam Alter in his book Irresistible.
No two people who have ever used the Internet, seen an advertising, or checked their email on a smartphone will be exactly the same.
—David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene, a New York Times bestseller
“This statement was first written on paper using an analog word processor. Adam Alter’s thorough studies on behavioral addiction had such an influence that I’m now increasingly afraid of the digital monster. Alter’s intriguing and humorous book is all the more potent since he is not an alarmist and approaches technology with objectivity and reason.
In a society when screens are everywhere and connectedness is growing, Irresistible is a must-read. However, get the print version for your own benefit.
Maria Konnikova, the author of Mastermind and The Confidence Game
Adam Alter is the ideal guide to a technology environment that is increasingly geared toward making us addicted. In addition to being a masterful examination of the occasionally evil ways we become addicted, Irresistible serves as a guide for locating concentration and interpersonal relationships in the middle of it all. If you read it, your sanity will appreciate it.
—The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, written by Oliver Burkeman
Have you lately looked at your phone? I believed so. Thanks to Irresistible, we now understand why our gadgets have grown more addicting than any narcotic. An insightful examination of how technology ensnares us and how we might fight against it.
—Jonah Berger, author of Contagious, a New York Times bestseller
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Adam Alter awakens us to an age-old issue that has troublingly found new expression in the age of omnipresent technology by fusing the most recent behavioral science research with captivating narrative. We live in an age of addiction, both seemingly benign and otherwise. Your perspective on your smartphone could change forever.
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“Adam Alter’s outstanding work is an essential road map for negotiating a technologically connected world full with irresistible temptations. It also contains a wealth of intriguing scientific findings about games, routines, and behaviours. On almost every page, I highlighted, circled, starred, or used exclamation points.
—Derek Thompson, author of Hit Makers and Senior Editor at The Atlantic
“A thought-provoking, well-written book that makes the case that new technology leads to new addictions.”
—How to Fly a Horse author Kevin Ashton
“[A] fantastic investigation into Internet addiction.” – Nature
“A book that is true to its title.” -A New Scientist
“Includes insightful and intriguing analysis of how computer games, gambling websites, and social media apps have been designed to captivate users.” – Statesman (UK)
Adam Alter presents the alarming argument that everyone’s health, not just our kids’, is at risk due to contemporary connection. Alter’s work sheds light on how behavioural addiction is engineered by designers. Interesting. —The Guardian
“With a background in marketing and psychology, Alter approaches his work with a specialised perspective, and it shows. An enlightening and helpful read…compelling.— The UK’s Daily Telegraph
“Examines how technology captivates us by appealing to our most basic wants and aspirations. Irresistible is filled with enlightening research that clearly explains complex scientific and technological ideas.—The Times (UK)
Summary
Adam Alter’s excellent book seductive: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked explores how the majority of the technological devices we use on a daily basis are inevitably seductive and addictive.
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From social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to addictive video games like Flappy Bird and World of Warcraft. The book changed my perspective, which is exactly how I felt after reading Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism.
Adam Alter, a psychology and marketing professor at NYU, charts the growth of behavioral addiction and explains why so many items in today’s market are tempting in his book tempting: The growth of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked.
The remarkable and occasionally harmful magnetism of these miracle things is not a coincidence, even though it melts the distance between individuals all over the world. Over time, the corporations who create these items make adjustments to make them nearly hard to resist.
We work longer hours every year, we spend an average of three hours a day on our cellphones, we worry over our emails, Instagram likes, and Facebook feeds, and we binge-watch TV shows and YouTube videos.
Millennial children spend so much time in front of screens that they find it difficult to engage with other people, and half of us would rather have a broken bone than a shattered phone.
Alter describes how behavioral addiction can be reverse-engineered to help us use addictive products for positive purposes, such as enhancing our communication, saving and spending money, and establishing boundaries between work and play.
Alter also discusses how we can lessen the negative impacts of these products on our own well-being as well as the health and happiness of our children.