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

In this compelling book, Adam Alter really made me think twice about where our society is going through the use of technology. His compelling words and statistics will completely change or further support your belief on electronic devices in this world we live in. At first I thought technology would just keep getting better as time would grow and it could develop positively towards everything from your health to the activities we do to entertain ourselves.Unfortunately this is not the case, it will destroy us and keep destroying our future generations to come. This book will be an eye opener and keep surprising you as you read further into it; ironically I was addicted to this book. Alter breaks up this book into three different parts; the basics of addiction, the engineering behind it, and the future of behavioral addiction in technology. The basics of addiction, part one, really clarifies and almost dumb down the definition of an addiction so the reader gets a basic and real understanding of what an addiction is. From there Alter really digs deep on the two sides of addiction; substance with physical things (drugs and alcohol) and a behavioral addiction explaining what each side is composed off and how they are similar but yet very different. This part truly helped me get a general understanding of what Alter was seeing and his perspective of things going forward in the book. Alter makes a statement in the book claiming "There's an addict in all of us" which surprised me that no matter what your personality traits or who you are we all can get hopelessly addicted to anything in this world. Individually we separate ourselves from the groups labeled "addicts" and act like that could never be us because we could never be capable of being people like that but Alter puts that to the test when asking questions like "Is your phone in reach of you right now" or "do you charge your phone near your bed at night". These questions truly put your thoughts to the test and it made me realize that we can all get addicted at one point in our lives and half of us don't even realize their addictions to their devices. Alter makes his first point about technology being addictive when he brings up the discussion about sleep deprivation occurring more frequently in the U.S. because of blue light, which is exactly the light used in our phones. Alter in this first section provides a lot of factual evidence and stories to back up his knowledge and points. Part two of the book is all about what makes a behavioral addiction, addictive. Adam claims there the most 6 parts that make the addictions addictive which are goals feedback, process, escalation, cliffhangers,and social interaction. The way he describes them and links them into addiction is very powerful and is clear in his wording. The last part, and most addictive in my opinion, is all about the future for our generations and some proposed solutions. Alter really bring out the idea that technology usage if goes up will become dangerously harmful for the future generations to come. However Alter brings hope when he claims there are solutions already being created to try and help people with technology addiction. He does re-clarify at the end that technology is not bad or good but it is up to us what way we go with it.

The book, “Irresistible,” by Adam Alter ties together various behavioral addictions seen in our modern age such as being addicted to phones, social media or even something as simple as online shopping. While this book provides good insight on a problem paving its way into our world, it gives a realization of how much technology is taking over our lives and really taking control. Alter keeps the audience intrigued by providing various examples of addictions including GIs in the army being addicted to heroin, kids being addicted to technology from an early age and how game designers use various sound effects and music to keep the player wanting more. It was interesting to look at things from a game designer's point of view to see what they specifically add in their games to make the average player wanting to play non stop, even when they lose. The author also includes scientific reasoning and past experiments to help explain why we like the things we do and continue to exhibit those behaviors. Using animals like rats and monkeys to help explain why our brain likes certain things allows the reader to look at the topic from a new perspective. As social media continues to grow and draw in our young teens, this book explains how people are so obsessed with receiving likes and the attention their media draws in. I liked how the author used other behavioral addictions like talking to a lady who was addicted to online shopping. It shows you how many examples of addictions there are that we might not have even considered to be addicting. On the same note, I appreciate how he included obvious things we’d think to be addictions like heroin or meth. Although this book gives you good insight on a new behavioral addiction coming to our day and age, it tends to be a little repetitive in information. While it’s good to give different examples of how this addiction can be seen, it starts to get old after four or five of the same concept are given in different ways with very little variation. Despite the repetition of this book, it allows the reader to become more self aware of their own behavioral addictions, asking themselves, “Am I addicted to the internet?” While majority of the time while reading this book, I was interested in what was being said, at times I found myself getting sidetracked and not paying attention to the information the author was portraying and having to go back a reread what I just read. I think majority of the information was good, but some wasn’t necessary and the length of the book honestly could’ve been cut down. With all the time elaborating on all the for the most part similar addictions, I feel like Alter could have spent more time talking about how to prevent the average person from getting pulled into the power of addictions.There was a lot of information but not really a solution. I think this is a good book for all to read just for the fact to become self aware and make sure you’re not spending three plus hours consumed in your phone daily. Majority of people you ask probably don’t even know they could be addicted to their phone or some other behavior. Overall, “Irresistible,” by Adam Alter was a good read and one that really makes you think about the growing power of technology.

As soon as I came across "Irresistible", I couldn't wait to read it. And then, when I read the credentials of its author - Dr. Adam Alter - I was even more excited! I wanted to know what a professor of psychology and marketing at New York University had to say about the rise of behavioral addiction! I wanted to connect with someone who understands the consequences of behavioral addictions - especially Internet Addiction - and how it is impacting the well-being and health of adults' lives and even more importantly, that of our children's. For over the past seven years, I have been researching, writing, and speaking about cyber bullying. Although I emphasize the importance of protection and intervention in dealing with this harmful behavior, I always stress the importance of "prevention" and of addressing "causation". I want audiences to understand that cyber bullying is not a "cause" of anything - it is a "symptom" reflective of a change in the human condition. It is a symptom of the "slow erosion of the human empathic spirit". Technology itself is not inherently bad; however, it is our "relationship" with technology which facilitates harmful actions and often contributes to dangerous disorders and/or behavioral dependence or addiction. Although I found "Irresistible" to be "irresistible", the two parts I found most informative were Part 1: "What Is Behavioral Addiction And Where Did It Come From?" and Part Three: "The Future of Behavioral Addiction (And Some Solutions)". I especially appreciated Dr. Alter's explanation of how behavioral addiction develops from an individual's desire to meet basic human needs, and thus, he normalizes the experience rather than pathologizing it. While Dr. Alter clearly diffentiates between obsessions, compulsions, passions, and "behavioral addiction", he also cautions readers, "We shouldn't use a watered-down term to describe them, we should acknowledge how serious they are, how much harm they're doing to our collective well-being, and how much attention they deserve. The evidence so far is concerning, and trends suggest we're wading deeper into dangerous waters." Dr. Alter supports his findings with opinions and research studies from many of the most notible in the field. As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, I also appreciated Part Three: Chapter 10 - "Nipping Behavioral Addictions at Birth." Although Dr. Alter thoroughly discusses a myriad of behavioral approaches and methodololgies to treatment of Internet Addiction, I found his list of three major qualities of healthy screen time to most helpful for parents/gaurdians: "First, parents should encourage their children to connect what they see in the screen world to their eperience of the real world... Second, active engagement is better than passive viewing...Third, screen time should always focus on the content of the app rather than the techology itself." In addition, in order to mitigate the harmful effects of screen time, Dr. Alter stresses the importance of family "face to face" time communicating and socially interacting and working towards a healthy "balance" in our relationship with technology. In conclusion, I highly recommend "Irresistible" to a variety of audiences (health care professionals, educators, counselors, therapists, parent/guardians) but especially to those who may be struggling with the concept of "Internet Addiction" or "Screen Dependence". The harmful effects of excessive screen time are well-documented; and unfortunately, the damaging consequences are much more severe for the developing brains of our young children. However, I want to stress once again, technology itself is not the cause of the problem. It is our degree of access and exposure to and consumption of it! Because we, as adults, enjoy our screen time and we see everyone else doing so, it is hard to change our behaviors! If we find it "Irresistible", imagine how hard it must be for our children! Holli Kenley, M.A., MFT Cyber Bullying No More: Parenting A High Tech Generation (Growing with Love) Another Way: A Novel

This book originally came looking like it was used with bends and damage to the cover. (No telling where that might have happened but it did not seem to be shipping damage but rather the book had been carelessly handled for reading.) I contacted Amazon and was immediately shipped a replacement in perfect condition! That said, I am only on page 31 and feel this is a book worth reading if you find you have little no control to checking and spending too much time on the internet. The media is designed to keep you on the edge of your seat, trigger all sorts of emotional reactions and compulsions, and pacify you at the same time. Even though you may believe you are consuming worthwhile content. I wanted to delve more into this and already this book has been eye opening as to behavioral addictions, compulsions and habits (call it what you will). My eyesight has been problematic as I am aging so I have gotten away from reading books for a long time—too long. But I want to get away from consuming on the internet and get back to spending time reading. I look forward to the rest of this book.

The author is a marketing professor with an affiliated appointment in psychology at NYU, who is a very solid writer with an ability to dig up research and translate outcomes for the masses. While I found parts of the book interesting, the author has ventured into a field where his lack of expertise leads to little for those who truly understand and treat addiction. There is no discussion of the wealth of research that supports addiction being an adaptive response to insecure attachment, adverse childhood experiences, and trauma, or how a complex interplay of risk and protective factors (individual, family, school, community) ultimately determine who goes down the addiction path. At one point the author details a study by Olds and Milner focused on one particular rat (No 34) to illustrate why most who returned from Vietnam did not continue their addiction to heroin. Here I would have expected a link to Bruce Alexander's Rat Park experiments, but its not mentioned. In the chapter on the biology of addiction, he writes about the role of dopamine and what has been learned from Parkinson's patients and from other rat studies. But the opportunity to explain why people suffer from craving and relapse long after stopping an addictive behavior is missed. The answer in part is DeltaFosB. In the same chapter, he writes "blocking dopamine didn't reduce the pleasure they felt - but it did reduce the amount they took (p. 87)." What a great place to at least mention addiction medications like naltrexone. In fact, no where in the book are addiction medications discussed. Those who struggle with addiction should know what is available, and be left to decide on their own whether medication is for them. What the author does describe in detail are two residential programs (reSTART and CBT-IA). Including them in the book is fine, but the author fails to provide readers with any useful framework for understanding treatment, outcomes, and where these two programs fit into that mix. Or how someone should evaluate whether attending these programs is worth the cost. While he states most don't need residential care (which is true), he misses the opportunity to inform readers about other evidence-based options that may be useful. In the end, I agree that we know very little about how our present relationship with technology will play out over time. I too worry that as more sophisticated VR experiences become available, the developmental capacities to initiate, develop and maintain interpersonal relationships will diminish, and books like Bowling Alone will take on an entirely new meaning. As a parent to a 13 year-old boy, I wish the author would have included a chapter on clean routers, ways to manage apps and screen times on various devices, and other tools like screen time contracts/incentives - all things I have implemented and continue to fine tune. And yet despite my best efforts, I know I am battling entire industries - something this book DOES do very well in describing. Parenting in this day and age is not for the faint of heart.

I’m a “zero email” enthusiast. I’m obsessed with getting my email inbox down to zero emails. It turns our millions of us have this same addiction. The problem with those like me who suffer with email zero is that with 300 or so emails a day, we spend so much time focused on email that we are never in the productivity zone. But my obsession with technology is far less disruptive than those with an online gambling addiction or people who are so focused on gaming that they wear diapers so they don’t need to leave the game to go to the toilet. In his new book Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, Adam Alter looks at the age of behavioral addiction. (Hat tip to Seth Godin for alerting me to this excellent book.) This book is a must read for marketers because it clearly lays out how you can build addictive behavior into products and services. By knowing the qualities of being irresistible, you can harness that force for good… and understand when it becomes too powerful. For many people, social media, video, and smart technology takes up a third of our lives (or more). When you factor out work and sleeping, many of us aren’t leaving any time for friends and family. We “don’t have time” for that big project we’ve always wanted to do. With rules, you can manage the deluge Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad in January 2010 by saying “What this device does is extraordinary…” for 90 minutes he explained how the new iPad was the best way to interact with all kinds of digital data. He believed that everyone should own an iPad. But Steve Jobs refused to let his own kids use an iPad. A simple bit of advice Alter provides are rules for the evening. Don't look at any screens in the hour or two before bed because the blue light disrupts your body rhythms. And never, ever leave your phone in the bedroom because it is too tempting to glance at. Me? I’m doing my best to resist email zero. It’s really tough. But when I do, I can get real work done. Like write this blog post.

If on your smartphone right now, reading this review, considering this book, and you’re thinking to yourself, “What is happening to me? What is this thing I’m holding? Am I addicted to it? How did we get here as a culture?” You’re in luck: Adam Alter’s book, “Irresistible,” was written for you. The only critique that I would offer is stylistic: Alter’s book is really a book about addiction, with a heavy emphasis on internet/technology addiction. As a result, Alter spends a significant amount of time (I would say borderline too much) discussing all kinds of addiction and addiction-related issues. As a result, I think about 25% of this book feels “fluffy.” But, none of it is badly written. And, all of it is interesting… even if it doesn’t always seem to advance the narrative of smartphone/internet/technology addiction. But, that said, I would argue that this book is well written, well researched, and well presented. I had to put the book down, several times, because it kept punching me in the face with undeniable facts about my own horrific relationship with technology.

I saw this at my local library earlier this year and picked it up for some summer reading. The research is compelling. I decided to buy my own copy to reference and share with my students. As a high school teacher, I see the impact of social media and game addiction every period. Students' ability to focus intensely on a task (like computer programming) is diminished by frequent distractions. I'm hoping to get a classroom set to assign selections for reading and discussion. I'm finding that as I share the research from the book, students are recognizing the negative impacts of addictive technology and learning how to impose voluntary restrictions on themselves. High school girls have handed me their phones (without my prompting) so that they can stay focused on their work.

Libro perfecto para darte cuenta de todas las trampas que hay con las plataformas y dispositivos que utilizamos a diario. Buena lectura.

Scary facts about how we are being influenced by our PDA's (Pocket Distraction Agents) and what to do to conquer this time pirate.

副題からすれば、マーケティング、商品開発に役立つかと思ったが、addictionの切り口での内容であった。 様々なaddictionの紹介というところ。色々な気付きがあり、興味深く最後まで読める。 ゲームの作りの部分は熱が入っていて、仕掛けは良く理解できる。運動もaddictive になる側面ありとのことで、スマートウォッチを外すことにした。 自分の行動、習慣を広範に見直し、依存の一面もあるのかと考えさせられた。 世の中では、依存症の議論がかまびすしいが、依存の本質をこの本で先ずしっかり理解して議論に臨んで欲しいものだ。 Kindle版と、ペーパーバックで、記述が異なる部分を発見。 P177 anthoropologist Natasha Dow Shull ➡ exprerts となっている。 こういう事もあるのだ。 また、notes(脚注）があるかないかが本文中では判らない。これは、ペーパーバックでもKindle版でも。 裏付けが無い主張かと思っていると、脚注があったりする。

Leitura obrigatória para quem quer entender a sociedade atual. As armadilhas criadas pelas empresas para nos manter presos a seus produtos. Vale a pena ler.

This book contains excellent cases that show how the human mind works when it does not have a goal for life, how so much of our time, attention, and money are wasted on vanities that could easily be avoided, and how, without a sense of deep purpose, we become addicted to the external triggers.