“Irresistible is a fascinating and much needed exploration of one of the most troubling phenomena of modern times.” —Malcolm Gladwell, author of New York Times bestsellers David and Goliath and Outliers“One of the most mesmerizing and important books I’ve read in quite some time. Alter brilliantly illuminates the new obsessions that are controlling our lives and offers the tools we need to rescue … our lives and offers the tools we need to rescue our businesses, our families, and our sanity.” —Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take
Welcome to the age of behavioral addiction—an age in which half of the American population is addicted to at least one behavior. We obsess over our emails, Instagram likes, and Facebook feeds; we binge on TV episodes and YouTube videos; we work longer hours each year; and we spend an average of three hours each day using our smartphones. Half of us would rather suffer a broken bone than a broken phone, and Millennial kids spend so much time in front of screens that they struggle to interact with real, live humans.
In this revolutionary book, Adam Alter, a professor of psychology and marketing at NYU, tracks the rise of behavioral addiction, and explains why so many of today’s products are irresistible. Though these miraculous products melt the miles that separate people across the globe, their extraordinary and sometimes damaging magnetism is no accident. The companies that design these products tweak them over time until they become almost impossible to resist.
By reverse engineering behavioral addiction, Alter explains how we can harness addictive products for the good—to improve how we communicate with each other, spend and save our money, and set boundaries between work and play—and how we can mitigate their most damaging effects on our well-being, and the health and happiness of our children.
Adam Alter’s previous book, Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave is available in paperback from Penguin.
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As if to prove his point, Adam Alter has written a truly addictive book about the rise of addiction. Irresistible is a fascinating and much needed exploration of one of the most troubling phenomena of modern times.
Adam Alter has achieved the Holy Grail: a book that’s important, insightful, and a pleasure to read. With cutting-edge research about our tech-obsessed world, he soothes us via novel solutions to wean us from our social networks, smartphones, games, fitness watches and other gadgets. He also illustrates the stakes: that these technologies are preventing us from forming meaningful relationships, raising empathetic children, and separating work from sleep and play. Irresistible is essential reading if you’ve ever wondered why some experiences are so addictive, and how to regain control of your time, finances, and relationships.
This might be the best book on technology addictions I’ve read. It makes a clear case on why technology can be so addictive and how we can best guard against it. Like other behavioral addictions, proper use of technology requires concerted effort. This book shows you what to do.
Adam Alter shares with us the nature of behavioral addiction The obsessive effect that can consume us when screen time exceeds other important aspects of our lives The eye to eye exchanges help us build social connections and visceral knowledge The writer states Our attitude to addictive experiences is largely cultural and if our culture makes space for work free game free screen free downtime We and our children will find it easier to resist the lure of behavioral addiction In its place we will communicate with one another directly rather than through devices and the glow of these social bonds will leave us richer and happier than the glow of screens ever could Adam Alter reminds us that reality gives us the best gifts of all one another
Interesting. First time I heard the term “behavioral addiction”. Makes you think twice about letting your kids have a phone or video games.
Provides insight into addictive technology.
This is a non-fiction book about addictions to technology: games, videos, x-box, iPads, iPhones, etc. It was not something I would ordinarily dive into, but for the fact that I had become addicted to simple computer games (Microsoft x-box solitaire). I read it to understand how and why I got so addicted to such a simple game. Wow! It really is interesting and not too techy.
Thought provoking and a little scary.
The book is informative as far as it goes, but it’s not a very thorough exploration of the topic as the title may imply. It does, however, give a good explanation about the brain’s activity and how it supports addiction.
Eye and brain-opening, intensely interesting, and well written.
Adam Alter’s brilliant book is a necessary map for navigating a digitally connected world that’s teeming with addictive temptations. It’s also a crackerjack box of fascinating scientific discoveries on games, habits, and behaviors. I circled, starred, underlined, or wrote exclamation marks on basically every page.
We live in an age of addiction — seemingly benign and otherwise — and Adam Alter, mixing the latest in behavioral science with briskly engaging storytelling, wakes us to an age-old problem that has found troubling new expression in the era of ubiquitous technology. You may never look at your smartphone in the same way again.
There could be no better guide than Adam Alter to a technological landscape that’s increasingly designed to turn us into addicts. Irresistible is both a brilliant exploration of the sometimes sinister ways we get hooked, and a manual for finding focus and human connection in the midst of it all. Your sanity will thank you for reading it.
I originally wrote this sentence on an analog word processor — that is, paper. Such was the impact of Adam Alter’s meticulous research into behavioral addiction that I’ve become increasingly frightened of the monster that is my computer. Alter isn’t an alarmist, and is evenhanded and rational in his approach toward technology, which makes his fascinating and witty book all the more powerful. In a world of ever-increasing connectivity and omnipresent screens, Irresistible is absolutely essential reading. But for your own sake, buy the paper version.
Looked at your phone recently? I thought so. Our devices have become more addictive than any drug, and thanks to Irresistible, now we know why. A powerful look at how technology sucks us in, and what we can do to resist its pull.
In Irresistible, Adam Alter illuminates the surprising, fascinating, and frightening biological and psychological connections between a toddler hitting every button in an elevator, a surgical patient asking for painkillers, and the millions of people hooked on Facebook. No one who has ever seen an advertisement, checked their email on a smartphone, or used the Internet will come away quite the same.
For many, social media presents an ideal mode of expression, but it also holds the danger of becoming a crutch or — as Adam Alter’s brilliant new book illustrates — a behavioral addiction that threatens to undermine our mental health and relationships. Irresistible offers a crucial understanding of how we are psychologically tethered to our devices, along with much-needed solutions so that we can live rich, meaningful and healthy lives in an increasingly tech-driven age.