Irresistible cover art

Irresistible

Why We Can't Stop Checking, Scrolling, Clicking and Watching

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Irresistible

By: Adam Alter
Narrated by: Adam Alter
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About this listen

How many times have you checked your phone today? Why are messaging apps, email and social media so hard to resist? How come we always end up watching another episode?

In recent years, media and technology have perfected the lucrative art of gaining and holding our attention. This extraordinary feat has changed the behaviour of billions of people, and especially the young: by current medical standards, we are experiencing an unprecedented global pandemic of addiction. But what exactly is an addiction? And what, if anything, might we do about it?

From cliff-hangers to earworms, from religion to pornography, and from the awesome allure of the Kim Kardashian: Hollywood app to the unexpected benefits of the 'butt-brush effect', Irresistible blends fascinating stories with ingenious science to explain how and why we all got hooked. Revealing the surprising causes and sometimes bizarre nature of addiction, this book will equip you with the tools and understanding you need to navigate our irresistible new world.

©2017 Adam Alter (P)2017 Random House Audio Compulsive Disorders Mental Health Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Sciences Health

Critic Reviews

"Truly addictive." (Malcolm Gladwell)
"Brilliant." (Susan Cain)
"Essential." (Charles Duhigg)
All stars
Most relevant
This is an important, well written book that everyone should read. I highly recommend reading it. it is on my annual re read list.

excellent

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Given today’s fascination with technology, it’s easy to understand the state of the attention economy, how it infiltrates our every waking hour, and I’ll it often serves us, in the way we form bonds and relationships, our productivity, and desire to exist in the world. The book offers great insights into the psychology of behavioural addiction, and gives positives examples of technology used for good but also the way it is designed to keep you hooked, through selective sounds, dopamine triggering structures and also how it links to our sense of self and self esteem. It’s a benign book in a way as it doesn’t proliferate the immense social harms that say Facebook does to the spread of misinformation but it more acutely looks at the present day slavery to technology often to fulfil a need in our lives society isn’t able to satisfy.
The author does a good job narrating and is an easy to follow book that was rigorous and non repetitive. I would also suggest the lonely century as your next read, it expands on this topic really well.

A really valuable read

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Fascinating insights into human activities.
Interesting histories and psychology of games and technology. Everyone will get value.

We all have a behaviour addictive personality

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Loved it. Definitely alot of points to apply and ponder in. Will be listening to this again.

Great insight

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I finished this book in days. fascinating insight into the insidiousness of tech and it's impact on us.

Brilliant explanation of digitital addictions

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This was a really enjoyable read, and exposes a whole range of intentionally addictive behaviours built into our digital technologies. Students of interaction design should really dig into this for a quality perspective on how designs can cause harm.

A must read for design students

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Not a fan of the delivery. Don’t care for his voice. Additionally, this book has a lot of anecdotes and personal stories that I would probably skim over in a physical book.

Content wise, it’s good and relevant, but I don’t think it brings much to the table that most people don’t already know. It’s also a premature book, being published in 2014. As such, it comes across as alarmist about digital technology that either didn’t turn out to be that bad and fails to predict and discuss the actual problems and mechanisms of addictive software.

Good content, but probably better as physical book

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