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

1 " Super Mario Bros. hooks newcomers because there are no barriers to playing the game. You can know absolutely nothing about the Nintendo console and still enjoy yourself from the very first minute. There's no need to read motivation-sapping manuals or grind through educational tutorials before you begin. Instead, your avatar, Mario appears on the left-hand side of an almost empty screen. Because the screen is empty, you can push the Nintendo controller's buttons randomly and harmlessly, learning which ones make Mario jump and which ones make him move left and right. You can't move any further left, so you quickly learn to move right. And you aren't reading a guide that tells you which keys are which--instead, you're learning by doing, and enjoying the sense of mastery comes from acquiring knowledge through experience. The first few seconds of gameplay are brilliantly designed to simultaneously do two very difficult things: teach, and preserve the illusion that nothing is being taught at all. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

2 " Walter Isaacson, who ate dinner with the Jobs family while researching his biography of Steve Jobs, told Bilton that, “No one ever pulled out an iPad or computer. The kids did not seem addicted at all to devices.” It seemed as if the people producing tech products were following the cardinal rule of drug dealing: never get high on your own supply. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

3 " Tech isn’t morally good or bad until it’s wielded by the corporations that fashion it for mass consumption. Apps and platforms can be designed to promote rich social connections; or, like cigarettes, they can be designed to addict. Today, unfortunately, many tech developments do promote addiction. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

4 " Walter Isaacson, who ate dinner with the Jobs family while researching his biography of Steve Jobs, reports that “No one ever pulled out an iPhone or iPad. The kids did not seem addicted at all to devices. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

5 " It’s our generation’s crack cocaine. People are addicted. We experience withdrawels. We are so driven by this drugs, getting just one hit elicits truly pecular reactions.
I’m talking about Likes. « Rameet Chawla »
They’ve inconspicuously emerged as the first digital drug to dominate our culture. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

6 " To some extent we all need losses and difficulties and challenges, because without them the thrill of success weakens gradually with each new victory. That’s why people spend precious chunks of free time doing difficult crosswords and climbing dangerous mountains—because the hardship of the challenge is far more compelling than knowing you’re going to succeed. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

7 " Addiction originally meant a different kind of strong connection: in ancient Rome, being addicted meant you had just been sentenced to slavery. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

8 " In 2000, Microsoft Canada reported that the average human had an attention span of twelve seconds; by 2013 that number had fallen to eight seconds. (According to Microsoft, a goldfish, by comparison, has an average attention span of nine seconds.) "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

9 " It’s hard to exaggerate how much the “like” button changed the psychology of Facebook use. What had begun as a passive way to track your friends’ lives was now deeply interactive, and with exactly the sort of unpredictable feedback that motivated Zeiler’s pigeons. Users were gambling every time they shared a photo, web link, or status update. A post with zero likes wasn’t just privately painful, but also a kind of public condemnation: either you didn’t have enough online friends, or, worse still, your online friends weren’t impressed. Like pigeons, we’re more driven to seek feedback when it isn’t guaranteed. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

10 " In 2008, adults spent an average of eighteen minutes on their phones per day; in 2015, they were spending two hours and forty-eight minutes per day. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

11 " It isn’t the body falling in unrequited love with a dangerous drug, but rather the mind learning to associate any substance or behavior with relief from psychological pain. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

12 " Addictive tech is part of the mainstream in a way that addictive substances never will be. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

13 " They’re distracting because they remind us of the world beyond the immediate conversation, "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

14 " It seemed as if the people producing tech products were following the cardinal rule of drug dealing: never get high on your own supply. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

15 " Most people spend between one and four hours on their phones each day—and many far longer. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

16 " humans find the sweet spot sandwiched between “too easy” and “too difficult” irresistible. It’s the land of just-challenging-enough computer games, financial targets, work ambitions, social media objectives, and fitness goals. Addictive experiences live in this sweet spot, where stopping rules crumble before obsessive goal-setting. Tech mavens, game developers, and product designers tweak their wares to ensure their complexity escalates as users gain insight and competence. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

17 " One recent study suggested that up to 40 percent of the population suffers from some form of Internet-based addiction, whether to email, gaming, or porn. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

18 " There isn’t a bright line between addicts and the rest of us. We’re all one product or experience away from developing our own addictions. "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

19 " It’s easy to look back at how little Freud and Pemberton understood of cocaine with a sense of superiority. We teach our children that cocaine is dangerous, and it’s hard to believe that experts considered the drug a panacea only a century ago. But perhaps our sense of superiority is misplaced. Just as cocaine charmed Freud and Pemberton, today we’re enamored of technology. We’re willing to overlook its costs for its many gleaming benefits: "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

20 " There is one subtle psychological lever that seems to hasten habit formation: the language you use to describe your behavior. Suppose you were trying to avoid using Facebook. Each time you’re tempted, you can either tell yourself “I can’t use Facebook,” or you can tell yourself “I don’t use Facebook.” They sound similar, and the difference may seem trivial, but it isn’t. “I can’t” wrests control from you and gives it to an unnamed outside agent. It’s disempowering. You’re the child in an invisible relationship, forced not to do something you’d like to do, and, like children, many people are drawn to whatever they’re not allowed to do. In contrast, “I don’t” is an empowering declaration that this isn’t something you do. It gives the power to you and signals that you’re a particular kind of person—the kind of person who, on principle, doesn’t use Facebook. We "

― Adam Alter , Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked