The techniques were already wide-spread enough that we’d be dealing with their consequences regardless of whether he had written Hooked.Įyal proposes that we cannot afford to wait for regulation to defend us from the distractions or addictions caused by persuasive tech services, but must instead we must defend ourselves, and prioritise building the skills to manage these distractions. However, he does not go as far as expressing regret for sharing persuasive technology techniques. He acknowledges the darker side of habit formation, and says that he also, ironically, got hooked by products utilising persuasive technology. Others who passed through these classes include Mike Krieger who applied persuasive tech principles when he co-founded Instagram, and Tristan Harris who went on to co-found the Center for Humane Technology in order to raise awareness of the consequences of using such persuasive techniques on human attention.Įyal begins his newer book with a defence of Hooked. Fogg’s Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University.

By the time Hooked was published in 2014, use of persuasive technology techniques was in common amongst Silicon Valley insiders, but the book brought this knowledge to a wider audience.Ī decade or so earlier, Eyal had been a student of B.J. The techniques in the book are known as persuasive technology, and involve use of human psychology to establish the regular use of services. The basic idea is simple: by establishing habitual usage of a service, users continue to pay for the service (either directly via a subscription free, or by viewing advertisements).

Nir Eyal rose to prominence with his book Hooked, a kind of manual for companies to build habit-forming services. “How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life”

Book Review Cover Title Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life Author Nir Eyal Published 10 th September 2019 ISBN 9781526619297 Support us 📚 Buy from Book Depositoryīuying via our affiliate link supports mindful.technology with a small commission from your purchase.

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