Irresistible cover art

Irresistible

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

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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
once you start understanding how you are being sucked into the world of addiction with your smartphone or computer games you play, you will rethink a lot of things.

highly recommended book!

scary as hell

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Listening to this book is irresistable. Makes you really think about how you spend your days.

What a great book!

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I would highly recommend this audio book. I enjoyed Alter’s delivery and investment into his work. It is a strong mix of research, real world examples and personal accounts. I was struck by Alter’s disclosure of his own tendencies to become addicted to tech.

As well as providing a commentary on how addiction is built into social media and gaming, and the social implications of that, he provides a solid introduction to behavioural addiction in general - both its mechanisms and also how the understanding of it evolved over time.

Extremely eye opening

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Really makes you think about those leisure activities that you thought benign, innocuous and harmless. In many cases they are except when they become irresistibly addictive.

Really makes you think

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Addicted...lost cause? Hopefully not. Will be using Russell Brand's Recovery to tackle this problem. Otherwise my life flashing before my eyes at the end will be 2D!!!

I'm screwed

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