Irresistible

Adam Alter, who teaches psychology and marketing as a professor at NYU, traces the rise of behavioral addiction, which he says affects half of the American population in at least one form. He looks at compulsive checking of email, Instagram likes and Facebook feeds, binges on TV episodes and YouTube videos, longer working hours, and the average of three hours a day spent on smartphones. Alter argues that this pull is no accident, since companies tweak products until they become nearly irresistible. Working backward from how behavioral addiction operates, he shows how addictive design can be put to good use, in communication, saving money and keeping work apart from play, and how to limit its harm, including to children.

Joe Rogan said he had just started it and found it a sobering read. Malcolm Gladwell endorsed it, joking that Alter had written an addictive book on addiction itself.