CM 005: Nir Eyal on Rethinking Our Online Habits

Nir Eyal is the bestselling author of Hooked and a contributing writer for Forbes, TechCrunch, and Psychology Today. An entrepreneur, educator, and speaker, Nir writes about innovations at the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. In this interview, Nir shares the psychology behind why we get hooked by our devices and apps. He talks about how product designers use this knowledge to deliberately build certain features into their products, and he encourages us to use this knowledge to rethink our tech habits. In this episode, you will learn: the psychology that informs our technology habits the four key elements that make a technology product habit-forming the connection between emotion and our habits with tech what makes certain tech products are more sticky than others tips for what to do when tech becomes too addictive how we can use this technology to form good habits Nir also shares how what hooks us with tech can be used to improve the quality of our lives, especially when it comes to physical and mental health and wellness, and how he makes that the focus of his work today. If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review it on iTunes. For automatic delivery of new episodes, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for listening! Episode Links 7 Cups of Tea B. F. Skinner Operant Conditioning The IKEA effect Dan Ariely Michael Norton Robert Cialdini Foot in the Door Technique Cognitive Dissonance Marc Andreeson Getting Unhooked by Nir Eyal The Acceleration of Addictiveness by Paul Graham