Are We Really Addicted?

Long-time readers are probably picking up that I’m feeling down about the potential collapse of civilization thing. It is still to be determined whether this is a temporary intellectual blip or a firm thesis, but regardless, I’m on the hunt for technological hope. Today’s interview is my attempt to find it. 

One of the topics that I’ve been most interested in lately is addiction. Last month I summarized my thoughts on addiction and technology as follows: 

“As the world shifts to more digital competition, one of the most powerful long-term advantages is addiction. For businesses, this means that services that can grab and hold consumers’ attention for longer will be rewarded. For consumers, it means that we will have to be ruthless in our relationship with technology. Business best practices are not equivalent to consumer best interests. Whether professionally or personally, all of us will need to understand and reconcile ourselves to this phenomenon. In the years to come, whoever responds best will be rewarded.”

There are few people on the planet better to talk to about this as Nir Eyal. Nir is a behavioral designer, investor, author, and consultant that helps companies build the products and services that build healthy habits in users' lives. He has written two bestsellers. The first book, Hooked, was about how to build habit-forming products. The second book, Indistractable, was about how we break bad habits.

The conversation we had was fascinating with two primary takeaways:

1. The market will reward all companies, regardless if they are in the technology sector or not, if they are able to create the most engaging product. 
2. We have the power to fight back in our individual lives. 

Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The importance of being precise with language when talking about addiction