Irresistible: Why We Can’t Stop Checking, Scrolling, Clicking and Watching

Adam Alter

Mar 2017 · Vintage Digital · Narrated by Adam Alter

About this audiobook

Random House presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Irresistible, written and read by Adam Alter.

'Truly addictive' Malcolm Gladwell * 'Brilliant' Susan Cain * 'Essential' Charles Duhigg

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.

Ratings and reviews

An absolute thought-provoker. Since listening to it via audio book (very well read by the author), this book has forced me to change some damaging habits in my own life, as well as monitoring my kid's online patterns more closely. Thoroughly recommend!

Brilliant insight!

About the author

Adam Alter is an Associate Professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, and holds an affiliated appointment within the Psychology Department. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel and Behave and has written for The New York Times, New Yorker, Atlantic, Wired, Popular Science and numerous other publications.