Your happiness was hacked : why tech is winning the battle to control your brain--and how to fight back

“Technology is a great servant but a terrible master. This is the most important book ever written about one of the most significant aspects of our lives—the consequences of our addiction to online technology and how we can liberate ourselves and our children from it.”—Dean Ornish, M.D. Founder & President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCSF, Author, The SpectrumTechnology: your master, or your friend? Do you feel ruled by your smartphone and enslaved by your e-mail or social-network activities? Digital technology is making us miserable, say bestselling authors and former tech executives Vivek Wadhwa and Alex Salkever. We've become a tribe of tech addicts—and it's not entirely our fault. Taking advantage of vulnerabilities in human brain function, tech companies entice us to overdose on technology interaction. This damages our lives, work, families, and friendships. Swipe-driven dating apps train us to evaluate people like products, diminishing our relationships. At work, we e-mail on average 77 times a day, ruining our concentration. At home, light from our screens is contributing to epidemic sleep deprivation. But we can reclaim our lives without dismissing technology. The authors explain how to avoid getting hooked on tech and how to define and control the roles that tech is playing and could play in our lives. And they provide a guide to technological and personal tools for regaining control. This readable book turns personal observation into a handy action guide to adapting to our new reality of omnipresent technology. Your Happiness Was Hacked Why Tech Is Winning The Battle To Control Your Brain—and How To Fight Back Do You Feel In Control Of Your Life Or Enslaved By Your Devices? Have You Risked Your Life Texting And Driving? Do You Sympathize With A Test Group Of Students Who Endured Painful Shocks Rather Than Be Separated From Their Phones? Digital Technology Is Wonderful, But It's Making Us Miserable, Say Former Tech Executives Vivek Wadhwa And Alex Salkever. There's A Reason Apple Ceo Tim Cook Told The Guardian He Won't Let His Nephew On Social Networks. We've Become A Nation Of Tech Addicts—although It's Not Entirely Our Fault, And It Is Possible To Enjoy The Benefits Of Technology While Taking Our Happiness Back From The Bots. Wadhwa And Salkever Describe The Applied Neuroscience Techniques Developers Are Using To Make Their Products So Insidiously Habit-forming And, Drawing On The Latest Research, Detail The Negative Impact Of Technology In Four Key Areas: Love, Work, Play, And Life. There Are Dozens Of Vivid Examples. Online Dating Apps Like Tinder Encourage Users To Evaluate People Like Products, Leading To Superficial, Unsatisfying Relationships. Workers Check Their Email An Average Of Seventy-seven Times A Day, Wreaking Havoc On Productivity. Children Now Spend Nearly Twice As Much Time Playing Inside With Their Screens As They Do Outside In The Natural World—it Is Any Wonder Childhood Obesity Is A Problem? The Light From The Devices So Many Of Us Look At Right Before We Go To Sleep Suppresses The Production Of Melatonin, A Hormone Vital For Sleep And Healthy Organ Functioning. But There's A Way Out. Wadhwa And Salkever Lay Out Simple, Common-sense Ways To Disrupt Developers' Efforts To Get You Hooked, Including Six Simple Questions To Help You Decide What Role Any Given Technology Should Play In Your Life. Ironically, They Even Describe Some Emerging Technologies Designed To Give Users More Control. Get Back To Making Technology Serve You, Not The Other Way Around! Wadhwa and Salkever have written a great book to help us understand our addiction to technology and suggest what we can do about it.” —André s Oppenheimer, columnist for the Miami Herald , joint winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize Technology: your master, or your friend? Do you feel ruled by your smartphone and enslaved by your email or social-network activities? Digital technology is making us miserable, say bestselling authors and former tech executives Vivek Wadhwa and Alex Salkever. We’ve become a tribe of tech addicts—and it’s not entirely our fault. Taking advantage of vulnerabilities in human brain function, tech companies entice us to overdose on technology interaction. This damages our lives, work, families, and friendships. Swipe-driven dating apps train us to evaluate people like products, diminishing our relationships. At work, we email on average seventy-seven times a day, ruining our concentration. At home, light from our screens is contributing to epidemic sleep deprivation. But we can reclaim our lives without dismissing technology. The authors explain how to avoid getting hooked on tech and how to define and control the roles that tech is playing and could play in our lives. And they provide a guide to technological and personal tools for regaining control. This readable book turns personal observation into a handy action guide to adapting to our new reality of omnipresent technology. “Technology is a great servant but a terrible master. This is the most important book ever written about one of the most significant aspects of our lives—the consequences of our addiction to online technology and how we can liberate ourselves and our children from it.” —Dean Ornish, New York Times -bestselling author of Undo It Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- CONTENTS -- Foreword -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1 How Technology Removes Our Choices -- 2 The Origins of Technology Addiction -- 3 Online Technology and Love -- 4 Online Technology and Work -- 5 Online Technology and Play -- 6 Online Technology and Life -- 7 How Can We Make Technology Healthier for Humans? -- 8 A Vision for a More Humane Tech -- 9 A Personal Epilogue -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z -- About the Authors Turning personal observation into a handy action guide to adapting to our new reality of omnipresent technology, this important and timely book explains how to avoid getting hooked on tech and how to define and control the roles that tech is playing and could play in our lives. -- Edited summary from book