Addicted to Tech? An Expert Explains How to Overcome It / Adam Alter and Joe De Sena

The Hard Way With Joe De Sena

Spartan Races

Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Education

4.8 • 874 Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2020

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How many hours a day do you need to use your feet to get to your phone? One? Two? zero? Adam Alter, author of "Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked," has made a study of the outsized influence addictive technology has had on us and some basic steps to counteract it. An associate professor at NYU's Stern School of Business, his research focuses on judgment, decision-making, and social psychology.

Today on Spartan Up podcast Adam Alter and Joe De Sena, Spartan Race founder, hash out some simple steps to get your relationship with technology back in balance. Joe's involve a phone on a drone you have to chase to use, Alter's are more practical:

Aim for 4 hours a day your phone is not within reach
Spend the first and last hour of the day away from your phone
No screens at dinner, even if you're alone

"It's almost like a gateway. Once you're in there, it's really hard to stop. It's kind of binary, either you don't use these devices, or you use them more than you would like." ~Adam Alter

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CREDITS:

Producer – Marion Abrams, Madmotion, llc.

Host: Joe De Sena

Sefra Alexandra, Johnny Waite & Colonel Nye will be back soon, we miss them!

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think one question to ask yourself a good beginning litmus test question is for how much of the day can you reach your phone without moving your feet?
0:08.0	And about 80% of adults say that they can reach their phones without moving their feet 24 hours a day,
0:14.0	which basically means that for all intents and purposes for function, it's basically an implant.
0:19.0	It's a part of your body just like your limbs, just like your head, your brain.
0:23.0	And so if you let anything follow you around 24 hours a day,
0:26.0	it's going to have an outsized effect on your experience of the world.
0:29.0	And when it's a device that's designed to be as sticky,
0:31.0	as difficult to resist as a phone, as a smartphone. You're in a lot of trouble to begin with.
0:36.0	Welcome to the Spartan Up Podcast with Joe Descenta, founder and CEO of Spartan Race.
0:45.0	We are talking about overcoming obstacles. The same way we teach people to get over obstacles on the course,
0:51.0	we will teach you here on a Spartan Up podcast to get
0:54.4	over obstacles in your mind. Today Joe Descenta talks to Adam Alter, author of
0:59.5	Irresistible, The Rise of Addictive Technology and the business of keeping us hooked.
1:03.8	About the outsized influence addictive technology may be having on you,
1:07.3	and some basic steps to get it back in balance.
1:10.1	This episode of Spartan Up is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company,
1:16.5	pioneering a revolution in craft non-alcoholic beers.
1:20.0	Place your order today at Athletic Brewing.com and get free shipping on two six packs or more.
1:25.8	We are here for Spartan Up Podcast. I'm with Adam Alter, the author of a great book called
1:31.6	Irresistible, and he is going to teach us how to, can you teach us how to get off our devices?
1:38.0	I can try, I can give you some ideas.
1:40.0	Yeah, I mean, but that's basically what you dug into. You looked into this world of devices. And, you know, I assume you got on this podcast because you know I'm really passionate about getting people
	...

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