Nir Eyal: Breaking Bad Habits, Technology Addiction, & Emotional Triggers
Wellness + Wisdom Podcast
Josh Trent
4.8 • 913 Ratings
🗓️ 22 March 2016
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Do you intuitively know that in order for your health to rise to the next level you first must break your bad habits? Today's guest, Nir Eyal, helps companies create behaviors that benefit their users, while educating people on how to build healthy habits in this busy modern world.
Nir Eyal is a best-selling author, speaker, and behavior change jedi-master that is educating people on how to build healthy habits in their own lives.
He writes for TechCrunch, Forbes, Psychology Today, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and Fortune 500 companies.
As the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products Nir has taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Design School on practical insights to create user habits that stick.
Are You Addicted To Technology?
How do successful companies create products people can’t put down?
Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit?
Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?
Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior.
Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging.
Why We Do What We Do
With technology growing exponentially, it is no surprise that the waterfall of apps, wearables, and the internet of things have become a double-edged sword in our world.
On one hand, technology has given rise to advances in human connection, expression, and productivity, while on the other, without mindfulness and intention, it can harm the most important thing we have: our health and wellness.
To balance the demands of this attention-grabbing technology while still maintaining our vitality and well-being, Nir's new book profoundly uncovers the how, why, and what makes this addictive technology, well, addictive.
Behavior Change
Nir's blog is about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. He calls it “behavioral design.” The topics at Nir's blog encompass user experience, behavioral economics, and a dash of neuroscience.
Since 2003, Nir has sold two technology companies and now help teams design more engaging products. For most of his career he has worked in the video gaming and advertising industries where he learned, applied (and at times rejected) the techniques used to motivate and manipulate users.
His life's work in behavioral design has flourished from his writing, speaking, and consulting by helping companies create behaviors that benefit their users, while educating people on how to build healthy habits (and breaking bad habits) in this busy modern world.
Links From Today's Show
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Wellness Force Radio. |
| 0:02.0 | Episode 48 |
| 0:05.0 | So whether it's email or iPhone or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram |
| 0:09.0 | all of these products at their core have these hooks, these four critical steps. So every hook, every |
| 0:16.1 | habit starts with the trigger phase. So what we do when we're feeling bored or |
| 0:21.2 | lonesome or lost or hungry or dissatisfied or fatigued what we do and we |
| 0:26.1 | experience these negative emotions prompts us to action with little of no conscious thought. |
| 0:35.0 | Welcome back to another episode. with little Slight with no conscious thought. I am your host Josh Trent. |
| 0:37.0 | Thank you so much for this little slice of your busy day. |
| 0:41.0 | You're sharing here with me on the podcast. If you're brand new to |
| 0:44.2 | Wellness Force, this is where I bring you the most inspiring and passionate |
| 0:48.8 | experts in wellness, behavior change, and technology. |
| 0:52.8 | These are the thought leaders. |
| 0:54.9 | They dedicate their lives to empowering us with knowledge and tools |
| 0:59.2 | that will drive real transformation |
| 1:01.1 | in our physical and emotional wellness. |
| 1:04.0 | Today's show is brought to you by Audible. |
| 1:06.6 | This month, Audible is giving a free audiobook download and 30-day free trial |
| 1:11.5 | over at wellness force.com slash free book. You can pick from |
| 1:15.4 | over 180,000 titles in health, wellness, or anything you enjoy to get them |
| 1:19.8 | downloaded right to your phone or device. Some really cool and amazingly intelligent books on audible, |
| 1:25.0 | including the book that our guest wrote today. |
... |
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