Hooked Introduction

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal. 

Introduction.

Seventy-nine percent of smartphone owners check their device within fifteen minutes of waking up every morning. Perhaps more startling, fully one-third of Americans say they would rather give up sex than lose their cell phones. A 2011 university study suggested people check their phones thirty-four times per day. However, industry insiders believe that number is closer to an astounding 150 daily sessions. 

Face it: We’re hooked. The technologies we use have turned into compulsions, if not full-fledged addictions. It’s the impulse to check a message notification. It’s the pull to visit YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter for just a few minutes, only to find yourself still tapping and scrolling an hour later. It’s the urge you likely feel throughout your day but hardly notice. Cognitive psychologists define habits as “automatic behaviors triggered by situational cues”: things we do with little or no conscious thought. 

The products and services we use habitually alter our everyday behavior, just as their designers intended. Our actions have been engineered. How do companies, producing little more than bits of code displayed on a screen, seemingly control users’ minds? What makes some products so habit forming? Forming habits is imperative for the survival of many products. As infinite distractions compete for our attention, companies are learning to master novel tactics to stay relevant in users’ minds. Amassing millions of users is no longer good enough. Companies increasingly find that their economic value is a function of the strength of the habits they create. In order to win the loyalty of their users and create a product that’s regularly used, companies must learn not only what compels users to click but also what makes them tick. Although some companies are just waking up to this new reality, others are already cashing in. By mastering habit-forming product design, the companies profiled in this book make their goods indispensable.