In his new book, “Irresistible,” Adam Alter touches on the rise of the technology-inducing hooks that grab our attention, drain our attention spans, and keep us doing things over and over, mostly to our detriment. It’s a worthwhile read.
He historically tracks those things that have proven irresistible to us humans over time – alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex, over-eating, working out, and more. The most recent urges aren’t as apparent as those 15-50 years ago as they are tied to online/electronic services – texting, email, social media, gambling, video games, shopping, for example.
He covers how companies set us up to want their product/service more and more, the research that goes into inducing repetitive behavior that becomes increasingly more difficult to break. The behaviors are typically to our detriment. We gamble too much. We play video games for hours on end with little to no breaks for food, water or sleep. We find ourselves searching and searching for the best deal on comfortable shoes because we can and the options are tantalizingly put in front of us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, et al.
One section stood out to me. Actually, more explicitly, an action by one company addressed in one of the chapters of the book stood out to me. It was how they approached freeing up their employees to relax and not feel tethered to their electronic devices 24-7. It’s simple. When you hear it, you’ll whack yourself on the side of your head, and say to yourself, “Why the heck didn’t I think of that?”
Given the stress that many employees express in today’s work world about having to be connected at all times, the company in Alter’s example chose to shut down a major stressor. How?
When you go on vacation, they set up their email system to deliver messages back to the sender telling them that the person they are trying to reach is not available and they must wait until that person returns to work to communicate with them. They also put a note giving another contact if the communication was an emergency.
The point about this action that struck me the most, and Alter points this out, is: you can now go on vacation without coming back to 972 emails after one week of relaxation. You come back to work to an empty email box.
That might feel weird. You would probably have to psychologically and emotionally adjust to that. But, consider how you would feel while on vacation, and coming back to your office relaxed, smiling, feeling rested and revved to take on your job again, knowing you can ease into things rather having your blood pressure rise the instant you walked through the door.
Now, they probably need a similar system with voice mail just to be safe, so people don’t circumvent the concept by trying to tie people down with work through voice mail while they’re on the cruise or camping trip of a lifetime.
This de-stressor is a phenomenal idea, so let’s share it far and wide. Send this column to everyone you know. Maybe that will create some impact.
While this action only solves the issue of over-connectedness relative to your vacation time, it can also be implemented for non-work-hour related communications. Businesses could choose this system as a regular mode of operation, for example, only allowing communications during certain hours of the day.
This can be done. Will it? Will those irresistible urges continue to hit us at all hours? We can limit the beeps and clicks and likes (all those dopamine-inducing sounds and actions in electronic communication devices and sites) if we choose to.
He historically tracks those things that have proven irresistible to us humans over time – alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex, over-eating, working out, and more. The most recent urges aren’t as apparent as those 15-50 years ago as they are tied to online/electronic services – texting, email, social media, gambling, video games, shopping, for example.
He covers how companies set us up to want their product/service more and more, the research that goes into inducing repetitive behavior that becomes increasingly more difficult to break. The behaviors are typically to our detriment. We gamble too much. We play video games for hours on end with little to no breaks for food, water or sleep. We find ourselves searching and searching for the best deal on comfortable shoes because we can and the options are tantalizingly put in front of us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, et al.
One section stood out to me. Actually, more explicitly, an action by one company addressed in one of the chapters of the book stood out to me. It was how they approached freeing up their employees to relax and not feel tethered to their electronic devices 24-7. It’s simple. When you hear it, you’ll whack yourself on the side of your head, and say to yourself, “Why the heck didn’t I think of that?”
Given the stress that many employees express in today’s work world about having to be connected at all times, the company in Alter’s example chose to shut down a major stressor. How?
When you go on vacation, they set up their email system to deliver messages back to the sender telling them that the person they are trying to reach is not available and they must wait until that person returns to work to communicate with them. They also put a note giving another contact if the communication was an emergency.
The point about this action that struck me the most, and Alter points this out, is: you can now go on vacation without coming back to 972 emails after one week of relaxation. You come back to work to an empty email box.
That might feel weird. You would probably have to psychologically and emotionally adjust to that. But, consider how you would feel while on vacation, and coming back to your office relaxed, smiling, feeling rested and revved to take on your job again, knowing you can ease into things rather having your blood pressure rise the instant you walked through the door.
Now, they probably need a similar system with voice mail just to be safe, so people don’t circumvent the concept by trying to tie people down with work through voice mail while they’re on the cruise or camping trip of a lifetime.
This de-stressor is a phenomenal idea, so let’s share it far and wide. Send this column to everyone you know. Maybe that will create some impact.
While this action only solves the issue of over-connectedness relative to your vacation time, it can also be implemented for non-work-hour related communications. Businesses could choose this system as a regular mode of operation, for example, only allowing communications during certain hours of the day.
This can be done. Will it? Will those irresistible urges continue to hit us at all hours? We can limit the beeps and clicks and likes (all those dopamine-inducing sounds and actions in electronic communication devices and sites) if we choose to.