Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

by Nir Eyal

Let’s consider a few of today’s hottest consumer technology companies: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. What are they selling—vitamins or painkillers? Most people would guess vitamins, thinking users aren’t doing much of anything important other than perhaps seeking a quick boost of social validation. After all, think back to before you first started using these services. No one ever woke up in the middle of the night screaming, “I need something to help me update my status!” But like so many innovations, we did not know we needed them until they became part of our everyday lives. Before making up your mind on the vitamin versus painkiller debate for some of the world’s most successful tech companies, consider this idea: A habit is when not doing an action causes a bit of discomfort. The sensation is similar to an itch, a feeling that manifests within the mind until it is satisfied. The habit-forming products we use are simply there to provide some sort of relief. Using a technology or product to scratch the itch provides faster satisfaction than ignoring it. Once we come to depend on a tool, switching to something else takes work. My answer to the vitamin versus painkiller question: Habit-forming technologies are both. These services seem at first to be offering nice-to-have vitamins, but once the habit is established, they provide an ongoing pain remedy.