Note: the author is a friend and former colleague.

4.5 stars. Like Alter, I study the psychology of human decision making (I'm getting a PhD; I went to undergrad where and when Alter got his PhD, which is how we know each other). The further I get into my studies, the harder of a time I have reviewing popular treatments of the field, because so much of the research presented is often review for me. That's less the case here than with other popular psych books I've read recently, though, because I haven't studied addictions very much and am not very well versed in technology. So this was in some ways a refreshing change for me, a pop-psych book where I was learning right along with the lay audience.

Alter makes a compelling and sobering case for the ubiquity of at least mild technology addiction, situating the conversation within the broader field of behavioral addiction. There's some nicely-presented, concise history of addictions both chemical and behavioral to set the scene. The technology-specific parts focus mostly on games (with which Alter candidly discusses his own past problems, as well as movingly portraying others' struggles), social media, and shopping.

The science is solid and informative, but there's also a somewhat unusual (for a book by an academic, not for pop-psych writers generally) amount of practical advice. As someone with an admitted smartphone use problem (even with that admission, the statistics in this book were sobering and forced me to admit the problem was worse than I thought), I really appreciated the recommendations (the tracking app he mentions, Moment, has already helped me make some positive changes after just a week). I'm reevaluating the way I look at games and apps, and will keep my eyes open in future for ones that seem to foster addictive behavior. Though this and other subjects are heavy, Alter also takes care to include some light, amusing or positive examples. For example, while learning what might make games addictive, I also learned more detail about, and developed more appreciation for, what makes a game good and immersive. The section on gamification for positive purposes was also an antidote to some of the gloom in the book, but I think including some more examples of harnessing "addiction " for good throughout the book, rather than just at the end might have helped attenuate the flashes of overly dramatic tone that sometimes popped up (mostly I thought the tone was appropriate given the subject matter).

In addition to the sometimes top-dramatic tone, my main problem with the book was organizational. Alter's first book, DRUNK TANK PINK, was great in terms of signposting things, asking one or two questions at the end of each chapter that would be answered in the next one, etc. This book is not quite as well or intuitively organized. This is probably because there are so many different topics, and historical information about each.

Apart from these minor issues, I thought the book was great, both informative about the general issues of technology and behavioral addiction (and, to a lesser extent, addiction in general and technology in general) and full of great suggestions for dealing with technology, without coming across as too preachy or too much like a stereotypical self-help book. Even apart from knowing the author, I'm really glad to have read this book, because I learned a lot of interesting information and some really helpful things as well.

Format note: I listened to the Audible audiobook, which Alter narrates. He does a very good job (much better than most authors who try to read their own work) and I highly recommend listening. It doesn't seem from the text like there are many things in the print book that you'd miss (e.g., pictures, charts or graphs).