The prologue to Irresistible sets the tone. Entitled “Don’t Get High on your Own Supply”... Alter shares that most Silicon Valley techpreneurs radically restrict the amount of technology their children have access to. He quotes Tristan Harris, former Design Ethicist & Product Philosopher at Google: 

“There are a thousand people on the other side of the screen whose job it is to break down the self-regulation you have.”

And thus, it begins. Irresistible is an exploration of the way in which modern media and smart devices have been very deliberately designed to draw us in, grab and retain our attention, and keep us scrolling and engaging. You only have to look up on any train or bus journey these days to see exactly the extent to which people are in thrall of technology.

We have a crisis on our hands. At the precise moment when we need our wits about us most, if we are in any way to solve the complex societal challenges of the 21st Century, we are all utterly distracted by continuous news feeds and irrelevant memes. Alter shines a light on both technology addiction and what we might do to protect ourselves.