Your Happiness Was Hacked Why Tech Is Winning the Battle to Control Your Brain--And How to Fight Back

Do you feel ruled by your smartphone and enslaved by your email or social-network activities? Digital technology is making us miserable, say bestselling authors and former tech executives Vivek Wadhwa and Alex Salkever. We’ve become a tribe of tech addicts—and it’s not entirely our fault. Taking advantage of vulnerabilities in human brain function, tech companies entice us to overdose on technology interaction. This damages our lives, work, families, and friendships. Swipe-driven dating apps train us to evaluate people like products, diminishing our relationships. At work, we email on average seventy-seven times a day, ruining our concentration. At home, light from our screens is contributing to epidemic sleep deprivation. But we can reclaim our lives without dismissing technology. The authors explain how to avoid getting hooked on tech and how to define and control the roles that it is playing and could play in our lives. And they provide a guide to technological and personal tools for regaining control. This profound and timely book turns personal observation into a handy action guide to adapting to our new reality of omnipresent technology.