Hooked
Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern unlying how technologies hook us? Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model - a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive "hook cycles," these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging. Hooked is based on Eyal's years of research, consulting, and practical experience. He wrote the book he wished had been available to him as a start-up founder - not abstract theory, but a how-to guide for building better products. Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior. -- from dust jacket.
Stats for nerds
28recommend
68mentions
61people
2014–2026years
43% recommend47% neutral10% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- > TikTok causes chemical release in the brain and can cause other self psychological damage.
You're literally describing any activity that someone enjoys generating natural dopamine, and then comparing it to a drug that crosses your blood-brain barrier and mimicks your brain's chemistry to give you a super-charged chemical version of that. The difference in dopamine levels is orders of magnitude. Your brain re-wires itself to handle the level of dopamine produced and you start only feeling normal if you're constantly using the drug. I would be surprised if Tiktok generated even 1/10th the dopamine level of using methamphetamine. It all honestly sounds quite fun, but my awareness of the consequences will prevent me from ever trying them.
Eating a good meal, having sex, finishing writing your first novel, winning a race, doing breath work, doing yoga, rock climbing, and an unlimited supply of examples generate dopamine in our brains the same way that Tiktok does. They can all ruin your life just as much, if you allow them to.
A much better comparison would be to describe Tiktok as a "digital slot machine", and indeed slot machine mechanics have been heavily studied by social media platforms to make usage more habitual. Nir Eyal's Hooked was an interesting and informative read on this topic. If he describes social media as heroin in the book I'll happily take the self-own.
- The trick of short form video isn’t the content itself but the channel flipping, hunting hook action. Changing the channel is fun when you actually land on something-good in the sea of garbage. And sometimes that something-good is a an endless handkerchief. One that you can keep pulling out good somethings with. Now you feel extra special like you’ve found something novel as you’ve completed the hunt and are satiated. And you keep that endless handkerchief you found. Soon you will have found many novel endless handkerchiefs. You mount them on your profile page like boar heads on a hunters wall. This pride is tied to happiness and you know how to hunt for more.
I highly recommend the book Hooked by Nir Eyal[0]. It is the book that effortlessly detailed how to build short form video networks (as well as other addicting software over the last 10+ years). The people who built this stuff read it and the people who want to stop the addictions should read it.
- I am a full stack developer and founder and as you may expect I found myself lacking lots of business knowledge when I first started with my startup.
So far this are the most valuable books that I read:
1. Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares 2. Hooked by Nir Eyal 3. Traffic Secrets by Russel Brunson 4. Contagious by Jonah Berger 5. How to win friends and Influence people by Dale Carnegie
One thing I've learned is that depending on where you are in your journey—whether in life or business—all of these books are worth revisiting.
What about you guys? What do Hacker News people read?
- There is science driving the design of products to make them addictive.
For teen girls - the apps are designed to scare them about being socially excluded. For teen boys - the apps are designed to fill their need to master skills.
The issue that the government has to deal with with app addictions is self harm attempts by girls (e.g. emergency room visits) and underperformance of boys in the real world (e.g. low college enrollment).
If you are trying to make an addictive app, this is a good reference to understand the science: https://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Produc...
BJ Fogg is a good reference too: https://www.bjfogg.com
- I have every intention of encouraging my daughter to read books like Hooked[1] to understand why these experiences are designed the way they are.
I have every intention of helping her develop a personal philosophy that helps her navigate through the world in the face of easy access to variable rate reward systems, opioids, amphetamines, etc.
But she lives in a society full of the consequences of these things.
Sheltering her from it won't shelter her from it. It's prolific, she's going to be exposed to it regardless. At friends houses, at school, at the mall. It is everywhere.
Her social groups are going to be deep into the dark well of these variable rate reward systems, their character and behaviors defined by their interactions with this technology. And she will be interacting with those kids.
Prohibition is not a solution. By the time she is 18, either she has a personal philosophy that keeps her from overdosing on this nonsense without supervision or I've failed as a parent.
But, at all costs, my daughter will be free: http://www.blankenship.io/essays/2023-10-09/
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Produc...
- Looking back my too three are:
Hooked by Nir Eyal Viral Loop by Adam L. Penenberg Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
