Authors Imran Rashid and Soren Kenner have sparked an international debate by revealing the “mind hacks” Facebook, Apple, Google, and Instagram use to get you and your children hooked on their products.
In Offline, they deliver an eye-opening research-based journey into the world of tech giants, smartphones, social engineering, and subconscious manipulation. This provocative work shows you how digital devices change individuals and communities for better and worse.
A must-read if you or your kids use smartphones or tablets and spend time browsing social networks, playing online games or even just browsing sites with news and entertainment.
Learn how to recognize ‘mind hacks’ and avoid the potentially disastrous side-effects of digital pollution. Unplug from the matrix. Learn digital habits that work for you.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Offline 1
Are You Being Digitally Manipulated? 5
Access to Your Attention Has Become a Commodity 8
Technology Is Good. But Use it Carefully! 10
HowThis Book Is Structured 15
Chapter One 17
A Tsunami of Technological Transformation 17
Imperceptible Change 19
Because Your Eyeballs Are Worth It 21
Social Media: The Global Village 23
Tackling the Onslaught of Information 26
Chapter Two 30
A Fire upon the Deep 30
Developing Bigger Brains Was an Evolutionary Gamble 31
The Three Layers of Your Brain 33
Prefiltering and Neuroplasticity: Your Adaptable Brain 45
Is Your Consciousness Time-Shifted? 47
To Be or Not to Be Conscious 49
Out of Control 51
Is Consciousness a Question of Being in the Spotlight? 53
Models Are Not Reality 54
The Hard Question of Consciousness 55
The Social Brain 56
Chapter Three 63
The Billion Dollar Question 63
Dopamine: Sex, Drugs, and Rock ’n’ Roll? 65
Oxytocin: Humans Need Humans 67
Does Your Family Suffer from Technoference? 69
Being Able to Defer Gratification Is Crucial 72
What We Actually Do Know about Impulse Control - and About Losing It! 74
Do Smartphones Affect Human Self-Control? 76
Chapter Four 80
The Human Information Factory 82
The Limited Working Memory 82
The Sorting Task 83
Information Processing 84
Would You Dare to Be a Passenger in a Car Driven by a Distracted You? 86
Excuse Me, Do You Have a Minute? 87
Smartphones and Feelings 88
A Quick Pit-Stop before Heading into the Land of Dragons 89
Chapter Five 95
One Great Big Online Market 95
B.J. Fogg and the Stanford Persuasion Lab 96
Let’s Take a Look at B.J. Fogg’s Model as It Is Being Used Today… 98
Your Phone Is a Slot Machine! 101
What Do the Companies Targeting You See? 103
Your Personality Can Be Predicted with Great Accuracy 107
The Cambridge Analytica Scandal 109
How You Are Captured and Converted 111
Multivariate Testing - Helping Consumers Capture Themselves 113
The StrangeWorld of Tracking Pixels, Cookies and Remarketing 115
All aboard the Consumer Journey Train 118
The Horrible Dark Patterns 120
How Google Skews Your Search Results 121
Chapter Six 125
Stress, Low Self-Esteem, Anxiety and Sleep Disturbances 126
Smartphones and Social Media Can Lead to ADHD in Adolescents 128
Can Use of Social Media Be Addictive? 128
When Addictive Design and Basic Human Social Traits Clash 130
The Effects Are Not Just Physiological or Psychological 132
Echo Chambers and Confirmation Bias 133
When Confirmation Bias Leads to Cognitive Dissonance 138
The Sharp Decline in Empathy 141
The Changing World of Youngsters 144
Cyberbullying 146
In Conclusion: The Road Ahead Is All About the Choices You Make! 148
Chapter Seven 157
Making Changes Is Not Easy! 157
Change Means Doing Things Differently 159
Step 1: Life Stories 160
Step 2: Mapping out Your Habits and How You Spend Your Time 164
Step 3: Identify Triggers & Cues 164
Step 4: Plan Your Countermove and Start Acting 167
Troubleshoot Failure 169
In Summary: It’s Not Rocket Science, but it’s Not All That Easy Either 170
Teaching Your Children Sensible and Healthy Digital Habits 172
The Underlying Psychological Principles 174
Entering the Zone - Learning to Focus 177
Deliberate Practice 179
In Conclusion: It’s Simple, but it’s Not Easy 182
Epilogue 187
Index 193
