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Adam Alter: Addiction, Technology, and Autonomy

Feb 2019 🌐 Psychology of Technology Institute

In this video interview series with the Psychology of Technology Institute, Adam Alter discusses behavioral addiction, technology design, and personal autonomy across a set of linked short segments. He draws on psychologist Kent Berridge's distinction between 'wanting' and 'liking' to explain why people continue using apps that no longer bring them satisfaction, and argues that environmental design constrains autonomy more than most people recognize, describing daily choice as often confined to a small sliver of the day. The interview covers how screen-mediated environments are associated with reduced self-directed attention and touches on possible future risks from more immersive digital environments. TechKids Foundation includes this interview as a detailed, academically framed explanation of the psychological mechanisms underlying Alter's broader design critique.

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CITATION

"Adam Alter: Addiction, Technology, and Autonomy." Psychology of Technology Institute, February 27, 2019. https://www.psychoftech.org/videointerviews/2019/2/27/adam-alter-addiction-technology-and-human-autonomy

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