First, you taught advertisers how to distract us in Hooked. Then, you wrote a book on how to be Indistractable. It sounds that you moved from the Dark Side toward the Light. Would you consider yourself a reverse Darth Vader? Or do you have a darker plan for your next book?

Nir Eyal As a Star Wars fan, I appreciate the reference. Though I admit, I’ve always fancied myself more of a Han Solo than a reverse Darth Vader. Something to aspire to, I suppose?

Here’s the truth: I wrote Indistractable because I wanted the solutions in the book for myself. I didn’t write Hooked with the idea that it would be a playbook for servicing distractions--I wrote it, in part, because I thought there was something behavioral psychology could teach everyone about how to make products and services more engaging. I still stand by the work in that book. But I admit: Indistractable is also a guide for “hacking back”—for figuring out how to deal with the cacophony of interruptions in our days. Since I had a solid understanding of some of the psychological methods behind those interruptions as an industry insider, I felt I had a leg up writing Indistractable. But let me admit: that didn’t make my process of “hacking back” any easier! I had to work hard over these last few years to put in place much of what I describe in Indistractable.

Does that mean I moved from the Dark Side to the Light Side? I don’t think things are so black and white. We don’t live in a Star Wars movie. But Han Solo still rules.

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