Congratulations! You've unlocked a 50% discount.

Thanks for visiting sumizeit.com. As a new user, you can use coupon code WELCOME for a 50% discount off a premium subscription.

TIME TO CLAIM

Star

New Feature! Download infographics with key insights from bestselling non-fiction books.

Download Now

Indistractable Book Summary

Book Summary

By Nir Eyal




15 min
Audio available

Brief Summary

Many people want to blame technology for today’s distraction problem, but the real problem is caused by internal and external psychological triggers that drive people to seek out distractions. Learning to cope with boredom and discomfort can help reduce people’s internal desire to distract themselves, while removing external triggers like checking email throughout the day, holding lots of unproductive meetings, or keeping distracting apps on your phone, will also help make them indistractable. Empowering your children with these techniques will help them become indistractable and reduce their reliance on digital devices.

About the Author

Nir Eyal is an investor, speaker, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

His writing has appeared in Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, and The Atlantic, among others. Previously, he has taught at the Stanford University School of Engineering and worked for the Boston Consulting Group. Eyal holds a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University and a B.A. from Emory University.

Topics

Indistractable Book Summary Preview

What You’ll Learn

  • How to manage internal and external triggers to reduce distractions
  • Why distraction is often caused by a dysfunctional company culture
  • How to raise indistractable kids

Who Is This For

  • Individuals who find themselves constantly seeking out distractions instead of completing their tasks
  • Managers who want to create a company culture of indistractability
  • Parents who want to empower their children to be indistractable

Key Insights

The key reason behind today’s distraction problem is not technology, but unpleasant feelings like boredom or discomfort. Controlling internal triggers by learning to cope with these uncomfortable feelings and making tasks less unpleasant will reduce your desire to seek out distractions. To stay on track, utilize pre-commitments and make pacts with yourself or with friends to hold yourself accountable. Limiting external distractions, like email, chats, meetings, and distracting apps will also help make you indistractable. Distractions at work can also be caused by a dysfunctional work culture, which eats into employees’ free time and leaves them stressed and distracted. To create an indistractable company culture, employees must be able to voice their concerns to management. By teaching your children techniques to manage internal and external triggers, you can help them manage their time on digital devices and empower them to be indistractable too.

What Causes Distraction?

Technology often gets a bad rap when it comes to distraction, but it can’t take all of the blame. Distraction is a much deeper problem than a simple addiction to digital devices, and even without technology, humans have always found ways to distract themselves. Distraction is caused by triggers, both internal and external. External triggers are stimuli from the outside world that interrupt our thoughts, such as a pop-up on our screens. Internal triggers are the result of our internal moods and feelings, such as boredom or stress. Both types of triggers can be catalysts for traction, which move us forward and help us be productive, or distraction, which detracts from our ambitions and takes us away from accomplishing our goals.

Therefore, technology cannot be the only culprit. The problem has always been within ourselves. When we are uncomfortable or upset, we seek out distractions as a means of escaping our thoughts. Technology is merely an easy scapegoat to help us avoid looking at our deeper problems. However, while discomfort is - well, uncomfortable - it is also an evolutionary necessity. Our ancestors would not have been able to accomplish all that we have accomplished if they had not been discontent with where they were. Our brains are wired to feel discomfort because it is what prompts us to grow and change, but in modern times, it can make us prone to lingering on negative feelings, which drives us to seek out distractions.

Controlling Internal Triggers 

All too often, people will seek out distractions, like going on social media or checking their email, at the first hint of boredom or discomfort. These actions are driven by internal triggers, but internal triggers can be changed by adjusting our thinking. One of the best ways to change...

Please login to access the full text and audio summary for FREE

Users get access to two FREE summaries. Become a pro user for unlimited access.

Login
Congrats! You've unlocked a 50% discount. Use coupon code WELCOME for 50% off Sumizeit Premium.

Save time with unlimited access to text, audio, and video summaries of the world's best-selling books.
Become a pro user

book summary - Indistractable by Nir Eyal

Indistractable

Book Summary

15 min
Read now Download PDF Take a Quiz

More Like This


Positioning
Jack Trout and Al Ries

The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell

Learn Something New Every Day with Sumizeit

Here’s Why Sumizeit Is Worth It

Try Sumizeit to get the key ideas from thousands of bestselling nonfiction titles. Listen, read, or watch in just 15 minutes.

High-Quality Titles

Highest quality content

Our book summaries are crafted to be unbiased, concise, and comprehensive, giving you the most valuable insights in the shortest amount of time.

New book summaries added constantly

New content added constantly

We add new content each week, including New York Times bestsellers.

Learn on the go while commuting, exercising, etc

Learn on the go

Learn anytime, anywhere - read, listen or watch summaries on IOS, tablet, laptop, and Kindle!

You can cancel your subscription anytime

Cancel anytime

Changed your mind? No problem. Cancel your subscription anytime.

Collect awards while learning

Collect Achievements

Learning just got more rewarding - track your progress and earn prizes using our mobile app.

Sumizeit provides other features as well

And much more!

Improve your retention with quizzes. Enjoy PDF summaries, infographics, offline access with our app and more.

Our users love Sumizeit

Join thousands of readers who learn faster than they ever thought possible.

4.6 out of 5

400 ratings on
Apple Store

Quality
As featured in
  • icon
  • icon
  • icon
  • icon

People ❤️ SumizeIt

Olga Z.

I love this app! As a busy executive, I don't have time to read entire books, but I still want to stay informed. This app provides me with concise summaries of the latest bestsellers, so I can stay up-to-date on the latest trends and ideas without sacrificing my precious time.

Chen L.

Very good development in last months. Content updates on a regular basis and UI is getting better and better.

Erica A.

Great product. Have used them for a long time. One of my favorite things about them is that they are able to summarize a whole book into just 10 minutes.

William H.

This app has been a lifesaver for my studies. Instead of struggling to finish textbooks, I can quickly get the key points from each chapter. It's helped me improve my grades and understand the material much better.