Asian man holding phone with blue shirt in this episode about productivity and well-being with Amy Blankson & Nir Eyal

Behavioral Design in the Digital Era: Structuring The Balance Point Between Productivity and Well-Being

Original Air Date Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Technology is both a vice and a virtue. It can help us manage our lives and accomplish tasks with reminders and to-dos. But, at what point do the dings and pings become more of a distraction than traction? How much of our time is dedicated to managing our digital devices versus tackling the true task at hand?

To learn more, Positive Psychology Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen revisits the subject of digital distractions and speaks with two experts who share how to stay healthy and productive while using modern technology.

Amy Blankson discusses key points from her book, The Future of Happiness: 5 Modern Strategies for Balancing Productivity and Well-Being in the Digital Era.

And Nir Eyal shares insights, about how to balance productivity and well-being using the same technology designed to distract us, from his new book, Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.

Tune in:

Lisa Cypers Kamen · Behavioral Design in the Digital Era: Structuring The Balance Point Between Productivity& Well-Being

Meet Our Guests:

Behavioral Design in the Digital Era: Structuring the balance point between productivity and well-being with Amy Blankson & Nir Eyal

Amy Blankson has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between positive psychology and technology. She is the only person to be named a Point of Light by two presidents (President George H. W. Bush and President Bill Clinton) for creating a movement to activate positive culture change.

A sought-after speaker and consultant, Amy has now worked with organizations like Google, NASA, the US Army, and the Xprize Foundation to help foster a sense of well-being in the Digital Era. Amy received her BA from Harvard and MBA from Yale School of Management. Most recently, she was a featured professor in Oprah’s Happiness course. Amy is the author of two books: The Future of Happiness and an award-winning children’s book called Ripple’s Effect.

Book: The Future of Happiness: 5 Modern Strategies for Balancing Productivity and Well-Being in the Digital Era

Amy Blankson — Productivity and well-Being in the Digital Era:

There are challenges but we can be happy humans while making technology useful to us. {3:40}
In Amy’s book, The Future of Happiness she calls people out to be conscious consumers when it comes to apps and gadgets. {7:53}
Learning discernment, digital minimalism, and stepping out of the system. {11:09}
Strategies for balancing productivity and well-being in this digital era. {15:21}
Amy Blankson describes the three types of technology users. {23:54}

Follow Amy Blankson:

Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. Nir has founded two tech companies since 2003 and has taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. He’s also an active investor in habit-forming technologies.

Book: Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life

Nir Eyal — Behavioral and Lifestyle Design:

Nir explains his concept of Behavioral Design: how the seduction of technology has the ability to hijack our attention spans. {27:33}
Identifying your addiction: are you a shamer, blamer, or claimer of distracting technology? {31:05}
Four steps to mastering internal triggers to become indistractable and increase your productivity. {33:10}
How Nir Eyal builds indistractable relationships and lives with personal integrity. {49:31}

Follow Nir Eyal:

Shareables:

“Technology keeps drawing us away into this web of more time on the computer, more time on the apps.” @amyblankson on @HHTalkRadio Share on X “The average smartphone user today opens and closes their phone, on average, 150 times.” @amyblankson on @HHTalkRadio Share on X “The real source of distraction is that we are escaping something we don’t want to feel.” @neyal99 on @HHTalkRadio Share on X “Using an extrinsic reward as motivation has been shown to backfire.” @neyal99 on @HHTalkRadio Share on X

Grab More Joy Below:

Are We Happy Yet? Eight Keys to Unlocking a Joyful Life — A boot camp manual for greater emotional fitness. Happiness waits for no one and sometimes we all need support. What is getting in the way of your happiness right now?

H–Factor: Where is Your Heart? — Lisa’s documentary film explores the journey of human happiness. Emotions are contagious and happiness is a universally desired state. We tend to forget we all have the freedom to be happy or the liberty to be miserable each day.