This week’s must-reads: Understanding Pain’s Purpose Helps Us Control It

In my work as a behavioral designer, I come across important stories on how psychology influences our behavior. Every week, I share my round-up of the most important stories at the intersection of psychology, technology and business. I hope you enjoy them!

We’ve Been Thinking About Pain All Wrong (Medium) While there’s no magic wand that makes pain disappear, there are patterns and trends that we can harness to lessen and control the pain in our lives.

Screen Time for Kids: Give Them What They Need [AUDIO] (Anchor) Society’s fear of technology destroying our children’s future has reached a fever pitch and many parents have resorted to extreme measures.

The 4 Types of Liars (NirAndFar) Understanding lies and liars can help us avoid getting duped as well as protect us from drifting into dishonesty ourselves.

No, you are not addicted to your digital device, but you may have a habit you want to break (The Conversation) Excessive social media use can be a very strong habit, but that doesn’t make it an addiction.

Persuading the Unpersuadable (Harvard Business Review) How can we persuade people who disagree with us to rethink their positions?

How to have better arguments online (The Guardian) The rise of social media has created an age of endless conflict. We need to learn how to handle disagreement well.

Happy reading!

- Nir