What Nickey Skarstad thinks about Addiction
Product leader: director of product at Etsy, product lead at Shopify and at Airbnb (Experiences), VP of Product at The Wing, and a director of product at Duolingo; writes the newsletter Dear Builders.
Nickey Skarstad did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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1 dated position, 2025, in their own words. Our reading of what Nickey Skarstad has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Our readingProducts that win long-term help users exercise agency rather than relying on addiction mechanisms.
Their wordsYour job isn't just shipping features, it's understanding how those features shape human behavior. The products that truly win long-term aren't the ones with the most sophisticated addiction mechanisms. They're the ones that help users exercise agency and become who they want to be.