Social media is a drug. We have a basic biological imperative to connect with other people that directly affects the release of dopamine in the reward pathway. So there's no doubt that social media, which optimizes this connection between people, is going to have the potential for addiction. I am fighting my kids about the time that they spend on phones and on the computer.
In “Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence,” Dr. Anna Lembke says today’s superabundance of pleasurable stimuli makes us all vulnerable to overindulgence. But don’t lose hope. Anna, the medical director of addiction medicine at Stanford, says that by understanding how modern stimulants — from Instagram to masturbation machines — prey on our primitive brains, we can find ways to overcome the unhealthy dependencies that prevent us from leading balanced lives.
(This episode originally aired in December 2021.)
Host: Rufus Griscom
Guest: Anna Lembke
Executive Producer: Caleb Bissinger
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