Navigating Digital Addiction and Self-Control

The internet has changed the way we live -- and someone needs to make sense of it all. Shephali Bhatt joins Amit Varma in episode 391 of The Seen and the Unseen to describe all that she has learnt through her deep dives into popular culture, the creator economy, this turbulent society and her Mamaji's library. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Shephali Bhatt on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Economic Times, Mint and Instagram. 2. Santosh Desai is Watching You — Episode 356 of The Seen and the Unseen. 3. Indian Society: The Last 30 Years — Episode 137 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Santosh Desai). 4. The plays of Maxim Gorky: 1, 2. 5. Bollywood Masala and a French Art Film -- Amit Varma. 6. Enter, tastefluencer: The rise of a curator economy -- Shephali Bhatt. 7. The Artist -- Michel Hazanavicius. 8. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga -- Shelly Chopra Dhar. 9. Gaming the algorithm to ‘manifest’ -- Shephali Bhatt. 10. Search Party -- Shephali Bhatt. 11. The Experience Machine. 12. Badtime Stories -- Shephali Bhatt. 13. Lentil Powerhouse at Pret a Manger. 14. Brave New World — Episode 203 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vasant Dhar). 15. Brave New World -- Vasant Dhar's podcast. 16. When the third-party cookie crumbles -- Shephali Bhatt. 17. Digital Minimalism and Slow Productivity -- Cal Newport. 18. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma’s column on poker for the Economic Times. 19. Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas — Natasha Dow Schüll. 20. Cache Cab: Taxi Drivers' Brains Grow to Navigate London's Streets -- Ferris Jabr. 21. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Em and the Big Hoom — Jerry Pinto. 23. Behave — Robert Sapolsky. 24. Grave of the Fireflies -- Isao Takahata. 25. Cosmos -- Carl Sagan. 26. Irfan, the Keeper of Memories -- Episode 368 of The Seen and the Unseen. 27. Voice Wide Web -- Shephali Bhatt. 28. Ishaan Chintamani on Instagram and YouTube. 29. Breaking Bad, House of Cards, The Wire, Harry Potter, Friends. 30. All the President's Men -- Alan J Pakula. 31. Surabhi on Wikipedia and IMDb. 32. The unplanned glory of Surabhi -- Shephali Bhatt. 33. Alt News. 34. Fighting Fake News — Episode 133 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pratik Sinha). 35. Don't Choose Tribalism Over Principles -- Amit Varma. 36. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 37. Multiverse of food-fluencers -- Shephali Bhatt. 38. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 39. Stage.in. 40. Shephali Bhatt's story on how Koffee With Karan inspired many Indians to learn English. 41. Young India — Episode 83 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Snigdha Poonam). 42. Dreamers: How Young Indians Are Changing Their World — Snigdha Poonam. 43. The Disciple -- Chaitanya Tamhane. 44. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja). 45. How Instagram reels are transforming Indian weddings -- Shephali Bhatt. 46. The Parenting Influencers Who Won’t Stop Posting Their Children -- Fortesa Latifi. 47. “We’re Never Doing This Again”: What It Took for These Parenting Influencers to Pull Their Kids Offline -- Fortesa Latifi. 48. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. The Influencer Diaries -- Shephali Bhatt. 50. 1000 True Fans — Kevin Kelly. 51. 1000 True Fans? Try 100 — Li Jin. 52. The Streisand Effect. 53. Varun Mayya on YouTube. 54. The YouTube Election -- Shephali Bhatt. 55. With content king, creators trying hard to be kingmakers this Lok Sabha elections -- Shephali Bhatt. 56. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. The Life and Times of Urvashi Butalia — Episode 287 of The Seen and the Unseen. 59. Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 -- Cho Nam-Joo. 60. Rasidi Ticket (Punjabi) (English) -- Amrita Pritam. 61. The Good Girls Revolt -- Lynn Povich. 62. Jagte Raho -- Amit Maitra and Sombhu Mitra. 63. Zakhm -- Mahesh Bhatt. 64. Shephali Bhatt's Spotify playlists. 65. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. Amit’s newsletter is active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Search' by Simahina.