#321 The Ayurvedic Psychiatrist Who’s Helping Millions Break Free from Internet Addiction | Dr Alok Kanojia

118 snips

Oct 29, 2025

Join Dr. Alok Kanojia, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and co-founder of Healthy Gamer, as he dives into the complexities of internet addiction and mental health. He discusses the brain's dopamine loops that keep us hooked on our devices and shares signs of unhealthy online habits. Learn about practical strategies for creating healthier tech boundaries, the role of meditation and Vedic philosophy, and how to navigate parenting in the digital age. Plus, hear his personal journey from gaming addiction to mindfulness practices.

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ADVICE

Address Root Causes, Not Only Symptoms

Treat tech-induced attention by addressing roots and environment, not only with stimulants.
Use behavioral, meditative, and structural changes to rebuild attention rather than relying solely on medication.

ADVICE

Match Stimulation To Individual Focus Needs

For ADHD-prone people, add stimulation rather than enforce sterile quiet; use movement or music to aid focus.
Sequence tasks and provide sensory input to hit individual optimal stimulation thresholds.

ANECDOTE

From Gaming Addiction To Monk Training

Alok fell into severe gaming addiction in college and failed classes while living on marathon junk food and soda.
He traveled to India, trained as a monk, and later used that experience to rebuild focus and become a psychiatrist.

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Why is it so hard to put our phones down even when we know they’re making us anxious? Today we’re going to unpack the neurochemistry of why we get hooked on devices and games, and how to reclaim our mental wellbeing from somebody who’s helping millions of people do this everyday.

This week I’m joined by Dr. Alok Kanojia, Harvard-trained psychiatrist and co-founder of Healthy Gamer, to discuss digital devices, the science behind dopamine loops and how to develop a healthy relationship with our phones and more.

We explore:

📲 The brain circuits behind digital addiction (dopamine, the hippocampus, nucleus accumbens + more)

⚠️ Signs your online use is tipping from healthy to harmful

👨‍👩‍👧 Parenting in the digital age how to set boundaries without battles

🧘 The surprising role of Vedic philosophy, meditation, and yoga in rewiring the brain

🔑 Dr. K’s top tools for building a healthy, long-term relationship with technology

If you’ve ever asked yourself “Am I addicted to my phone?” or struggled with screen time limits, this conversation blends science, psychiatry, and ancient wisdom to give you practical strategies for balance.

We also take a massive tangent at the end of this podcast to talk about his spiritual side, the vedic teaching around personality traits and how Alok balances his beliefs about other worlds with a purely science informed approach. This is something I’m personally very interested in and while it’s a slight departure from the rigorous evidence based medicine approach we usually maintain on the DK podcast, I wanted to share this personal perspective with you all.