Offline with Jon Favreau Have Our Screens Made Us Too Distracted For Democracy?
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Aug 21, 2025 
Ben Rhodes, bestselling author and former Obama official, dives deep into the interplay between technology and democracy. He argues that America faces a crisis of attention due to social media's focus on short-term issues, hindering our ability to tackle long-term challenges like climate change. Rhodes discusses how authoritarian regimes exploit these distractions and emphasizes the importance of truth in a fragmented media landscape. With storytelling as a key tool, he highlights the need for relatable political communication that fosters unity and engagement.
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Short-Term Feeds Undermine Long-Term Policy
- Social media and short-term politics have shortened public attention spans and impaired long-term policy thinking.
- Major issues like climate change and AI proceed regardless of our fleeting news cycles.
Technology Tilted The Scale Toward Authoritarianism
- The internet didn't just enable new politics, it fundamentally altered how democracies function and allowed authoritarian playbooks to scale.
- Without social media, figures like Donald Trump and the modern information warfare of Putin would not exist as they do.
Phones Reprogram Our Brains
- Prolonged device use rewires attention, dopamine seeking, and tribal sorting in people's brains.
- These neurological changes harm individuals, children, and the broader body politic.
