How is Tiktok rewiring your brain? Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and Harvard physician Dr Aditi Nerurkar reveal how tech addiction and short-form video are ROTTING your brain, and why AI chatbots could cause the next global addiction CRISIS!
Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at NYU Stern and the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Anxious Generation. Dr. Aditi Nerurkar is a world-renowned expert in stress, burnout, and mental health, and best-selling author of ‘The 5 Resets’.
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They explain:
◼️The "brain hacking" secrets tech companies use to hook you
◼️Why short-form video is shattering the global attention span
◼️The link between phone-based childhoods and the teen mental health crisis
◼️How TikTok causes a 40% drop in memory accuracy
◼️Why you must delete addictive slot-machine apps to reclaim your focus
00:00 Intro
02:40 The Largest Threat To Humanity Right Now
06:44 How Short-Form Videos Are Rewiring Your Brain For The Worse
09:40 What Your Phone Is Doing To Your Sleep, Heart, And Stress Levels
16:29 Why Short-Form Content Is Quietly Destroying Your Ability To Think
19:21 What’s Really Happening In Your Brain When You Scroll
26:38 What Happens When You Quit Social Media And Take Back Control
30:14 The Real Danger Behind Meta, Snapchat, And TikTok
36:18 The Dark Side Of Snapchat: Cyberbullying And Predators Exposed
41:37 Oxytocin, AI Chatbots, And What This Means For Your Brain
55:34 What If Your Business Depends On Social Media,Is There Another Way?
01:00:42 Why So Many People Feel Lost—And How Technology Plays A Role
01:06:30 Ads
01:07:31 The Simple Test To Know If You’re Addicted To Your Phone
01:26:22 What Is “Popcorn Brain” And Is It Happening To You?
01:28:18 Brain Rot: Why Adults Can Recover—But Teens Might Not
01:31:59 Why Australia Banned Social Media For Under-16s—And What Happens Next
01:43:30 Ads
01:45:47 Why Parents Can’t Sue Social Media Companies And What This Law Protects
02:04:43 How Technology Is Eroding Our Sense Of Meaning
02:08:53 How To Reclaim Meaning And Joy In A Hyper-Digital World
02:14:28 The 3-Second Brain Reset That Breaks The Scroll Cycle
Follow Dr Aditi:
Instagram – https://linkly.link/2aYTX
Website – https://linkly.link/2aYTZ
You can purchase Aditi’s book, ‘The 5 Resets’, here: https://linkly.link/2aYTd
Follow Jonathan:
X – https://linkly.link/2aYTq
Website – https://linkly.link/2aYTs
You can purchase Jonathan’s book, ‘The Amazing Generation’, here: https://linkly.link/2aYU7
Independent research: https://stevenbartlett.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DOAC-Attention-Discussion-Independent-Research-further-reading.pdf
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