Developing a Nuanced Relationship to Technology with Dr. Dean Burnett

Technology is everywhere. It entertains us, connects us, helps us create and gives us access to communities that may once have been impossible to find. But what is it actually doing to our brains? In this episode of Shadow Playground, Ez Bridgman sits down with neuroscientist and author Dr. Dean Burnett to explore our increasingly complicated relationship with screens, social media, smartphones and AI. Rather than treating technology as entirely good or bad, Dean brings a more nuanced perspective to the conversation. He explores why our brains find screens so compelling, how social media can provide genuine connection and creativity, and why the same technology can also pull us into doomscrolling, comparison and endless feeds. Ez and Dean unpack what happens when you open an app for a few minutes and emerge 45 minutes later, why the brain prefers immediate rewards and dislikes unfinished experiences, and how social media can make it unusually easy to enter a state of cognitive flow. They also explore one of the most emotionally charged questions surrounding technology: children and screens. Dean discusses the differences between digital natives and digital immigrants, why parents and teenagers may perceive technology so differently, and why the quality of the parent-child relationship may matter more than imposing simplistic rules around screen time. The conversation then turns toward AI, online echo chambers and the ways our brains can become vulnerable to information that confirms what we already want to believe. IN THIS EPISODE: • Why our brains find screens and digital experiences so compelling • The benefits technology can provide for connection, creativity and community • What happens in the brain when we lose ourselves in an endless social media feed • Why doomscrolling can be so difficult to stop • The difference between having an online community and having an audience • How social comparison can affect our experience of social media • What parents may misunderstand about children and smartphones • Why teenagers and parents often perceive digital risks differently • Practical ways to create more intentional boundaries around technology • How confirmation bias can pull us deeper into online rabbit holes • Why AI chatbots can feel surprisingly human to our brains • What a healthier future relationship with technology might look like Rather than asking whether technology is simply good or bad, this conversation invites us to consider a more useful question: How do we want technology to fit into the lives we are designing? ABOUT DR. DEAN BURNETT Dr. Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist, author and science communicator whose work explores the human brain and the ways it shapes our everyday experiences. His work includes examining how modern technology interacts with our brains and why debates around screens, smartphones and young people require more nuance than they often receive. V10 LIFE DESIGN Interested in designing an enlivening life, with space for both joy and shadow? Visit V10 Life Design to learn more.