HOW SCREENS HIJACK THE BRAIN

We're not just raising children in a digital world – we're all living in it. In part two of this conversation, Eliot turns the lens around and asks Dr. Michael Rich what a lifetime of screens means for the rest of us: the adults negotiating the relentless pull of smartphones, social media, and now AI companions that tap straight into our emotional circuitry.Dr. Michael Rich – paediatrician at Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard professor, and "The Mediatrician" – argues that no screen problem is ever really an individual one. It's a family system, and increasingly a societal one. They explore why companion AI is a different and more powerful beast than old-fashioned social media, why banning phones is a blunt instrument where a scalpel is needed, and how the slow erosion of everyday human connection may be reshaping society itself.CHAPTERS: 01:24 – What a lifetime of screens does to adults 02:47 – Why screen use is a family system, not an individual failing 05:55 – Modelling and mentoring: keeping up with your kids 08:22 – Vetting the digital babysitter 08:50 – Companion AI and the limbic system 10:30 – Digital literacy vs digital fluency 14:08 – Do social media age bans actually work? 16:39 – Connectivity vs connection 19:23 – Why the scientific method matters more than ever 22:21 – Boredom as the engine of creativity 24:09 – Loneliness, isolation and mental health 25:06 – Mastery: the fifth M 27:00 – Can social media be used authentically? 28:45 – The Inspired Internet Pledge30:50 – What tech can learn from pharma's pre-competitive collaboration 33:35 – A supercomputer, not a telephone FOLLOW DR. MICHAEL RICH: The Mediatrician: https://themediatrician.com/ Digital Wellness Lab: https://digitalwellnesslab.org/BUY MICHAEL'S BOOK: The Mediatrician's Guide: https://www.harpercollinsfocus.com/9780785255727/the-mediatricians-guide/This podcast was produced by Crisis What Crisis Productions With special thanks to Mintz: life sciences lawyers who help turn scientific breakthroughs into reality. https://www.mintz.com