Your Brain Is Shrinking: The Science of Why We Stopped Talking with Dr. Maryellen MacDonald

When did we stop talking to each other — and what is it costing us? Dr. Maryellen MacDonald is a psycholinguist and professor emerita of psychology and language sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of More Than Words: How Talking Sharpens the Mind and Shapes Our World.What she's found is startling: speaking is far more cognitively demanding than listening, reading, or scrolling — and that difficulty is exactly what makes it essential brain exercise. Yet, we're doing it less than ever.In this episode, we talk about why Gen Z is lonelier and dating less, what helicopter parenting has to do with it, and why the person you've been meaning to call is probably hoping you will.Resources:More Than Words: How Talking Sharpens the Mind and Shapes Our World by Maryellen MacDonaldMaryellen's essay in the Washington Post: Gen Zers aren't talking and it could cost themYour analog assignment this week: Call someone. Not a text. Not a voice note. An actual phone call. It'll be awkward for a few seconds. And then it won't.