Brain Rot Emergency: These Internal Documents Prove They’re Controlling You!

You are actively rewiring your brain for

the worst by engaging with social media,

high volume, quick videos.

>> And the social media executives don't

let their kids use this stuff because

they designed it to be addictive and

they know that millions and millions of

kids have been cyberbullied, sexed. Many

have committed suicide. So, I'm getting

angry.

>> And then from the medical perspective,

it's rewiring your body, increasing your

risk of heart disease and PTSD.

>> We've moved too far into the virtual

world and the results are catastrophic.

People are spending roughly about 6 and

a half hours a day on their phones. What

do we do about this?

>> Well, here's the amazing thing. We

actually can control our fate. So, we

are joined by a social psychologist and

a Harvard physician

>> to dive into the technology addiction

and brain rot crisis billions are facing

worldwide

>> and how we can counter its devastating

mental health effects. You have to

reclaim your attention because without

the ability to pay attention for several

minutes at a time, we're seeing the

destruction of human potential, the

human relationships, the connection.

>> But there's all these small tweaks that

you can do to override that primal urge

to scroll. For example, 91% of people

had an improvement in attention,

well-being, and mental health. [music]

After just 2 weeks of continuing to use

your device, but not having internet

access. Next, keep your phone out of

your arms reach because the sheer

potential for distraction has actually

been shown to change your prefrontal

cortex, which is called brain drain.

>> So, yes, we should exert more

self-control, but we're being pushed in

addictive apps and it's messing us all

up. That's not our fault.

>> Would you advise people to delete these

short form videos?

>> Oh my god, yes, that would the most

important thing you can do for your

intelligence and for humanity. But if I

was going to offer some specific advice,

here are the three things that I do with

my students [music] to reclaim

retention. And then to add to that, I

have the 3se secondond brain reset. So,

first

>> I wanted to ask you guys what you

thought of this.

>> Hey, you're back.

>> This terrifies me.

>> We've got to stop this now.

>> Guys, I've got a quick favor to ask you.

We're approaching a significant

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roughly 69% of you that listen and love

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whatever reason. If there was ever a

time for you to do us a favor, if we've

ever done anything for you, given you

value in any way, it is simply hitting

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when we hit these milestones, we go away

as a team and celebrate. And it's the

thing, the simple, free, easy thing you

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bit better every single week. So, that's

a favor I would ask you. And, um, if you

do hit the subscribe button, I won't let

you down. And we'll continue to find

small ways to make this whole production

better. Thank you so much for being part

of this journey. Means the world. And uh

yeah, let's do this. [music]

Jonathan editing.

Jonathan, I've heard you say that the

destruction of attention is the largest

threat to humanity that's happening

around the world. And I've also heard

you say that short form videos are the

worst of the worst because they're

shattering attention spans. The reason

why I wanted to have this conversation

today is somewhat personal. And in fact,

all of the conversations have in the

driver are somewhat personal to some

degree. um they're inspired by some

unanswered question I have in my head

and also some observation I have in my

life and the observation I've had is

that short form videos in particular are

making my life worse and actually I've

got to say the catalyst moment really

where I thought you know I need to get

you exceptional people together to have

this conversation was I thought this I

then looked at my screen time and saw a

huge change I felt so much worse because

all these social platforms have short

form video now and then I actually heard

Elon Musk who you know has a social

media platform that does short form

video say that he thinks it's one of the

worst inventions for humanity.

[clears throat]

>> Jonathan, why did you say what you said

about short form video and this

corruption of attention?

>> Yeah, because I wrote a whole book

called The Anxious Generation focusing

on teen mental health. That was the

mystery that popped up in the mid200s.

Why are people born after 1995 so much

more anxious and depressed? And I've

been tracking down that mystery and it

points a lot of it points to social

media and especially Instagram, social

comparison, all the things we know about

social media. When the book came out in

2024, since then what I realized is that

I vastly underestimated the damage

because I focused on mental health,

which is a catastrophe. But the bigger

damage is the destruction of the human

ability to pay attention. Without the

ability to pay attention for several

minutes at a time, ideally 10 or 20

minutes at a time. Without that, you're

not going to be of much use as an

employee. You're not going to be of much

use as a spouse. You're not going to be

successful in life. And that's when I

realized this is way beyond mental

health. This is changing human

cognition, changing human attention, and

possibly on a global scale.

Adi, what perspective do you come at

this from? And what's been your

perspective through all the work you've

done about brains and stress and

neuroscience and all these kinds of

things that has shaped the way that you

think about social media, screen time,

short form video.

>> My background is that I'm a physician at

Harvard and it my expertise is in

stress, burnout, and mental health. And

so that is the lens that I view all of

this through. We know that the most

delletterious relationship that you have

is with your device. You know, in every

healthy relationship, we have

boundaries. We have boundaries with our

kids, our parents, our colleagues, our,

you know, wi-i with our friends. And

yet, we have no boundaries and often

poorest boundaries when it comes to the

relationship you have with your device.

So, it's not so much about, you know,

becoming a digital monk and renouncing

technology because technology can serve

us, right? It inspires, educates,

connects. Now more than ever, it's so

important to be an informed citizen, but

not at the expense of your mental

health. And so what Jonathan was saying,

this, you know, constant being engaged

with your devices, with social media,

the scrolling from the minute you wake

up until you go to bed, there's a reason

why you have your best ideas in the

shower. And that's because that's the

only place in the whole day where you

are not with your device. People take

their device to the bathroom. They sleep

with your device. you eat with your

device, people walk down the street.

There's more near miss pedestrian

accidents because people are walking

while they're crossing the street and um

looking at their devices. And so there's

all of this brain biology at play behind

the scenes. So both of you have talked

about how it doesn't feel good to engage

and constantly be on your phone, that

sense of infinite scroll, but there is,

you know, it feels like you're doing