Brain Rot: Internet addiction
All In The Mind
ABC
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 4 October 2025
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Plenty of people will say they are addicted to the internet. But how well-recognised, scientifically, is an addiction … to your screen?
In episode four of Brain Rot, we dig into how behavioural addictions work.
And we hear from self-described internet addicts about the treatment programs helping them manage their relationship with technology.
This episode originally aired on Brain Rot, a series of the ABC podcast Science Friction. Sana will be back with all-new episodes of All in the Mind in mid-October.
Guests:
Jillian and Kate
Internet and Technology Addiction Anonymous members
Hilarie Cash
Psychologist and Co-Founder, reSTART
Anna Lembke
Professor of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine
Anastasia Hronis
Clinical Psychologist; Author, The Dopamine Brain
Dar Meshi
Associate Professor, Michigan State University
Credits:
- Presenter: Ange Lavoipierre
- Producer: Fiona Pepper
- Senior Producer: James Bullen
- Sound Engineer: Tim Symonds
This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal and Menang Noongar peoples.
More Information:
Internet-addicted South Korean children sent to digital detox boot camp.
The Dopamine Brain — Anastasia Hronis.
Everyone is on their phones. But are we actually addicted? The Guardian, 2024.
Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous.
Dopamine Nation — Anna Lembke.
Inside the rehab saving young men from their internet addiction — The Guardian, 2017
Other episodes related to focus and our relationship with smart phones:
When doom scrolling leads to actual harm
Should you do a 'dopamine detox'?
Sick of scrolling? Digital minimalism could help
Fighting for focus in the age of distraction
You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on the ABC Listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you'd like to access the transcript for this episode, head to its original webpage.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an ABC podcast. |
| 0:04.7 | Charismatic, rich, stylish, glamorous. |
| 0:08.4 | Christopher and Pixie Skace were the it couple of the 80s. |
| 0:12.2 | Getting an invitation to a Skace party was prized real estate. |
| 0:16.5 | But when their business empire titers, it's Pixie who pays a massive price. |
| 0:21.1 | This sort of gilded cage that she was a prisoner in. |
| 0:23.9 | I'm Mark Humphreys. |
| 0:25.3 | Search for ABC Rewind and look for Skace, Fall of a Tycoon on the ABC Listen app, |
| 0:31.6 | or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:34.2 | Okay, a thought experiment. |
| 0:35.7 | You've left your phone at home for the day. |
| 0:38.1 | How does that make you feel? |
| 0:39.8 | Upset? |
| 0:40.9 | Stressed? |
| 0:41.7 | Indifferent? |
| 0:42.9 | The answer might go some way to showing just how attached you feel to your phone or how much you need it. |
| 0:49.2 | And that is the topic today on All In The Mind from ABC Radio National, |
| 0:53.3 | because it's episode four of BrainRot, |
| 0:55.8 | a special series about your relationship with tech. In this episode, we're digging into |
| 1:01.0 | internet addiction. Here's the show. If you're one of the world's 5.5 billion internet users, and let's face it, you probably are, |
| 1:13.7 | then you already know what I mean when I say there's something addictive about being online. |
| 1:18.7 | I'll be watching Netflix and also watching like BrainRot at the same time. |
... |
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