How Phone Addiction Is Hijacking Our Brains And the Proven Path to Reclaim Focus, Joy and Purpose with Catherine Price

Dhru Purohit Show

Dhru Purohit

Medicine, Health & Fitness, Alternative Health

4.7 • 3.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode is brought to you by BiOptimizers, BUBS Naturals, One Skin, and Birch Living. We all know technology shapes our lives, but few of us understand the full impact it has on our minds and our happiness. Today’s episode takes a closer look at why our digital habits matter more than ever. Today on The Dhru Purohit Show, Dhru sits down with science journalist and author Catherine Price to unpack the high stakes of not changing our relationship with technology, especially social media. Catherine breaks down the latest research on how tech hijacks our brains and affects long-term brain health. She also shares what sparked her passion for helping people break free from digital addiction, along with practical tips for understanding our doom-scrolling habits and bringing more joy and real connection back into our lives. Catherine Price is an award-winning science journalist, bestselling author, and leading voice on how to build healthy relationships with technology. Her books include How to Break Up With Your Phone, The Power of Fun, and The Amazing Generation (co-authored with Jonathan Haidt). Her TED talk on fun has been viewed over 5 million times, and she writes the popular Substack newsletter How to Feel Alive. A dynamic speaker and workshop leader, Catherine has presented to audiences at TED, SXSW, Aspen Ideas, Google, Yale, and many others. Across all her work, she helps people of all ages scroll less, live more, and have more fun. In this episode, Dhru and Catherine dive into: The hidden dangers of our modern world and what’s really at stake (1:20) How your phone quietly hijacks your brain without you noticing (4:20) The latest research revealing the true impact of social media (10:40) The turning point that pushed Catherine into this work (16:50) Why constant news alerts put your brain into “defend mode” (21:21) Simple shifts to bring real connection and joy back into your life (28:45) Why our brains are longing for a version of fun we’ve lost (38:36) What heavy smartphone use is doing to your memory (41:36) The power of a digital sabbath and how to try one (50:06) How to intentionally connect with people without relying on screens (57:04) Are we quietly abusing technology without realizing it? (1:02:11) Why social media may be uniquely harmful for women and girls (1:07:06) Practical steps anyone can take to create real change (1:14:11) Also mentioned in this episode: Amazing Generation book For more on Catherine, follow her on Instagram, X/Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Substack, BlueSky, or visit her Websites: https://catherineprice.com/ and https://www.anxiousgeneration.com/book/amazinggeneration This episode is brought to you by BiOptimizers, BUBS Naturals, One Skin, and Birch Living. Go to bioptimizers.com/dhru now and enter promo code DHRU to get 15% off any order of MassZymes today. Support your skin and your health with BUBS Naturals Collagen Peptides. Head to BUBSNaturals.com and use code DHRU for 20% off your order. Right now, One Skin is offering my community 15% off; just go to oneskin.co and use the coupon code DHRU to save 15% and give your skin the scientifically proven, gentle care it deserves. Birch has extended their Cyber Monday sale exclusively for my community. Just head to birchliving.com/dhru to get 20% off today. Sign up for Dhru’s Try This Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Catherine Price, a pleasure to have you here. You know, I was excited to have you on because you're not afraid to say it how it is and that there's a little, literal war going on, a battle of good versus evil. And we were chatting a little bit about this, but my audience feels like they've been fighting a battle of their own for years to help make their family healthier
0:24.0	and protect them from a lot of the forces that are out there that want to promote junk food,
0:31.2	junk light, a sedentary culture, and again, an overall world that we live in that promotes unhealthy habits. I'd love to start
0:41.8	off by having you talk about the battle that you're highlighting and champion, especially with the
0:48.6	new book, how it relates to this battle that I highlighted that my audience is thinking about.
0:52.8	And most importantly, for the battle that you're fighting, what's at stake if we, quote-unquote,
1:00.0	lose it?
1:01.0	Yeah, I would say that the battle that I'm engaged in, and this has to do with several of my
1:04.0	recent books, including the new one, The Amazing Generation, is this battle to maintain our
1:10.0	humanity in the face of giant tech companies
1:13.6	that want to steal it from us, steal our humanity and essentially our lives, literally from
1:18.2	beneath our noses. And I personally feel like the stakes couldn't be higher because our attention,
1:24.2	which is what the companies are after, is our most precious resource.
1:27.6	So I've spent the, I guess, almost the past decade,
1:30.5	devoting myself to trying to figure out practical solutions
1:34.6	for how to live meaningful, fulfilling, fun, and healthy lives.
1:40.0	And also to do so myself.
1:42.5	This is very much a personal passion and a personal project for me.
1:45.0	Talk about some of the players that are on this sort of battlefield, right?
1:50.0	And if you could, compare and contrast, how is it similar to the same battle that my audience
1:57.0	is fighting that they feel that they're fighting to protect their own families from a lot of, like, the things that would be impacting their physical health that are there. So let's start off with, who are some of the players that are on the battlefield right now?
2:08.6	All of humanity is on the battlefield and you can break us into some groups. You know, you have adults who are struggling with their own screen time habits,
	...

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