Hi, everyone. It's Dr. Niagara again. Our next episode of psychology unplugged. It is Mental Health Awareness Month in May. So I wanted to touch on a variety of topics over the next few weeks. And I really do one on just like what mental health awareness is because the whole point,

one of the main points of doing this podcast was to bring awareness to mental health.

I thought just that it is mental health awareness, what will be a relevant topic.

And today I'm going to focus on how social media is essentially rewiring the brain.

And this is something that I see as a neuropsychologist and diagnostician that I think there's definitely been

a significant change in the early

manifestation of psychiatric conditions

in children and adolescents definitely

and also a rise in mental health and this this is not a

this is not a a surface level conversation that or talk that I'm having about like screen time

or taking breaks because I think that that conversation is outdated you know know, we used to measure, you know,

ourselves against the people we were in the room with, the people in our lives. And in

2026, we're measuring ourselves against the world. And I think we're measuring ourselves against the world.

And I think we're essentially watching human cognition, definitely identity formation, definitely

emotional regulation, evolve rapidly, but under artificial conditions.

And unlike, I think, past environmental changes, this one is, is constant, and it's personalized, and it's algorithmically optimized.

And the brain doesn't ask, is this good for me?

Is this natural?

What it's asking is, is this repeated?

And what I think is being repeated is definitely stimulation without any significant effort at all.

Just click on the icon on your phone or iPad.

Validation without any depth or cross-referencing and comparison, you know, comparison without context, and also connection

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