Hey all, Joe here and you are listening to Under the Influence.

We talk about social media addiction on this podcast all of the time.

And all of us, all of us talk about it in real life, too.

We're always joking about how we're addicted to our phones,

how they're glued to the palms of our hands. But I still don't think that we're stopping

nearly enough to think about what it's really doing to us, what it's doing to our brains,

our attention spans, our relationships, and even our sex lives. My guest today is Dr. Teckla Ross, and she understands

exactly how this works. She is a clinical psychologist and a national leader in addiction medicine

who advises the NIH and also helps tech companies face the uncomfortable truths about what their

products are doing to people.

I love this episode. I mean, it's pretty much a therapy session, to be honest,

because Tecla is going to break down exactly how these platforms were designed to hijack our brains.

The average person spends nearly two months a year on social media, and that constant dopamine

hit is rewiring the part of our brain that lets us focus, connect, and actually feel joy.

I'm also bringing Nick on today. I mean, like I said, this is fall-blown therapy, so that we

can talk about what happens when the phone kind of becomes a third person in your marriage and how to build actual intimacy by putting it away.

Teco says some really bold things in this episode, and I think that they are true.

I think it is time to start thinking about our phones and social media as addictive substances with true

harm reduction strategies, honesty, and a lot less shame. Here's Tecla. Social media platforms

aren't just apps that are on our phone. They're sophisticated attention traps that are

really designed to hijack our brain's natural reward system.

And companies, as we all very well know, compete fiercely for every moment of our attention.

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