At night, we would give her screen time, and sometimes she would just turn into, like,

different child. I interpreted that behavior as, like, meaning she loved it so much.

I found something really surprising. Dopamine isn't pleasure. It's the do-it-again button in her

brain. All right, here's the story for this episode. A week or two ago, I posted something on

Instagram, something that I implemented with my kid

based on reading this book, Dopamine Kids by Michaeline Ducleff. And here's what happened.

I just shared about how on my subway ride with my son to basketball practice every weekend,

we just got into this habit of doing New York Times games together on my phone. Now, to be clear,

I don't feel so guilty about that. It's actually a fun thing to do together. There's a lot worse

things. But I had this thought after reading this book. I didn't choose this habit. It wasn't a

choice I made. And so before the subway ride that day, I just said to my son, hey, I just want to let you know when we subway to basketball on Saturdays. We're not going to be doing New York Times games anymore. We're not going to be taking out my phone at all. So you could bring a workbook, you could get a book, totally up to you. And I kind of said it like that. I had already convinced myself we were doing this, so I didn't really need his approval. And probably not unrelated to that, he just said, okay, which doesn't

always happen. And he went to get a book, and then he read the whole subway ride to and from

basketball. And it is a long subway ride. It is so amazing to read something or have a framework that empowers you to do something

that maybe fear or confusion has held you back from doing before. And so many of you said,

we want more about this. Can you have that author on your podcast? And so I reached out to

Michaelim, and she's here. I'm so excited for you to hear this conversation.

We're going to be talking about screens and dopamine. And her way of explaining it, I'm just going to tell you, it's unlike how we've thought about those two things ever before. And it is so illuminating.

I'm Dr. Becky, and this is good inside. I'm so glad you're here.

Dopamine isn't pleasure, and it's not the molecule of happiness. And this has been a myth

and a misconception in neuroscience for like 50 years. Dopamine and these products that we have in our

lives create desire and wanting and craving.

It's the do it again button in our brain.

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