Hi there, Shankar here.

In these last few weeks, we've looked at social science research that can help us lead

fuller lives that can improve the decisions we make.

These episodes are part of a series that we call U2.0.

This week, we bring back one of our favorite stories.

It's about how we often tune out at the very times we need to pay attention.

This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedanta.

Maybe your mornings sound like this.

You wake up to your alarm ringing, you turn it off, and bring your phone back to bed with you.

You scroll through email and social media, squinting through one eye to see what you've got

to get done and what's happening in the news.

When you finally get up and start getting ready, maybe you have some music going.

Or your favorite TV channel.

And we continue to follow that breaking news and stuff.

Many of us are voracious consumers of information, and we're always looking for new ways to take

an even more.

Alexa, what's the weather today?

In Charlotte, North Carolina, it's 63 degrees with mostly sunny skies.

But even as we savor good news about the weather or the stock market or weekend plans,

we're also regularly confronted by stuff that's unpleasant.

To listen to your unread voice mails, press one.

Unpleasant information creates a paradox for the brain.

...