16 Feb 2026 · 2 h 19 min
Books from Jonathan Haidt & Aditi Nerurkar
“Brain Rot Emergency: These Internal Documents Prove They’re Controlling You!”
4 books mentioned
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The conversation
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and Harvard physician Aditi Nerurkar discuss how short-form video and social media are rewiring brains, causing addiction and mental health crises. They explain the neuroscience behind tech addiction and offer strategies to reclaim focus and attention.
Talking points
- Brain hacking by tech companies
- Short-form video shattering attention spans
- Link between phone-based childhoods and teen mental health
- Memory accuracy drop from TikTok use
- Deleting addictive slot-machine apps
- AI chatbots as next addiction crisis
- Policy changes like age limits on social media