Arthur C. BrooksThe Art and Science of Happiness

We all self-soothe using technology..

18 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief monologue, Arthur C. Brooks explains that people habitually turn to technology—smartphones, social media, streaming, etc.—to self‑soothe when they feel bored, anxious, stressed, or lonely. He draws a parallel to more traditional self‑soothing behaviors such as drinking alcohol or gambling, describing how each provides temporary relief but ultimately creates a “doom loop”: the short‑term fix intensifies the underlying problem, prompting more of the same behavior. The more one binge‑uses technology, the worse the emotional state becomes, reinforcing the cycle. Brooks concludes by urging listeners to recognize and break this doom loop, suggesting that stepping away from compulsive tech use is essential for genuine well‑being.

Chapters

People self-soothe using technology, and, and there's a reason for that. People distract themselves all the time. Now, this is nothing new. A lot of people who are bored or anxious, they drink too much alcohol because it temporarily relieves their boredom and anxiety. The problem is it comes back with a vengeance. You can get into a doom loop with booze, you can get into a doom loop with gambling, with lots and lots of things in life where it helps you a little and then it hurts you a lot, and it creates the problem it's supposed to solve, and so you do it more. That's how doom loops work. And the same thing is true with technology. When people they're bored or they're anxious or they're stressed or they're lonely, the first thing they do is they pull out their phones and they become very, very addicted to it. The trouble is it makes things worse. The more you binge on it, the worse it gets. And that's a doom loop. And you got to clip that doom loop. You got to get out of the doom loop.