Arthur C. BrooksThe Art and Science of Happiness

Why More Optimization Won’t Cure Loneliness

28 May 2026 · 1 min

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In this monologue, Arthur C. Brooks argues that the rise of screen‑based interactions, the pervasive hustle culture, and an over‑reliance on left‑hemisphere, efficiency‑focused thinking are major drivers of depression, loneliness, and anxiety—especially among people in their mid‑20s. He points out that many of these individuals have never experienced a pre‑digital era where relationships were cultivated in person, leading them to believe that a new app, hack, or routine will solve their isolation. Brooks contends that deeper immersion in left‑hemisphere optimization only worsens the problem, and that genuine, right‑hemisphere, relational experiences are essential for mental health.

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One of the big predictors of depression, loneliness, and anxiety is people who, they work alone, they live alone, their friends are on screens, and they're mediating everything just using this left hemisphere of their brain. It's a real problem. The technology has a huge role to play in this. But there's also kind of the hustle culture, the culture of work, work, work, work, of achievement as opposed to a culture of relationship. That exacerbates the problem that we've got of having this screen-based culture. People in their mid-20s today, they have a particular problem. They don't remember the before times like we do. And before times, we're like, you know, we get stuck behind screens too. And that's how you knew you needed to go away and take out your book and just be with your husband and have these relationships in person. A lot of people don't know. And so they think, if I find the right hack, if I find the right protocol, if I find the right routine, if I find the right app, the right technology, then I'm gonna be able to solve that. But they're going deeper and deeper and deeper into the left hemisphere of their brain. And you can't get to the right by going further and further left.