In this episode of "Unhack Your Brain," Dr. David Perlmutter and his son Austin discuss the cognitive and social downsides of excessive screen and social‑media use. They cite research showing that the average American adult spends about six hours a day on screens and that heavy social‑media use can alter the brain’s corpus callosum, the bridge between hemispheres. The conversation highlights a paradox: despite constant online connection, many people feel lonelier. They argue that the problem is not technology itself but how it is used, emphasizing mindful, focused engagement versus passive scrolling. Practical digital‑detox strategies are shared, including a "no screens at night" rule (using amber glasses if needed), banning screens during meals, and keeping phones off the dinner table. Austin adds the concepts of "hard breaks" (physically removing devices during social time) and "soft breaks" (disabling notifications) to protect attention. The episode ends with a self‑assessment question—how uneasy would you feel if your devices were taken away for a day?—to help listeners gauge their dependence and motivate reconnection with real‑world relationships.
Chapters
You know, we love our digital technology. It allows us to get such incredible information whenever we want it, but there's clearly downsides.
Yeah, I was shocked when I realized that the average American adult is spending 6 hours every day looking at media on screens. And, you know, why does this matter? We need our computers, we need our smartphones, but sometimes we need to put them away.
So what just happened? Now we're able to connect on a better way.
Absolutely.
There's no more that third person in the room.
And you look at these trials where they had 2 people, 2 strangers in the same room, and they put a cell phone on the table. It wasn't even one of their cell phones, but it significantly degraded the quality of the conversation.
And we know that spending too much time on, let's say, social media actually imparts changes, structural changes in the brain. How does that work?
Right. So this is a study that showed that people who display what's called excessive social media use Or unhealthy levels of social media use—
And like nobody does that.
Right, exactly. That they show changes in a part of the brain called the corpus callosum, the connection. The corpus callosum is, as you know, the connection between the 2 hemispheres of the brain.
So if we're spending too much time, then what are we not doing then with our time?
Right, I think this is such an important point. And we can get wrapped up in the pros and cons of our digital use, but the thing that we should all be able to agree on is if we're spending all of our time staring staring at our screens, we're not spending our time doing stuff like this, having conversations, learning from other people, and strengthening our bonds with people we care about.
You know, it seems like we're lonelier even in spite of this thing called social media.
It is kind of a paradox, right? And I would say one thing that we're learning more about is it's not just whether or not you use social media, it's how you use social media. And it's how you use media in general. Is there a way that you can make it an active and focused and mindful use of technology? Because if you can, The data would suggest it actually can be beneficial. But so many of us, and I know I fall into this trap, we wind up losing our time and losing our thinking in these black holes of digital media.
And to be sure, these are traps for us that are set. They're created to draw us in and we never can get out.
Absolutely. So I think one thing that people find challenging is how do you actually make these changes? How do you go from feeling like you have this digital addiction to reclaiming your mind? And so we're obviously from different generations. What is it that you do that you find most helpful?
Well, again, I mean, I love my technology. I think it's great. We wrote Brain Wash because we had access to an unlimited resource of information. But there's some fundamental rules. Number one, no screens at night. Why? Because that blue light can compromise sleep. Sleep is so important. So if you have to, if I have to, I will wear amber glasses at night if I have to look at an email or I'm waiting for something, but that's actually very rare. The other thing is what happens during meals, and 2 rules: no TV during meals. I mean, I used to love to watch the news, and I couldn't, and suddenly my food was gone. I don't even remember eating it, and, but I knew all about the terrible things going on in the world. Yeah. So no TV of any sort during meals. And under no circumstances are there cell phones on the dinner table.
I think that makes a lot of sense.
How about you? Yeah. What are your points?
Well, for me, the big thing is kind of the hard breaks and the soft breaks. And I found that it's so easy to fall victim to using your phone if it's nearby. So for me, these hard breaks are when I'm spending time with friends, doing my absolute best, leave the phone in the car, put the phone on the other side of the table. Or if I'm trying to have a conversation with you, put the computer away. Because we know that when we see these things, even in our periphery, it can distract us and take away from the quality of our engagement with other people. And then the software, it's more little things. So it'd be disabling notifications, making our phones, making our technology less able to steal my attention away. And it's really been a combination of those things through experimentation that has worked best for me.
Actually, hold that thought. I just got a call. I'm gonna take this call. No, just kidding. So those are actually really good points. And again, you know, both of our generations are really, may I say, reliant upon technology, and that's a good thing. But I think we now recognize there are some significant risks here. We have to put this in its place.
Absolutely. And I'd say for a person who's wondering, is this a problem for me, ask yourself, how would you feel if your phone and computer were taken away for a day? If you feel really uneasy, that's probably a good indication that it's time to make some changes.
That's right. And this is all about Reconnection. We're trying to battle disconnection syndrome, and these devices, as great as they are, disconnect us from each other, and that's not a good thing.
