How Social Media And AI Impacts Our Mental Health: Reclaiming Our Minds And Hearts And Healing A Divided World with Tobias Rose-Stockwell

This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, BiOptimizers, Zero Acre, and Pendulum. The rise of social media has revolutionized the way we connect, share information, and interact with one another. While it has undoubtedly brought numerous benefits, there is growing concern about its impact on our mental health. Today on The Doctor’s Farmacy, I’m excited to talk to Tobias Rose-Stockwell about how the internet has broken our brains, what we can do to fix it, and how to navigate this complex digital landscape. Tobias Rose-Stockwell is a writer, designer, and media researcher whose work has been featured in major outlets such as The Atlantic, WIRED, NPR, the BBC, CNN, and many others. His research has been cited in the adoption of key interventions to reduce toxicity and polarization within leading tech platforms. He previously led humanitarian projects in Southeast Asia focused on civil war reconstruction efforts, work for which he was honored with an award from the 14th Dalai Lama. He lives in New York with his cat Waffles. This episode is brought to you by Rupa Health, BiOptimizers, Zero Acre, and Pendulum. Access more than 3,000 specialty lab tests with Rupa Health. You can check out a free, live demo with a Q&A or create an account at RupaHealth.com today. During the entire month of November, Bioptimizers is offering their biggest discount you can get AND amazing gifts with purchase. Just go to bioptimizers.com/hyman with code hyman10. Zero Acre Oil is an all-purpose cooking oil. Go to zeroacre.com/MARK or use code MARK to redeem an exclusive offer. Pendulum is offering my listeners 20% off their first month of an Akkermansia subscription with code HYMAN. Head to Pendulumlife.com to check it out. Here are more details from our interview (audio version / Apple Subscriber version): The superpower that social media has provided to us (5:55 / 4:21) How our traditional knowledge systems have been deconstructed (7:39 / 5:15) The challenges of uncovering what is true (12:43 / 10:18) How Tobais’s time in Cambodia led him to this work (15:05 / 12:42) The harms of social media (26:57 / 22:36) Historical media disruptions (32:57 / 28:37) The dangers of misinformation (35:27 / 31:06) Challenges and opportunities around AI (42:09 / 37:58) How governments and platforms can reduce the harms of social media (55:10 / 50:59) Individual actions to improve the impact of social media (1:02:30 / 58:09) Get a copy of Outrage Machine: How Tech Amplifies Discontent, Disrupts Democracy―And What We Can Do About It.