this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2026
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That's probably a huge part of it. How many billions of dollars have been spent engineering content on a screen to get its tendrils into people's minds and attention and not let go?
EnGaGeMent!!!
This is also part of my broader gripe with social media, cable news, and the current media landscape in general. They use so many sneaky little psychological hooks to keep you plugged in that I honestly believe it's screwing with our heads to the point of it being a public health crisis.
People are already frazzled and beat down by the onslaught of dopamine feedback loops and outrage bait, then you go and get them hooked on a charbot that feeds into every little neurosies they've developed and just sinks those hooks in even deeper and it's no wonder some people are having a mental health crisis.
A lot of us vastly overestimate our resistance to having our heads jacked with and it worries me.
100% agreed. I agreed more with each paragraph.
Your last sentence hit on what I think is a contributing if not primary driving factor in the health crisis you described.
It's like the goal of modern society is to insulate us from the natural world and from learning subjects or doing tasks that we don't absolutely have to.
But we are critters that evolved on this planet just like the others. You can't just live a commoditized life that consists of work, car, screen, sleep, repeat and get the same fulfillment out of life as if you found the unique path that's optimized for your unique brain.
Not acknowledging that everything jacks with your head to SOME degree only prevents you from trying to defend yourself as best you can!
Over the past several years I have gone through a transition from living life the way I was supposed to, or that I thought I wanted to, to living according to what produces the best outputs from my brain. Once I have the lived experience of an undeniable improvement from some change, it might actually become a habit.