Dr. Alok Kanojia

No, no, no, it's not that it's hard to, it's that this is a whole other podcast.

So like I've studied this.

We've got a lot of conversations.

So there's so much nuance to this because social media is not uniform in the way that it affects your brain.

So, right, that's the number one thing.

So just because all drugs of abuse are in some way dopaminergic does not mean that their effects are uniform on the brain.

So first thing about use of social media, I think a big thing that people miss.

So there's some like common stuff that's like just use it less, bro.

What a lot of people miss is the mental state that you are in when you use it determines a lot.

Right.

So if you are feeling bad.

and you use social media, you're primed for salience.

You will be programmed more, right?

So this is where like people who use it as a form of emotional regulation, big problem.

Another interesting thing about social media, when to not use it.

So you require a certain amount of frontal lobe function, executive function and willpower in order to fall asleep.

You need to be able to suppress your impulses in order to be able to go to sleep.

Don't use social media before you go to bed.

And the main reason for that is if you use social media to the point where you've missed your sleep window,

then it's very hard to fall asleep because now your brain doesn't have enough willpower.