Dr Jared Cooney Horvath

Give me more of that.

It's all malleable.

We can push it back if we choose to.

But if you then want to kind of go deeper, I think some of the more interesting stuff is like the relationship side of things.

When we interact live in a person, like right now, if we're getting along, our bodies will release a certain set of chemicals, one of which is oxytocin.

We call that kind of a bonding chemical.

You see it when people are breastfeeding, you see it when people are making love, when they're interacting.

When kids interact online, their bodies don't release oxytocin.

They're more likely to release tachykinins.

So that's a completely different chemical.

This chemical leads to depression.

That's a marker of isolation.

So it's a real good sign that human biology does not appear to recognize digital communication as a form of actual interaction.

It recognizes it as isolating and threatening.

now if i'm a kid spending more and more time online feeling more and more lonely what do i do i reach out to more people online thinking that's going to be the cure and realistically the poison starts to cycle so you get emotional disturbances you get bodily disturbances um in your country um sophie winkelman she's kind of like my counterpart in the uk wonderful she talks about all the physical changes your hormones changes your bone structure uh more kids today are myopic than it ever

or any other point in history.

And you can ask, act surprised and say, this is all correlational.

You can actually have a real discussion and say, well, there's something's changed and it's not books.

And even on the device, as fathers, all I want to do is call my daughter.

But on that machine, my brain is also thinking about, should I check my mail while I'm here?