Interview: Digital Drugs Have Us Hooked. Dr. Anna Lembke Sees a Way Out.

February 4, 2025

a person looking at a phone with social media apps

(New York Times) – Lembke is a psychiatrist who works at Stanford University’s Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic, where she sees patients dealing with all sorts of addictions, from opioids and alcohol to what she calls “digital drugs” that, she says, put us in a “trancelike state where we lose track of time.” In her best-selling book, “Dopamine Nation,” about the science behind addiction, Lembke argues that our brains are wired to constantly seek stimulation, and that modern life, with its never-ending stream of content and stuff, makes it nearly impossible to fight that urge. (Read More)