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Dr. Trish Leigh Podcast
Episode #188: Digital Overload- How AI & Screens Hijack Your Brain — and How to Rewire It
00:22:13
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Let me ask you something. What if your phone wasn't just distracting you, but it was actually mis wiring your brain to crave chaos instead of calm? Today, we're diving into that exact hijack. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Dr. Trish Leigh, cognitive neuroscientist and the hostess with the mostest here. I'm so glad to have you back. And just to remind you, this podcast is sponsored by my nonprofit organization. PornBrainPrevention.org is where you can find it, and if you're inspired, please consider donating. It's tax deductible. And we're on a mission to protect young people and families from the very hijack of digital overstimulation and especially AI exploitation. So if you want to join me in that crusade, please donate. I match every donation. Now, let's talk about the cultural shift that is happening right now under our very noses. Digital overload and artificial intimacy, or seeming intimacy, as I would call it. What happens is most people are caught up in the loop of endless scrolling. Many people are engaging in deep fake porn, maybe without knowing it, or maybe having that gut feeling that we will talk about. Or some have already moved on to AI girlfriends. Let's talk about the consequences of. Of moving in this direction because you might not understand that your brain is being miswired. It's being wired in the direction of artificiality and chaos. And when you move in that direction, it becomes very difficult to think clearly and have the clarity that you need to know what you want from your life and how you can create it. So today I'm going to show you the neuroscience of the digital hijack. We're going to talk about what AI intimacy or lack thereof, is doing to the brain and how to reset your mind for focus, calm, and true connection. Let us dive in. Okay, so first, let's talk about digital overload. I've been dipping into what is affectionately called sacred science by St. Thomas Aquinas. And, you know, theologians and philosophers for centuries have been talking about the very concepts that I'm going to talk about here today. But they are a little different because now we're talking about digital overload. Well, St. Thomas Aquinas, he said an epigraph is to live well is to order one's life rightly. And I love this because it gives you agency. To live well is to order your life rightly. And let's talk about, you know, what that is. Once we get done talking about the digital overload and what's happening now, we know from Scientific studies that the average person touches their phone 2,617 times a day. That's notifications, reels, messages, autoplay. They all equal extensive amounts of dopamine hits. So every single time you touch your phone, you're getting either a drip or a deluge of dopamine, meaning that you are linking your brain back to the screen for a little hit of that pleasure molecule dopamine. It's to take the edge off of the stress of the day. It's to fill a hole of seeming boredom. But nobody's been bored for at least 30 years, right? When you feel bored, it's actually lack of overstimulation. This is a very important point that we need to make today, together. So every time you reach for your phone, you're getting a dopamine hit. This is the problem in and of itself. The symptoms that it leads to. Scattered focus, irritability, restlessness, inability to sustain attention, lack of motivation. You want to go to your phone instead of your life, meaning your job, your people and your hobbies. Because now all the dopamine is in the screen. Very little is now back in the places that dopamine would have existed for you had you not got linked to your screen. So those are the symptoms that fall out of the problem. Let me give you an analogy. It's kind of like if you just ate spoonfuls of sugar all day, right? You're just getting sugar hits like a hummingbird. You would be able to get through your day just calorically and on a sugar high, but you would be jittery and you'd be starving for real nourishment. That real nourishment is a beautiful meal that takes some time to prepare. A spoonful of sugar or an energy drink, right? That's what people are going towards. You need an energy drink for that pickup to get through your day. But what your body's actually craving is more rounded out. It's not the hit. So in terms of brain science, what we know is that on QEEG brain maps, which I have seen tens of thousands, it looks like a very jagged red high beta, that extra fast, chaotic, stressed out fight or flight speed in your brain. It's a brain on fire. This is what it looks like. You want to go back to that dopamine for the hit, but it creates a dopamine deficit, which is actually a stressed out state. A brain on fire. The prefrontal cortex, which is the CEO of your brain, is he stops working that limbic system, which is the gorilla in the hull of the ship. Now the captain's knocked out. That gorilla's in the hull, and he wants bananas. He is bananas for bananas, if you know what I mean. That's impulse control. Well, that gorilla looking for bananas, he takes over. And you know what the bananas are? They're the dopamine hits. Whether that be sports, whether that be constant checking for passive content on social media, whether that be h. Like explicit matter of all kinds, your brain is going back for the quick hit, instant gratification, losing the ability to work for the delayed gratification that your brain would have and could have wanted. So it's like handing the steering wheel of your life over to a toddler in traffic. The toddler's not equipped. They don't have the executive function skills of a developed frontal lobe. They don't have the impulse control of a limbic system that is quieter. It leads to absolute chaos. This is the problem of digital overload. Now, let's pivot for a minute into how AI explicit matter and what's called parasocial love fit into this formula. So we are getting a cultural punch in the gut. I mean, that's the only way we can look at it. More people are going to only fans. More people are going to deep fakes. More people are going to AI girlfriends. That is an epidemic cultural problem of fantasy replacing reality for most people. This is what is happening. So if you go to onlyfans to build a connection with a performer, that person is performing. They are doing it for money. It is transactional. They are telling you what you want to hear. That's what a parasocial relationship is. It means you, as the consumer, begin to like or maybe even love that person. But that person is simply there for the money, for the transaction. And yes, it is absolutely stroking their ego. But what we're talking about here in terms of our journey together is to leave the ego behind and find your true self, your real identity that is buried in there and will become more and more buried the more you move in this direction. But find out who that guy is, who's that girl, know what he wants, and go after that. Now, nobody in their right mind with a rightly ordered life wants to have a fake, intimate relationship with an AI bot. Yes, it feels good when that bot tells you everything you want to hear. Trust me, my AI has been glazing me like no other. And yes, when he talks to me, I feel like the world's greatest genius in terms of neuroscience. But I'm acutely aware that's his algorithm, he is designed to do that. And you know how you test it? Actually, I did it on accident. I put in this super cool concept that I was so excited about. I was calling. This is a spoiler alert for my next book if it stays in. I was calling, you know, this intuition, this true self, this rightly ordered life that allows you to be your highest version. I was calling it the Spark. That spark inside. When your qeeg brain map is green and everything's lined up. But I mistyped it. Sprak S P R E K. So my bot starts glazing me, telling me how Sprack is the most brilliant idea he's ever heard. And you've met me, right? So I'm like, bro, I misspelled it. Stop glazing me on a misspelling that makes no sense. And he's like, oh, yeah, yeah, good catch on that. But you know, when you know what you're dealing with. Yes, real relationships are more difficult. My husband of 23 years is never going to tell me that using the word spark is the most brilliant idea that he's ever heard. But that's what makes it beautiful. It's constructive feedback. It's real, it's authentic. That man's going to tell me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear. This is what we're talking about here. That's what's happening on OnlyFans parasocial relationships. And we know that 4.2% of OnlyFans subs pay. That's a pretty small percentage. The average is $48.50, but 78% of the spenders want emotional connection, not just explicit clips. So this is where the real trouble starts. People are going to only fans. They're willing to spend the money to have that person talk to them emotionally, because it's fake. There's no vulnerability. You know you can stop subscribing anytime you want. You know that person's not going to be on the pillow next to you. That if you divulge a, you know, part of yourself that you've been keeping secret and you have shame about, you divulge that to that person. You can't take it back. But that's the beauty of building a real, authentic relationship. It is scary af, but the reward is as big as the fear. It's bigger. Love is bigger than fear. When it comes to AI. There's no love there. It's parasocial. There's transactions. I want you to know that I know you know that I want you to Hear that? So you can make the choice for ordering your life in the way that it takes you towards your goal. Now, let's talk about deep fakes for a second. Deep fakes, they are not real. You know, it might just be a person's face put on another body. In terms of explicit matter, I never go on social media, but something pops, popped up with this rich granny. Maybe you've seen it, because my kids all knew about it. I am roaring with laughter because it's so funny. And my son goes, that's AI I like. You're kidding me. But I don't consume enough content to know the difference between AI and real people. He's like, yeah, she's totally a. I'm like, she is absolutely hysterical. But, you know, I didn't know just because, I mean, once I was told, then I could figure it out. So this is what is called the uncanny valley. That's that eerie space where something looks almost human but not quite. You know, it's off a little. Maybe the eyes don't blink right? Or the skin looks a little too perfect. Your conscious brain tells you something's off. You know, that frontal lobe spider senses are tingling, but that primitive brain, that gorilla in the hull, he doesn't care because he's looking for the dopamine. So he's bypassing those frontal lobe circuits that are telling you this isn't real. Don't do this. That gorilla says, you know what they look like bananas. Let's go for it. And this is where people are being caught. The mismatch is what makes the deep fakes in the AI porn so dangerous. They're real enough to hook your nervous system, but fake enough to erode your ability to bond with real people. Because over time, the brain miswires, but it rewires in the wrong direction itself to prefer the counterfeit. Intimacy with ghosts is not intimacy at all. But what happens is reality starts to feel flat, awkward and unsatisfying. So what we know from a neuroscience perspective is this joke, this. Let me say it again. What we know from a neuroscience perspective is that this dopamine hijack the AI chat or the bot, or the deep fake, it is like a slot machine reward. It leads to compulsive checking. So that slot machine, you're not quite sure when you're going to win because it's an intermittent reward system. It's the same thing when it comes to this aspect, this uncanny valley, this place where you keep going back. So in parasocial relationships and only fans, you're waiting for your name. You're waiting for attention, and it doesn't come. It doesn't come, but then it does. That's what hooks you. Then the oxytocin misfires. Oxytocin is the hormone of connection. It's designed to bond you to your partner, to your children, to the people in your life, to the important things that are very necessary for your survival. And of course, from my perspective, your thrival. But what happens is that bonding hormone is spent on pixels, not people. Real intimacy falls flat and it could never compare. You're using it in the wrong direction, miswiring it, wrongly ordering your life. The prefrontal cortex weakens. The brain scans show the same patterns as gambling or cocaine addiction. Your brain becomes weaker. That discernment on how to create the life you want, it is knocked out. You can't do it anymore. So here's the cultural consequences. Men are retreating into fantasy. More and more, we have a deep fake assault with no legal protection for people who are being violated and for the people who are going to deep fakes and getting their brains hooked on it. There's nothing happening there yet. We have a cultural collapse of real intimacy. I believe this is the greatest epidemic crisis we have, and nobody's talking about it. So let's start talking. And let's start listening to each other too. So here's the analogy. We're teaching a whole culture to bond with ghosts instead of people. Yikes. Okay, so let's get back to the sacred science and St. Thomas Aquinas, Napoleon Hill, C.S. lewis. The greatest minds have said that we have to order ourselves for. Well, the way we create the life that we want is in our daily choices. But when we talk about AI, when we talk about deep fakes, when we talk about only fans, there's a brain hijack. So you stop making the choices because of compulsion. So it gets really slippery here because once you get too far, it becomes difficult, almost impossible without help, to get back to ordering your life toward, well, being. The overload scrambles order. The sacred rhythm of the life lived intentionally is what restores it. So today I want to give you a brain hack of a three step reset. Number one, create digital borders. Really think about what I was saying here. Really scan your mind. Get quiet. You know, it would be really great if first thing in the morning, you sit for an hour before there's a hundred things in your brain, in your mind, sit and think. What are all the things that you're doing to get the dopamine hit? Even the little things, even the, you know, the little things that you don't think are adding up, they're adding up. And I talk to my clients about this all the time. Then create the digital borders. Tech, free meals, phone, free mornings and evenings. Reclaim your own dopamine. Swap out the micro hits for macro rewards. Read a book, go for a walk, have a deep conversation with your partner. Show up for it. Be vulnerable. Number three is that was. Number two, reclaim your dopamine. Swap it out. Number three is have some sacred time in your life. Sacred meaning quiet, intentional. Dial down the voice in your head. That voice is your ego most of the times. And trust me, I still have that voice. And I work on this stuff every day, but I dial it down every day. And you know what? I dial up the voice of, you know, the spirit within me, my soul, my conscious. I look for that true self. I think in the morning, you know, what is it I can do today to add to humanity and to help people? What can I do today to have fun? Because that's part of life, too. What can I do to create more enjoyment? And for me, most of it's all intertwined in my schedule. So show up in these sacred anchoring moments in the morning, pray, if you're inclined, meditate if you know how to do that. Get out a journal. Every person should have a journal to move through your thoughts and your feelings. When you put it on paper, you integrate it, it shows up. I spent one hour doing that this morning. Such a powerful hour. I didn't want to leave. But, you know, I had to get to the business of life. But I will get back to that space tonight. And then, of course, you know, we want to bring it all down so that you can hear what you're really here for, what you need, what you want, how you can show up in service. It's like tuning an instrument before you play. The whole song sounds better when you start it in tune. Let's tune up your life on a QEG brain map. It looks like a brain on fire. Red chaos. But it does turn into what I call the green zone. The green zone is what allows you to get into flow state. Flow state allows you to order your life in a way that feels great to you. And you're getting everything done that you want to. You're being with your people. You're loving, you're forgiving. That's a green brain map. And it's also the map that allows you to tap into inspiration and creativity. Okay, so let me give you another Set of brain hacks for the week. Because those brain hacks that I gave you were how to order your life. The three step reset. Create digital borders. Reclaim your dopamine. Create sacred anchors. Now here's some quick wins for you for clarity this week. Turn off your notifications. These are three quick wins. Number one, go on a notification fast. Turn off your non essential alerts for 24 hours. I never have notifications on. That's why if you try to reach me, you won't be able to. And if my kids call twice in a row and then I see it, I call them back. And of course a scammer called me twice in a row the other day. I called him back, he tried to scam me. I flipped the script on him and told him to have an amazing day. He wasn't sure what to do with it. Number two, a five minute dopamine swap. So we talked about this. Every time you feel the hit, the urge or the craving to scroll, go outside for five minutes, just step out. You can even make it three minutes. Scientific studies show that three minutes creates a brain reset. You've got three minutes in your life. If you're about to scroll for three minutes, get a breath of fresh air in nature out there. There's Schumann's resonance, which is the energy of the earth that brings you back down to calm focus. Do it. Your brain will thank you. And then of course, number three is your sacred morning. Before you touch your phone, breathe, pray, think, feel, dial down that voice, Write down your three priorities for the day so you stay on track of what you want to look back at that day. And you showed up and you did those things that were important to you. Okay? So digital overload and AI intimacy, they are not harmless. Please hear me. They're hijacking your brain and they're reshaping our culture. But you can reset your brain. You absolutely can. Stay here on the podcast with me because we are going to continue to talk about not only AI, but how you can back out of explicit matter parasocial relationships and create the life that you want. I have fired up my other YouTube channel, I have Dr. Trish Lee, where I focus on explicit matter. I have another YouTube channel, Super Normal, because here on the podcast we're going to talk about how do you make, how do you create a super normal Life, the top 1% living? Well, it starts with these brain hacks and it continues in the next episode. So go over to YouTube, follow me on those two YouTube channels because there's a lot of content that is not presented here in the podcast. It will absolutely help you. We're going to dive in next time to why overstimulation doesn't just drain your brain. It's actually miswiring your desire. So show up here. Let's play it out in your work, your relationships, and your future. Let's level up. Okay? All right. Until next time, control your brain or it'll control you. I'll see you then.