Everyone has a vice. Drinking, smoking, social media, diet soda. And the modern wellness internet will tell you that if you want to live a long, healthy life, you need to cut every single one of them out. But is that actually true?

In this episode of Two Percent, we take a nuanced look at vices and whether some of them might actually enhance your life when you use them the right way. We don't have to live like monks to live a good life.

First up is Dean Stattmann, a GQ reporter who spent three months sober and wrote a now-viral piece titled "Why My 2026 Resolution Is to Start Drinking Again." His Whoop scores got better, but his friendships, his marriage, and his mood got worse. Dean explains what alcohol actually does for human connection, what anthropologists call "costly signaling," and why moderate drinking might not be the villain the internet has made it out to be.

Then Taylor Lorenz, author of Extremely Online and host of the Power User podcast, joins to argue something that sounds heretical in 2026: social media is not addictive. We break down the real science on dopamine (spoiler: it's probably cortisol), the recent California Meta verdict, Section 230, KOSA, looksmaxing, Clavicular's overdose, and what's actually driving the teen mental health conversation.

Finally, Michael opens up about his own personal vice, a five-a-day habit, and explains why the science on aspartame, cancer, and the gut microbiome isn't nearly as scary as the internet would have you believe.

Two Percent is hosted by Michael Easter. Today’s episode was produced by Joey Fischground, Robbie Hiser, Dana Brawer and Julia Nutter. From Kaleidoscope, our executive producers are Mangesh Hattikudur and Kate Osborn and Julia Nutter. From iHeart, our executive producers are Katrina Norvell and Nikki Ettore. Our Head of Video is Maria Paz Mendez Hodes. Our editor is Will Mayo. Our theme music is by the Heater Manager.

Substack Post from Dr. Vinay Prasad: https://www.drvinayprasad.com/p/alcohol-good-or-bad-why-reductionist

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