Have You Swapped Booze for Scrolling? with TJ Power

About this episode

Vic and neuroscientist TJ Power discuss the parallels between alcohol addiction and phone addiction, leading to a personal revelation about digital distractions.

This week on Sober Awkward, Vic sits down with TJ Power, a well-known neuroscientist, author of the Sunday Times bestseller The DOSE Effect , and the founder of the DOSE Lab. He is a leading voice in demystifying brain chemistry, focusing on helping people manage digital burnout, phone addiction, and overstimulation in the modern world. TJ shares his own story of changing his relationship with alcohol, including a powerful epiphany at a music festival that made him completely rethink what connection, fun and presence really mean. Together, they explore the surprising similarities between alcohol addiction and phone addiction, and why both are fuelled by the same dopamine-driven reward systems in the brain. The conversation takes an unexpected turn when Vic has a rather uncomfortable realisation of her own. Eight years sober and feeling quite smug about no longer disappearing into bottles of wine, she suddenly discovers she’s been disappearing into something else instead… her phone. In a moment that feels a bit like being caught snogging behind the bike sheds, Vic realises she may be neglecting her children in exactly the same way she used to neglect them with alcohol. Not…

People in this episode

Host: Vic

Guest: TJ Power

Topics covered

• digital burnout
• phone addiction
• alcohol addiction
• dopamine
• parenting
• mental presence

Keywords

• alcohol
• phone addiction
• dopamine
• digital burnout
• parenting
• neuroscience
• connection

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: DOSE Lab

Books & works: The DOSE Effect

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