Anna Lembke: Why Your Brain Mistakes Instagram for Heroin

Anna Lembke: Why Your Brain Mistakes Instagram for Heroin

From The Unmistakable Creative Podcast by Srinivas Rao

April 30, 2026 · 1h 2m

About this episode

Anna Lembke discusses the parallels between social media and drug addiction through the lens of neuroscience.

Stanford addiction psychiatrist Anna Lembke explains the neuroscience of dopamine and why our brains respond to social media the same way they respond to drugs. Drawing from her book Dopamine Nation, she shares how a dopamine fast can reset reward pathways and why the solution requires both individual discipline and systemic change. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Srinivas Rao

Guest: Anna Lembke

Topics covered

  • neuroscience
  • dopamine
  • social media
  • addiction
  • individual discipline
  • systemic change

Keywords

  • dopamine
  • Instagram
  • addiction
  • neuroscience
  • Dopamine Nation
  • reward pathways
  • dopamine fast

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stanford

Books & works: Dopamine Nation

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