Your Brain on the Internet

If we don't actively build walls around our attention, the Internet will continue strip-mining our focus until nothing is left but static

Nick Kossovan , Bio and Archives--June 11, 2026

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"This is your brain. This is drugs. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?"

If you grew up in the late 80s or 90s, those iconic lines, paired with the imagery of an egg being cracked into a glistening, oiled frying pan, are permanently etched in your memory. This television public service announcement (PSA), which first aired in 1987 during the peak of the American 'War on Drugs,' is still considered a hallmark of public service broadcasting and one of the most indelible ads ever created.

Our brains are processing far too much inconsequential noise

Critics said the analogy was overly simplistic, prompting teenagers to dismiss the message entirely. Despite the criticism, this PSA became a pervasive cultural phenomenon. I believe there's a dire need today for a similar PSA, in which the glistening frying pan doesn't represent illicit drugs but rather the glowing handheld screen we all cling to.

Today, thanks to the Internet, especially its byproduct, social media, our brains are processing far too much inconsequential noise. Yet we're still expected to function as if it were a psychologically stable environment.

The updates never stop. The interpretations never stop. There's always another distant crisis, another warning, another technological breakthrough, another predicted collapse, another emotionally unwell malcontent explaining what's "really happening" with a chart nobody has the energy to fact-check. Amid this deluge, people........

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