Emmy-winning host Zuri Hall brings the same down-to-earth, fun vibes she’s known for in her red carpet interviews directly to your ears with her podcast Hot Happy Mess, focusing on any and everything that can help us live our best lives. On this episode, she tackles the subject of social media with the help of expert Dr. Mai-Ly Nguyen Steers as well as her real-life friends Cleo and Travasha. After getting the science from Dr. Steers, she and the "group chat" talk about their own rules for social media for themselves and their kids, ponder the value of an online brand, learn how to game the algorithms of their social platforms, and search for gold in the dross of the DMs.
Dr. Steers talks about the “classical conditioning” of notifications – the buzz, or ding, or just the little number in the corner that compels us to check our phones. But because likes, shares, retweets or comments are “intermittent conditioning” – sometimes positive, sometimes negative, sometimes nonexistent – we become more obsessive about our content. MRIs have shown that social media triggers a dopamine response in our brains, akin to addiction. Ironically, our online social lives distract from our face-to-face relationships, which are generally more fulfilling than digital ones – so we’re sacrificing what we actually need for something we only think we want. And because algorithms are programmed to show us only what we want to see, confirmation bias is leading to a more divided world. Dr. Steers gets into all of it, along with advice on how to have a healthier relationship with our social media so we can reap the benefits without so many of the drawbacks.
Armed with Dr. Steers’ information, Zuri, Cleo, and Travasha examine their own relationships with social media. Travasha just had a baby, so she worries about the digital paper trail younger generations have to deal with, where all their business before they were even a legal adult is easy to find online. On the other hand, having an online following is like having money in the bank, Zuri points out, so could an social presence from an early age actually help your child? How does Cleo game the algorithm so that whenever she’s online, she’s laughing? Plus, going viral didn’t help Cleo or Zuri make a love connection in their DMs, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Listen to this real, refreshing conversation about the good, the bad, and the ugly of social media on Hot Happy Mess.
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