A Stressor of Overabundance

The Interview: Digital Drugs Have Us Hooked. Dr. Anna Lembke Sees a Way Out. by LuLu Garcia-Navarro
New York Times, February 1, 2025

The thrust of this interview rests with a question that Dr. Anna Lembke, author, psychiatrist, and addiction researcher, poses about this moment in history: “What is it about modern life that makes us so vulnerable to addiction problems?” Lembke and interviewer LuLu Garcia-Navarro consider the “convenience and abundance” of ever-ready digital stimuli that Lembke contends has only served to make people more unhappy and lonely than ever. She posits that we have come to a kind of crisis of “endemic narcissism,” and suggests that in “this world of abundance, we have to intentionally seek out things that are hard.” A deeply compelling listen, this conversation offers educators familiar considerations to mull over when it comes to digital device use, academic rigor, and meaning making. Here, though, Lembke offers nuance by situating the issue as “a stressor of overabundance” that will have ongoing ramifications for how we are coming to regard our individual and collective humanity.