5 key insights from,Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age. by Carl Macri

Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age

We form early attachments that influence our future relationships; we make friends who influence what we watch, wear, and say; we work in groups that form societies; we stay connected to people we love for most of our lives.Humans are wired for social interactions. Our brains are endowed with networks of neurons that compel us to form strong attachments and social bonds. It is critical to have empathy and form strong social bonds. Mental health is under siege in the Digital Age.

1. Our brains are uniquely wired for social interactions.

As a result of spending so much time with our smartphones and a growing number of apps that penetrate nearly every aspect of our lives, we use media and technology as a mood regulator. We no longer tolerate boredom because we don’t have to—stimulation and reward are an arm’s reach away. Over time, online social media and other applications began displacing offline face-to-face interactions. This disrupts attachments with parents, weakens bonds with friends, and diminishes the full capacity of our prefrontal cortex as we become more distracted, divided, and depressed.

2. Beware of your smartphone.

The human brain goes through an impressive transformation from birth to adulthood and we have a pretty good understanding of how and when these changes occur. Can we use developmental neurobiology to inform our understanding of the impact mobile media consumption has on children and adults alike? The answer is yes.The seduction of media multitasking, the risks of constant social media comparisons, and an internet laden with advertising superstimuli are all designed to keep you coming back for more. This contributes to rising rates in adults of anxiety, depression, narcissism, and loneliness.

3. To manage the impact of smartphones, we need to think developmentally.

There are a lot of wonderful things about mobile media, information, and communication technology. But we are all walking around with an incredible amount of computational power with full access to the internet and a world of temptation and titillation in our pockets. Sometimes habits slip into addiction. It’s hard to tell with technology when this line has been crossed since it is so easy to hide unhealthy smartphone habits and their use is pervasive.“When you change your habits, you change your brain—it’s that simple.”

4. Not all tech habits are addictions, but all tech addictions start as habits.

There are many causes for worry about the corrosive effects of mobile media, information, and communication technology in our lives and brains. But there are also reasons to believe that we will create a common expectation that these technologies can and should support us, not divide and depress us. Humans are capable of positive change and there are signs that we will survive the threats of our many smartphone habits. Our incredibly adaptive brains will see us through the technology revolution of the Digital Age—a revolution that will likely accelerate.

5. There is hope for a future with tech-life balance.

There is a difference between surviving and thriving. We need to be more proactive than reactive in order to create a digital literacy for our children and a tech-life balance for ourselves. We need healthy brains functioning at their peak if we will have any chance of dealing with the many problems society faces. The same brain science that informs our understanding of the negative consequences of too much media consumption and unhealthy smartphone habits can also inform clear recommendations about how to move forward.

Surviving and Thriving

“Brains are tricky and adaptable organs. For all the ‘neuroplasticity’ allowing our brains to reconfigure themselves to the biases of our computers, we are just as neuroplastic in our ability to eventually recover and adapt.”-Douglas Rushkoff

Neuroplasticity Quote #1

“Because of the power of neuroplasticity, you can, in fact, reframe your world and rewire your brain so that you are more objective. You have the power to see things as they are so that you can respond thoughtfully, deliberately, and effectively to everything you experience.”-Elizabeth Thornton

Neuroplasticity Quote #2

Rewired: Protecting Your Brain In The Digital Age

Harvard neuroscientist Carl Marci shares 5 key insights from his new book, Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

mentalhealth

Mental Health

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

When we deal with others, we aren't thinking; we're just reacting.Often we know these interpersonal habits are bad, but they're wired deep from years of "practice".We learned these "lessons" about how to deal with people and stumbled on "solutions" that helped at that time, in that context - but they've been more harm than good over the long haul.If we try to resist that programming, it gets very uncomfortable. It's like trying to break any bad habit or addiction.

Emotionally Intelligent Relationships: What We Do

<ul><li>We get better by learning to deal with the difficult moments in life.</li><li>You can't quell all the pain in life, some of it is unavoidable.</li><li>The real problem isn't the schema-related discomfort; it's your attempts to avoid it.</li><li>Bad feelings are like bad weather - they're temporary and pass if you let them.</li></ul>

The Real Problem Is The Avoidance

This is when you respond as you normally respond but instead, this time you need to do something different.All you have to do right now is... Nothing. Don't do the bad thing. Just stop. Observe what's going on in your brain.Defuse<ul><li>Do not engage the thoughts; observe and label them to get some distance.</li><li>Reframe the thought: "If I don’t give in, they’ll hate me."</li><li>Respond: “Thank you, Mind.”</li></ul>

Notice The Moment Of Choice

Identify: Find your fatal flaw. Whether it’s hostility, withdrawal, compliance or whatever, identify that bad social habit that always causes you grief.The Moment of Choice: Next time you reflexively want to engage in that bad coping behaviour, all you have to do is nothing. There’s a moment of choice in there, shimmering. You can choose to do something else.You’re not the weather; you’re the sky.Defuse: When the thoughts and fears run rampant through your head just say, “Thank you, Mind.” Those thoughts are advisors, not dictators. Then choose to act on your values.

How to Free Yourself from Those Bad Interpersonal Habits

We all have reflexive bad habits in relationships. They're due to what psychologists call "schema." Here's how we can fix them...

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

This Is How To Have Emotionally Intelligent Relationships: 4 Secrets - Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Group therapy is an exposure-based large-group one-session treatment (LG-OST). It builds on the remarkable advances made in the development of highly effective cognitive-behavioural treatments (CBT) for various mental disorders. So-called ‘exposure strategies’ are at the heart of these approaches.

Getting Cured Of Phobias In One Day

Exposure therapy <a href="https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/381574">refers</a> to ‘repeated, systematic exposure to cues that are feared, avoided, or endured with dread’. Whether the therapy is delivered in vivo (ie, involving actual objects, events or situations), in sensu (ie, using the imagination – for example, to conjure traumatic memories or obsessional thoughts), or it’s interoceptive (ie, focused on the feared bodily sensations), it should provide the patients with new, anxiety-reducing and fear-relieving experiences that violate their fear-evoking expectancies.

Exposure Therapy

After an exposure treatment, between a half and two-thirds of patients are deemed to no longer suffer from an anxiety disorder or they show significant <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272735815001178">improvement</a>. This is a blessing when considering the life-limiting, long-lasting, progressing and – as increased suicide rates among anxiety patients <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11920-018-0885-z">show</a> – sometimes even life-threatening character of these disorders.

Benefits Of The Exposure Treatment

Despite the promising initial findings, it remains to be proven whether LG-OST is a feasible and effective treatment for anxiety disorders beyond phobias. Moreover, the ‘best’ therapist-to-patient ratio still needs to be calibrated. And most importantly, LG-OST effectiveness needs to be improved further, because not all participants benefited to the desired extent. The cost- and resource-saving aspect of LG-OST, however, is obvious.

A Lot Of Work To Do

A single-session, exposure-based treatment for large groups could help bring evidence-based psychotherapy to the masses

Strength in numbers: group therapy can beat phobias in a day | Psyche Ideas

Why do successful people follow such eccentrically specific habits? And why are we so keen to read about them and mimic them in our own lives?The answer lies in a powerful psychological process called ‘superstitious learning’. The brain is constantly looking for associations between two events. While it is mostly correct, it sometimes mistakes coincidence for causality – leading us to attribute success to something as arbitrary as the colour of our notebook or the number of beans in our brew, rather than our own talent or hard work.

Mimicking The Successful

By giving us a sense of self-determination, the adoption of rituals – including the completely random behaviours that we have learnt ourselves or borrowed from those we admire – can help us to overcome anxiety, and may even bring about a noticeable boost in performance.When we hear of others' triumphs, we often end up copying their habits, too, including the arbitrary rituals that they had acquired through superstitious learning - a phenomenon known as 'over-imitation'.

Positive Usages Of Imitation

Superstition is a kind of maladaptive behaviour that arises from what is normally a very good thing - the ability of the brain to predict.It seems that the brain is constantly looking for associations between our behaviour, our environment and the rewards that we seek - and quite often, it can come to the wrong conclusions.If superstitious behaviours arise as a by-product of our ability to form associations, then you would expect more superstitious people to perform better on this task.

The Problem With Rituals

<ul><li>Once rituals informed by superstitious learning exist, they can extend their influence beyond their creator.</li><li>We're conditioned to admire successful people and mimic their habits, even if some of these habits are eccentric.</li></ul>

The Problem of 'Over-Imitating'

We love to mimic the routines and rituals of the rich and famous – but they may be no more insightful than random behaviours.

habits

Habits

Superstitious learning: Can 'lucky' rituals bring success?

There are many barriers that prevent you from changing your mind: ego, overconfidence, inertia, and cost.  Politicians who change their minds lose face; family and friends who change their minds are mocked. Yet, we are encouraged to change our minds. The world can’t progress and improve unless some people are willing to change their minds.  Understanding how opinions are formed can help us to get better at changing our minds.

Changing your mind comes at a cost

We get less open to novelty as we get older. In late adolescence and early adulthood, there’s a sudden craving for novelty. By the time you’re middle-aged, you’re less likely to try anything new for the rest of your life.  There are many reasons why it is easier to change your mind when younger. It could be that your brain is more plastic then, your positions are less entrenched, so it’s less costly to change them, or that the stakes are lower - the fate of the world doesn’t rest on your decisions.

It’s easier to change your mind when you're younger

People don’t just take facts, draw conclusions from them, and then base their opinions on that. They start out with an emotional commitment to a certain idea, and then use their cognitive powers to organise facts to support what they want to believe.  We tend to see the world and cherry-pick facts that support our version of the world. It takes a really big external shock that clearly proves you’re wrong to change your mind.

Changing your mind starts with an emotional commitment

When we talk about changing our minds, we should acknowledge that every situation is different.  There are many reasons why someone in your family holds a position you find objectionable. Maybe you think they’re ignoring the facts, or you feel their position lacks moral reasoning, or they find pleasure from an idea you disagree with, or simply hold the opposite position because it is the opposite.

Every situation is different 

We can be so invested in our beliefs even if we suspect they are wrong. The incorrect ideas may actually provide some benefits to us. For example, when an expert who has dedicated their career to a certain policy or line of thinking faces new information, they may feel uncomfortable disrupting a consensus.

Invested in beliefs even if they are wrong

Even in the absence of evidence, the belief that we are right can contribute to our reluctance to change our minds.  A study that surveyed over 200 managers at a British restaurant chain, who had detailed feedback about their performance every quarter, found that only 25 percent were accurate about the quintile of the performance distribution they were falling into. 47 percent of managers were overconfident about it.

Overconfidence contributes to the reluctance to change our mind

People who refuse to change their minds often have self-enhancing selective memories. They remember good outcomes and tend to forget bad ones.

Selective memories

If you’re forced to give an explanation on any strong opinion you hold, you have to really understand and even confront the fact that you might not understand.  But when you give reasons, the people you try to convince may be more interested in talking about their feeling about the subject, what they like, and what they don’t like.

Clear facts don't change minds

It’s really hard to change someone’s mind, but if you’re going to try, you should try to get them to change their own minds by asking them to assume your perspective and explain why you might be right.  <ul><li>Try to get people to step outside themselves and think about the issue from an objective perspective and disconnected from their own interests. </li><li>Ask them to explain, not reason, the nuts-and-bolts level of how something works. </li></ul>However, people often can’t explain their own reasoning. This is known as the “illusion of explanatory depth.”

How to change someone’s mind

Psychologists Rozenblit and Keil asked people how well they understood how things worked. Then they asked them to explain in as much detail as they could how it works. People struggled until they realised they couldn’t. When they were asked again how well they understood, their confidence in their understanding was lowered.  The source of the illusion is that people fail to distinguish between what they know from what others know. For example, a plumber knows how a toilet works. You know the plumber or know how to find a plumber, giving you the illusion that you know how a toilet works.

The “illusion of explanatory depth”

The solution to changing people’s minds is not to give them the necessary information. Instead, we depend on others and hold our beliefs because the people around us have those beliefs.  Even if people with opposing views have the same information, they might have different experiences in their past, different influences, and will interpret the exact same article differently depending on what their initial position was.

We are more likely to believe what other people around us believe


Well-educated people who consume a lot of information tend to hold disproportionately extreme views, possibly because they’re good at seeking out information that confirms their prior knowledge and ignoring information that might run counter.

Holding extreme views

Many people are bad at creating diverse, well-balanced networks. They struggle to listen to opposite voices and change their minds. One reason is that we are hardwired to divide the world into "us" and "them's." And not to be like the "them's". <ul><li>Studies show that the best way to turn "them's" into "us's" is to take somebody else's perspective. Try to go through what somebody else's rationalisations are. </li><li>Individuate somebody. Do they like the same pets you do? Do they love their kids like you or sing lullabies to them?</li><li>Give people enough contact around a shared goal, and they'll turn into "us's".</li></ul>

The antidote to inflexible thinking is balance

There are a lot of barriers to changing your mind: ego, overconfidence, inertia — and cost. Politicians who flip-flop get mocked; family and friends who cross tribal borders are shunned. But shouldn’t we be encouraging people to change their minds? And how can we get better at it ourselves?

podcasts

Podcasts

Freakonomics co-author Stephen J. Dubner uncovers the hidden side of everything. Why is it safer to fly in an airplane than drive a car? How do we decide whom to marry? Why is the media so full of bad news? Also: things you never knew you wanted to know about wolves, bananas, pollution, search engines, and the quirks of human behavior.

Freakonomics Radio

How to Change Your Mind (Ep. 379 Update)

Relationships can be hard work and are even more difficult when you feel disrespected 🤦‍♀️When a relationship is built upon a foundation of love and respect, you and your partner can create a relationship that builds you both up to be stronger, happier, and more fulfilled.

It all starts with respecting your partner.

Many of us feel the need to be in a relationship, so we rush into one.This can lead to people being in unhealthy relationships that don't meet their needs. It can be difficult to know with certainty what constitutes an unhealthy relationship. Thinking that a bad relationship is better than nothing is incorrect and dangerous.Another common misconception is that, if being in a relationship is normal, it must be easy. The truth is relationships are difficult, and everyone has problems with them from time to time.

It Seems Like Everyone Is In A Relationship.

In fact, divorce rates are declining, especially in younger couples, possibly because they tend to marry later in life than members of previous generations did. This suggests that more people are taking the time to find healthier relationships based on love and respect rather than getting hitched as soon as possible and trying to make it work. The first step to building a healthy relationship based on love and respect, is understanding these two dynamics.

Relationships Are Not Impossible To Navigate.

Everyone knows what love is; they just don't know how to describe it.Several psychologists have developed theories to explain love and what it means in our lives.For example, Freud described true love as finding your "ego ideal," a substitute for one's perfect image of oneself.Sternberg devised his Triangular Theory of Love. It depicts a triangle as the totality of a love relationship with the peaks of the triangle representing intimacy, passion, and decision.

What Is Love?

The philosopher Kant stated that everyone deserves basic respect just by being human.To feel respected is to feel safe, accepted as you are, valued, and encouraged to be your highest, truest self. When you feel respect for someone, you naturally want to act in ways that honor them. When you're with them, you show them kindness, courtesy, and consideration. You don't try to force them to be like you because you appreciate them for their differences and accept them as they are. Because you respect them, you treat them fairly.

What Is Respect?

Respect is important in all human relationships. If you don't respect someone, you can at least give them basic human respect or respect the role they play.True respect, however, is especially important in love relationships. Because lasting love relationships help define who you are as a person, it's crucial that the relationship is a healthy one. When you and your partner respect each other, you create a healthy relationship in which you can both mature and gain personal strength throughout your lifetime.

Why Respect Matters

When you fail to respect your partner, you prevent yourself from getting honest respect from them in return.Your failure creates an environment where your partner can't be their best. Just as important, you put yourself in that same environment, where love is more like a disease and a burden to both of you.

Prioritizing respect isn't just about avoiding a bad relationship. It offers many positive benefits for you individually and for you and your partner as a couple.A respectful love relationship can help each of you as individuals by:<ul><li>Giving you an emotionally safe space</li><li>Building self-confidence</li><li>Allowing freedom and independence</li><li>Fostering personal growth</li><li>Increasing motivation to excel at what you do</li><li>Bringing you feelings of self-worth and acceptance from another</li><li>Helping you see the world in a positive light</li></ul>

The Value of a Respectful, Love Relationship

The same type of love can also do the following for you as a couple:<ul><li>Improve communication within the relationship</li><li>Empower you to deal with conflict in healthy and productive ways</li><li>Help you make better decisions as a couple</li><li>Let you enjoy each other's company more</li><li>Help you work out differences without ending the relationship</li></ul>

<ul><li>Are they naturally friendly, humorous, wise, or serene?</li><li>What about their achievements?</li><li>What have they done that impresses you?</li><li>What are they good at?</li><li>Are they a great artist, parent, businessperson, or home decorator?</li><li>Are they able to do things others can't?</li></ul>You set the stage for treating them with respect by focusing on what makes your partner the unique combination of abilities, achievements, and personal qualities that only they are.

When you truly love someone, you want the best for them. If you want to give them your best, it stands to reason that you have to give them your utmost respect. How do you do that? You do it by the way you think about them, express yourself, and behave toward them.

Keys To Developing Respectful Love

If you don't see anything to respect about your partner, why would you be with them? You probably do believe there's something admirable about them. Perhaps you just haven't thought about it much. If not, now's a great time.First, remember that they deserve basic human respect. Then, consider the things you admire about them specifically. Think about their qualities.

See Your Partner as Deserving of Respect

You'll never know just how admirable your partner is if you don't take note of what they do, how they behave, and what they accomplish. Build your respect by noticing their triumphs. Notice which of their achievements makes them happiest. Be aware of their unique characteristics.Everyone has value and something good in them. If you're paying attention, you'll see more of what makes them who they are.

Be Observant

Most people have an idea of what their perfect partner would be like. This ideal image doesn't help you build respect for your partner. Set it aside, and see your partner for who they are. Instead of complaining that they aren't what you would like them to be, celebrate them as they are.

Appreciate Your Partner for Who They Are

Your respect will impact your partner more when you communicate it well. Let them know what you admire about them. Show them how happy you are when they accomplish something that impresses you.You can communicate through words or looks of approval. Don't stop with complimenting them directly. Tell others how much you value their accomplishments and personal character. Sometimes, hearing from their friends how you feel can be just as pleasing to your partner as hearing it from you.

Communicate Your Respect

Your partner may help you in many ways. They may encourage you to do your best. They may help you in practical ways, too, like supporting you while you advance in your education or your career.No matter what they do for you though, don't lose sight of their value in just being who they are. Certainly, you need to let them know you appreciate what they do for you. Go beyond that. Let them know that even when they aren't doing anything for you, you admire them in their own right.

Treat Your Partner as Inherently Valuable, Not A Means to an End

Every action is a choice. Think before you act. Choose behaviors that show your respect. Give them a reason to feel safe with you by not attacking them verbally or physically. Make time to be with them. Join them in celebrating their achievements. Be polite to them. Honor their choices even when they don't benefit you.

Choose Respectful Actions

At this point, you may be thinking that you'll have to pretend to be someone you aren't to build respect and love. You don't! All you need to do is build your respect for them. When you do, the rest is just a matter of learning the right ways to show how you feel about them.Learning these new thought and behavior patterns can be challenging, but a therapist can help you build a more respectful love relationship.

Learning to Improve Your Relationship

Another key is one that we often take for granted: wait to get into a relationship until you meet someone that you respect. When we face pressure to be in a relationship from friends, the media, or even from within ourselves, it can be easy to start a relationship with someone that we don't really love or respect. Sometimes these relationships can work out, but it makes a lot more sense to stay single until the right person comes along.

When you learn to respect your partner more, you'll be happier in your relationship. Then, when you learn how to show your admiration, you'll not only appreciate them for who they are, but you'll also be able to show your respect in an authentic, genuine way.Ultimately, developing a healthy, respectful relationship with your partner can lead to a lifetime of love. Take the first step today.

A Final Word of Advice

When you’re in a romantic relationship, even with friendships or relationships between family, there should always be love and respect. The article says it all.

mindfulness

Mindfulness

communication

Communication

How To Develop A Relationship Based On Love And Respect | BetterHelp

Correlation means there is a statistical association between variables. Causation means that a change in one variable causes a change in another variable.Correlation and causation are two related ideas, but understanding their differences will help you critically evaluate and interpret scientific research.

Correlation vs. Causation | Differences, Designs & Examples

In casual use, the word "implies" loosely means suggests rather than requires. However, in logic, the technical use of the word "implies" means "is a sufficient condition for".Where there is causation, there is correlation, but also a sequence in time from cause to effect, a plausible mechanism, and sometimes common and intermediate causes. While correlation is often used when inferring causation because it is a necessary condition, it is not a sufficient condition.

Usage, and meaning of 'imply'

Example:The faster that windmills are observed to rotate, the more wind is observed.Therefore, wind is caused by the rotation of windmills. In this example, the correlation (simultaneity) between windmill activity and wind velocity does not imply that wind is caused by windmills. It is rather the other way around, as suggested by the fact that wind does not need windmills to exist, while windmills need wind to rotate. Wind can be observed in places where there are no windmills or non-rotating windmills—and there are good reasons to believe that wind existed before the invention of windmills.

Example of illogically inferring causation from correlation

For example:Children that watch a lot of TV are the most violent. Clearly, TV makes children more violent.This could easily be the other way round; that is, violent children like watching more TV than less violent ones.

In other cases it may simply be unclear which is the cause and which is the effect.

The two variables are not related at all, but correlate by chance. The more things are examined, the more likely it is that two unrelated variables will appear to be related. For example:The result of the last home game by the Washington Commanders prior to the presidential election predicted the outcome of every presidential election from 1936 to 2000 inclusive, despite the fact that the outcomes of football games had nothing to do with the outcome of the popular election. This streak was finally broken in 2004 (or 2012 using an alternative formulation of the original rule).

The relationship between A and B is coincidental

Correlation is a valuable type of scientific evidence in fields such as medicine, psychology, and sociology. Correlations must first be confirmed as real, every possible causative relationship must be systematically explored. In the end correlation alone cannot be used as evidence for a cause-and-effect relationship between a treatment and benefit, a risk factor and a disease, or a social or economic factor and various outcomes. It's one of the most abused types of evidence, because it is easy and tempting to come to premature conclusions based upon the preliminary appearance of a correlation.

Proven Evidence

“Cars with flames painted on the hood might get more speeding tickets. Are the flames making the car go fast? No. Certain things just go together. And when they do, they are correlated. It is the darling of all human errors to assume, without proper testing, that one is the cause of the other.”-Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behavior “Causality = Correlation + Assumptions”-J.N. Berkemeijer

Quotes

problemsolving

Problem Solving

Correlation does not imply causation

If our minds are messy, we mess up our lifestyles, and when our lifestyles are messed up, our mental and physical health suffer. The 5 Steps are a way to harness our thinking power—any task that requires thinking can use a neurocycle, which means everything can use a neurocycle because we are always thinking! So, are you ready to begin cleaning up your mental mess?The brain is not hard-wired or stuck; it’s soft-wired, which essentially means it responds to what we think, feel, and choose—and what we eat, what we put into and onto our body, and how we move our body.

Neurocycling is a lifestyle

When our thinking is toxic, it can mess up the stress response, which then starts working against us instead of for us. This, in turn, can make us more vulnerable to disease, which is why many researchers now believe that toxic stress is responsible for up to approximately 90 percent of illness, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Only 5–10 percent of disease is said to come from genetic factors alone.

About Toxic Thinking 

First, you prep that amazing brain of yours, and this is where mindfulness, meditation, breathwork, tapping, and so on are essential. You can do some breathwork (my favorite, because of its scientific base and effectiveness, is the <a href="https://www.wimhofmethod.com/breathing-exercises">Wim Hof method</a>)3 or something similar. This is a simple, mind-driven action that prepares your mind and optimizes your brain and body, allowing you to calm down enough to react in the most favorable way. Next, you go beyond the mindfulness your preparation has created into directed neuroplasticity through the 5 Steps:

Preparation For Neuro cycling 

“The goal of the Gather step is straightforward: to understand what you’re hearing, reading, and experiencing, and to get the information into the brain properly. As you go through this step, it’s important to remember we are thinking beings; we think all day long.”

Gather

The aim of this focused thinking step is to learn how to think deeply and intentionally, which will develop your phenomenal capacity to build effective, long-term memory into your dendrites. The Golden Rule of the 5 Steps is to think to understand the information you’re trying to remember, which involves three steps: asking, answering, and discussing.

Reflect

“This step involves writing down the information you selected in the analytical thinking step above. I recommend you use the “brain-friendly” way of writing I have created, called the Metacog (see appendix B). It’s really important to write concepts down as you do the ask/answer/discuss process, because this reinforces healthy dendrite growth and really forces you to think about your thinking. Remember, the brain operates like a quantum computer.”

Write

“helps build useful long-term memory into the dendrites. It’s a very simple yet extremely powerful process. All you have to do is deliberately and intentionally go through what you’ve written, either in your journal or on your Metacog, to see if it makes sense, and if it has all the necessary information on it. It goes without saying that you can’t learn from something that doesn’t make sense to you, and the Recheck step helps with this. It involves a cross-evaluation of the content of your written work.”

Recheck 

“In this step, you play “teacher” and sequentially reteach all the information that’s on your Metacog. Teach it to your dog, your cat, or whoever will listen to you! You can even reteach yourself in the mirror. Explain what you’re learning out loud. Using all of your senses will make your brain work harder and build the memory more effectively. Test yourself in some way; perhaps create some questions you think may be asked by your boss or teacher. Ask yourself questions that will help you apply the information to your life in a real and tangible way.”

Active Reach

Check for <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/neurocycle/id1460119837">iOS app</a>Check for <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.switch_android&hl=en_US&gl=US">Android app</a>

Neuro cycling Mobile Apps

I completed reading this awesome book about “Cleaning up your Mental Mess” last night by Dr. Caroline Leaf. This book is really good and very informative to train your brain and mind. I tried to give some summary here. 

Toxic thoughts, depression, anxiety--our mental mess is frequently aggravated by a chaotic world and sustained by an inability to manage our runaway thoughts. But we shouldn't settle into this mental mess as if it's just our new normal. There's hope and help available to us--and the road to healthier thoughts and peak happiness may actually be shorter than you think. Backed by clinical research and illustrated with compelling case studies, Dr. Caroline Leaf provides a scientifically proven five-step plan to find and eliminate the root of anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts in your life so you can experience dramatically improved mental and physical health. In just 21 days, you can start to clean up your mental mess and be on the road to wholeness, peace, and happiness.

books

Books

Toxic thoughts, depression, anxiety--our mental mess is frequently aggravated by a chaotic world and sustained by an inability to manage our runaway thoughts. But we shouldn't settle into this mental mess as if it's just our new normal. There's hope and help available to us--and the road to healthier thoughts and peak happiness may actually be shorter than you think. Backed by clinical research and illustrated with compelling case studies, Dr. Caroline Leaf provides a scientifically proven five-step plan to find and eliminate the root of anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts in your life so you can experience dramatically improved mental and physical health. In just 21 days, you can start to clean up your mental mess and be on the road to wholeness, peace, and happiness.

Dr. Caroline Leaf

Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess

One of the biggest myths about communicating science is that merely presenting people with knowledge will lead to them acting accordingly with logic.This is known as the information deficit model, and the mode of communication we're using here, but between the global pandemic and climate crisis we now have countless examples of how this often doesn’t work.

The Information Deficit Model

Industries are degrading trust in science by hijacking scientific credentials, using “sciency” sounding claims to bolster their clout for profits; companies, such as pharmaceutical companies lately, have most certainly given us plenty of reasons not to trust them. What’s more, science itself doesn’t always get things right, and large factions of the media are stoking sentiments against “elitist” experts and bolstering anti-science views.

Jumping On The (Science) Wagon And Killing The Train Driver

Much of the misinformation we face is intentional and organized, and even worse, research has found lies seem to spread faster online and are often stickier than the truth.All this doubt, conflict, and information overload are eroding people’s trust in scientists, and those often responsible for conveying scientific information to the public, like the media and government officials, are fairing even worse on the trust scales.

No Trust, No Boarding

Psychologist Aviva Philipp-Muller, now at Simon Fraser University, and colleagues dug into the scientific literature on persuasion and communication, to try and outline an up-to-date and cohesive overview on how to tackle this “wicked problem” of anti-science.This distrust of the source of information is one of the four main barriers to accepting science Philipp-Muller and colleagues identify in their review.  When information challenges a person’s core beliefs, challenges the group they identify with, or doesn’t match their learning style are the other main barriers the team highlighted.

The 4 Main Barriers To Accepting Science

Lack of trust in the information source comes up time and time again as one of the key reasons people don’t accept scientific information.Legitimate and robust scientific debate can also confuse people who are not familiar with the scientific process, further damaging trust when it spills into the public domain. To combat these trust issues the researchers suggest highlighting the communal nature of science and emphasizing the wider, prosocial goals of research.

Barrier #1: Distrust Of The Source Of Information

Honestly acknowledging other people’ positions and any drawbacks in your own, rather than brushing them away, can also go a long way to better establishing trust, the team explains.“Pro-science messages can acknowledge that there are valid concerns on the other side, but explain why the scientific position is preferable,” says Philipp-Muller.

Scientists Explain Away, Don’t Brush Away

The way our thinking is wired as an obligatorily social species makes us very vulnerable to sometimes blindly believing those we identify with as part of our own cultural group – no matter how much education we have had. This phenomenon is called cultural cognition.“Work on cultural cognition has highlighted how people contort scientific findings to fit with values that matter to their cultural identities,” write Philipp-Muller and colleagues.

Barrier #2: Information Challenges The Group We Identify With

Political polarization and social media have only enhanced this. For example, in the US, conservatives are more likely to believe scientists that appear on Fox News, and liberals are more likely to trust those on CNN.What is more, social media platforms like Facebook provide customized news feeds that means conservatives and liberals can get highly varied information.To combat this we need to find common ground, create information that’s framed for specific target audiences, and collaborate with communities holding anti-science views, including people traditionally marginalized by science.

Tribal Loyalty And Information Tribalism

The internal conflicts created by information that challenges our social or personal beliefs such as morals and religion, lead to logical fallacies and cognitive biases such as cognitive dissonance.Scientific information can be difficult to swallow, and many individuals would sooner reject the evidence than accept information that suggests they might have been wrong. This inclination is wholly understandable, and scientists should be poised to empathize.

Barrier #3: Information Challenges Our Core Beliefs

“People get their defenses up if they think they are being attacked or that you’re so different from them that you can’t be credible,” says Petty. “Find some places where you agree and work from there.”Counterintuitively, increasing someone’s general scientific literacy can actually backfire, because it provides the skill to better bolster their pre-existing beliefs. Increasing scientific reasoning and media literacy skills, and prebunking, the process of “debunking lies, tactics, or sources before they strike”, or “inoculating people against misinformation” are advised instead.

Prebunking Instead Of Debunking

“A few observation and much reasoning lead to error; many observations and a little reasoning to truth.” - Alexis Carrel


Distrust of science is a massive problem. In our current environment, it's directly leading to people's deaths. Much of the misinformation we face is intentional and organized, and even worse, research has found lies seem to spread faster online an

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