Your Phone Is Designed to Keep You Stuck (Here's How to Finally Break Free) | The Happiness Lab

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Why is social media so hard to quit? We waste hours scrolling, feel worse when we log off, and still find ourselves going back for more. Dr. Laurie sits down with Dr. Cass Sunstein, co-author of (00:00:57) Nudge, to explore a new concept from the 2026 World Happiness Report: the “product trap.” Together, they unpack why we keep returning to platforms that make us unhappy — and what it might take to finally break free. Resources mentioned in this episode: Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness “World Happiness Report 2026” “The Problem of Social Cost” “Valuing Facebook” “The Welfare Effects of Social Media” “When Product Markets Become Collective Traps: The Case of Social Media” “Libertarian Paternalism Is Not an Oxymoron” #podcast #happiness #happinessjourney #happiness #wellbeing #socialmedia #smartphone #smartphones #mentalhealth #worldhappinessday ABOUT DR. LAURIE SANTOS Dr. Laurie Santos is Professor of Psychology and Head of Silliman College at Yale University. Professor and podcast host Dr. Laurie Santos is an expert on human cognition and the cognitive biases that impede better choices. Her course, “Psychology and the Good Life,” teaches students what the science of psychology says about how to make wiser choices and live a life that’s happier and more fulfilling. The class is Yale’s most popular course in over 300 years and has been adapted into a free Coursera program that has been taken by over 3.3 million people to date. Dr. Santos has been featured in numerous news outlets including the New York Times, NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, NPR, GQ Magazine, Slate, CNN and O, The Oprah Magazine. Dr. Santos is a winner of numerous awards both for her science and teaching from institutions such as Yale and the American Psychological Association. She has been featured as one of Popular Science’s “Brilliant 10” young minds and was named TIME’s “Leading Campus Celebrity.” Dr. Laurie Santos is the podcast hos