Modern society is plagued by health epidemics: obesity, record levels of loneliness, increasing mental health problems and various forms of addiction. From the outside, all these issues might not seem related. But a single phenomenon actually ties them all together: superstimuli. Superstimuli are behaviours, objects and social cues that are exaggerated, unnatural versions of things we have evolved to want and need. This hard-wired evolutionary response is why we lust after airbrushed people online, binge on fake ultra processed food and struggle to stop scrolling on social media, even when...
Modern society is plagued by health epidemics: obesity, record levels of loneliness, increasing mental health problems and various forms of addiction....