David Gillespie describes himself as a father of six, a recovering corporate lawyer, a former co-founder of a successful software company and the author of eight bestselling books.  He is widely known for his book Sweet Poison, which he wrote after recognising that the traditional dietary advice he was being sold wasn’t working.  Since then, he has written extensively on issues that are close to his heart, including his latest work Teen Brain. This fantastic book should be compulsory reading for anyone who has anything to do with a teenager – it explains in very accessible terms the chemistry of teenager’s brains and why this makes them so susceptible to addiction to the ‘porns’ of the modern tech environment – ‘danger porn’ and ‘approval porn’.  In this interview, David shares with us the key points from his book, as well as some practical advice for parents to address this scary and unprecedented

Intelligence Summary (INTSUM)

01:05   The Social Dilemma on Netflix – David recommends this as a great source of information from the tech perspective on how social media applications are being deliberately designed to be addictive

04:13   David’s background, and the catalyst for writing Sweet Poison

07:30   Debunking the myth that dietary fat makes you fat – and that sugar is OK

10:30   What on earth is going on in a teenager’s brain?  The biochemical answer:  the importance of dopamine and GABA, and how these relate to addiction

16:30   The unique environment teenagers are facing at the moment – a drop in certain addictions, but a scary rise in new ones, enabled by smart devices

19:30   Would Steve Jobs let his kids have an iPad?

23:00   The ‘perfect storm’ of adolescent hormonal states and addictive software

23:46   The desire for risk in teenage boys, and how it is being exploited by ‘danger porn’ - online gambling and gaming

25:50   Teenage anxiety and depression rates have doubled in 10 years

27:00   How can we separate the good from the bad on our teenager’s devices?

28:20   Is anyone addicted to Microsoft Excel?!

31:10   What’s the difference between TV and social media – and how to address the question of connectivity with friends

34:20   How to parent against these challenges

36:00   The evolution of parenting styles over the last century

39:00   The relationship between demand feeding as a baby – and parental confidence later on in life

42:00   Using devices as sedatives

43:15   How we learn from our brain’s reward system

46:16   Why all babies are psychopaths

47:00   Rules:  their importance and how to set them

48:05   Celia Lashlie’s outstanding book He’ll Be OK

49:50   Why parents need to harden up to save their kids

54:00   The importance of consequences – natural and imposed

55:30   Corporal punishment as a consequence?

57:15   Rite of Passage events

58:20   Why women bothered to invent men….

External Links

• David’s website, including links to all his books

Music

The Externals – now available on Spotify