An award-winning neurologist discusses the roots of our screen addictions in the Stone Age and what we can do about it. The human brain has not changed much since the Stone Age, let alone in the mere thirty years of the screen age. Therefore, as neurologist Richard Cytowic – who, as Oliver Sacks noted, "has changed the way we view the human brain" – explains, our brains are poorly equipped to resist the encroachments of Big Tech: they are programmed for the entirely different needs of a prehistoric world. In "Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age," Cytowic explains how this programming works from the perspective of the brain. What he reveals in this book shows why we easily become dependent on screen devices, why young, developing brains are particularly vulnerable, why we need silence, and what we can do to defend ourselves. In the engaging narrative style of his popular TED talk, Cytowic paints an accessible picture of how the Stone Age brain functions – the role of neurotransmitters like dopamine in basic survival instincts such as desire and reward, the role of comparison in emotions and emotions in competition, and, most importantly, the orienting reflex, one of the unconscious circuits that automatically focus, shift, and maintain attention. Against this backdrop, the nature of our vulnerability to digital devices becomes clear, as does the possibility of breaking their spell. Full of practical measures we can take immediately, "Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age" is a compelling argument that we can change the way we use technology, resist its addictive power over us, and regain the control we have lost.