Experts are worried about this increasing reliance on non-human interaction. In a recent paper published in the British Medical Journal, researchers raised concerns around people further isolating themselves and pointed out that we do not have a clear understanding of how relying on chatbots for relationship or mental health advice is affecting our well-being.

Concerned about his friends and wanting clarity on the evidence, third-year undergraduate psychology student, Ahmad Muntadhar, sought to answer the question: Are AI chatbots making us lonely?

In each episode, we dive into the evidence behind the issues that matter to you. We interviewed Arthur Bran Herbener, a PhD student at Aarhus University, about his latest research on whether there is a link between talking to chatbots and loneliness in young people. We also spoke to New York-based therapist and social worker, Shahem McLaurin, to find out what is happening in practice and whether it is safe to turn to chatbots for mental health support.

What you’ll find in this episode

• Beginning - Kathryn and Ahmad introduce the topic.

• 04:06 - Arthur explains what we know about social relationships and AI from the research.

• 07:57 - Arthur talks about stigma and why people turn to AI.

• 10.46 - Arthur describes the research findings on talking to AI like a friend was linked to loneliness.

• 15:19 - Arther explains the evidence around why we need to be vulnerable with other people.

• 18:33 - Shahem explains his concerns around using AI for therapy.

• 23:06 - Shahem talks about co-dependency and why we need to self-sooth.

• 26.05 - Shahem speaks about the importance of maintaining our agency.

• 28.51 - Shahem explains why we need to build trust and community with others.

• 32:33 - Kathryn and Ahmad reflect on the interview and answer the question: AI chatbots are making us lonely, is it science or fiction?

Resources and recommendations

The paper we discussed:

• Are lonely youngsters turning to chatbots for companionship? The relationship between chatbot usage and social connectedness in Danish high-school students, by Herbener & Damholdt and published in International Journal of Human-Computer Studies in February 2025

The headlines covered in the episode:

• Experts raise alarm about people using ChatGPT and other AI systems to help with loneliness, published in the Independent in December 2025, linked here

• ‘I spoke to ChatGPT 8 times a day’ - Gen Z’s loneliness ‘crisis’, published by the BBC in January 2026, linked here

How to access free mental health support:

• For urgent mental health support, call Samaritans on 116 123 or contact online here

• Access the Mix for support for under 25’s here

• To find support and advice or access resources around mental health, access YoungMings here

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

My current mindset is unhelpful: it is only going to make me feel worse. I could shift my perspective. I likely feel sleepy because evidence suggests we need more sleep in winter. I put the big light on to try and force myself awake, but why? I could put on soft lamps and ease myself into the day.

Health psychologist and author of How To Winter, Dr , says that part of why we struggle in winter is because we try to act like nothing has changed. We expect to be able to continue with the same energy as the bright, long days of summer rather than shifting our routine and our mindset with the changing season. Animals are hibernating, the leaves are dropping from the trees: what are we doing to adapt?

Leibowitz explains that our wintertime mindset, our core beliefs about the winter, could be key to positive wellbeing throughout the season. Mindsets can be a powerful tool; evidence shows that the way we think about our health impacts our physical and mental health outcomes. The study discussed in this episode showed a link between a positive wintertime mindset and more positive wellbeing: could this be the secret to wintering well?

In this episode, Leibowitz explains the concept of wintertime mindsets, answers listeners’ questions about ways to feel better in winter, explains some misconceptions about seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and discusses how we can draw from evidence from different settings, daily practices, and science to better understand our wellbeing.

We hope you enjoy this rewind of “Can embracing winter improve mental health?” - we’d love to hear your thoughts and the small yet meaningful ways you are enjoying winter!

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Recommendations from the episode

The journal article discussed: Leibowitz and Vittersø (2020), Winter is coming: Wintertime mindset and wellbeing in Norway, published in International Journal of Wellbeing

More information on Kari’s book and newsletter: https://www.karileibowitz.com

What you’ll find in this episode

10:00-15:00 > What is a wintertime mindset?

15:00-20.00 > Seasonal affective disorder: explaining the misconceptions

20.22-26.25 > Treatments for seasonal affective disorder and the link with winter mindsets

26.39-35.00 > Focus on the paper: Is there evidence to show wintertime mindsets are associated with wellbeing?

35.35-41.55 > Why it is important to explain the evidence clearly

41.55-46.20 > Listener question: “I want to lean in to rest in winter, but struggle when the workload doesn’t change. Is it common to feel less motivated when you’re working in the winter months, and how do you address that?”

46.23-49.50 > What if we have limited flexibility over our workday?

49.53-51.40 > Sleep in the winter

51.45-53.50 > Slowing down, seasonal living, and welcoming the darkness

53.53-55.00 > Getting outside more in winter

Links to free mental health support

Samaritans contact information: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/

The Mix online chat and phone helplines for under 25s: https://www.themix.org.uk/get-support

Mind Charity contacts: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/for-children-and-young-people/useful-contacts/

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

Some are warning that it is too early to say we have a cure for Huntington’s given that these results are very early and have not yet been reviewed.

What does it mean to treat a neurodegenerative disease like Huntington’s? How is slowing the progression of a disease different from curing it? And what do the results of this trial mean for families living with the condition today?

In this episode, we speak with Professor Rachael Scahill, Associate Director of the Huntington’s Disease Centre at University College London. We discuss how Huntington’s affects the brain, what this gene therapy involves, and what these results could mean for the future of neurodegeneration research.

This episode is part of our neuroscience series, produced by PhD student Chloe Carrick, Youth Advisor Anushka De, and Research Fellow Dr. Kathryn Bates. Click the subscribe button on this page to get episodes straight to your inbox!

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Resources

• Read more about the work of the Huntington’s Disease Centre directed by Sarah Tabrizi

• Read about Huntington’s Disease news in plain language on HDBuzz

• Read about uniQure, the company who led this trial

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What you’ll find in this episode

• 3:05 - What is a neurodegenerative disease like Huntington’s?

• 8:42 - Gene therapy explained

• 10:50 - Interpreting results of the trial

• 16:00 - What role do companies play in clinical trials?

• 20:00 - Slowing a disease’s progression vs curing a disease

• 23:00 - Implications of the trial’s findings

• 26:35 - Next steps in working towards a treatment

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

This episode was supported by the King’s Public Engagement Small Grant funding scheme.

There is a lot of advice out there on how to get a good night’s sleep, as well as reports about the consequences of poor sleep. But sleep doesn’t look the same for everyone: age, sex, gender, and culturecould influence sleep patterns.

Why do we sleep? What does “good sleep” mean for different people? And how does sleep affect brain health?

In this episode, we interviewed Professor Anders Fjell, sleep expert and Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Oslo to answer these questions.

This episode is the second of our neuroscience series, produced by PhD student Chloe Carrick, Youth Advisor Anushka De, and Research Fellow Dr. Kathryn Bates. Click the subscribe button on this page to get the episodes straight to your inbox – we’d love to hear what you think!

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Resources

• Read more about the work of the Lifespan Centre for Brain and Cognition, co-lead by Professor Anders Fjell and Professor Kristine Walhovd

• Read the article on the cultural differences in association between sleep duration and health: here

• Theories for why we sleep, age differences in sleep patterns, and the association between sleep and brain health are discussed further in this review article, co-authored by Anders and Kristine

• Read about the survey on public perceptions of the role of sleep in brain health here

What you’ll find in this episode

• 04:20 - Theories and evidence for why we sleep

• 07.45 – Different sleep stages

• 09.55 – Why are there individual differences in sleep?

• 14:20 – The relationship between sleep duration and health differs across countries

• 17:55 – The importance of sleep for brain health: Public perceptions vs. research evidence

• 20:05 – Why do we feel so bad when we don’t sleep?

• 24:15 – There is no universal guideline for optimal sleep duration

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

This episode was supported by the King’s Public Engagement Small Grant funding scheme.

Headlines often use futuristic terms like ‘mind reading’. These phrases might grab our attention, but they could also distort our understanding of what BCIs are capable of (and what they are not).

In this episode, we interviewed Dr. Hunter Schone, BCI expert and post-doctoral researcher at the University of Pittsburgh. We discussed what a BCI looks like, how they can help patients with severe clinical disorders, and the roles of universities, companies, and regulators have in their development. We also discuss the work that needs to be done before these devices are made more widely available for patients.

This is an episode to watch: from 09.42 you’ll see our jaws DROP when Hunter pulled out a 3D model of a patient’s brain to demonstrate how BCIs work!

This episode is the first of our neuroscience series, produced by PhD student Chloe Carrick, Youth Advisor Anushka De, and Research Fellow Dr. Kathryn Bates. New episodes for this series will be released on the first Monday of the month. Click the subscribe button on this page to get them straight to your inbox.

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Resources

• Read more about the work of the Rehab Neural Engineering Labs at the University of Pittsburgh

• Watch this video with Dr. Sergey Stavisky on how BCIs have been used to restore speech in participants with ALS

• UCLH launches a clinical trial of Neuralink’s N1 Implant: The GB-PRIME Study

What you’ll find in this episode

• 07.40 - What is a brain-computer interface and how does it work?

• 09.42 - How are brain-computer interfaces inserted into the brain and how do they operate?

• 16.32 - Can brain-computer interfaces read your mind? What are the limits?

• 19.33 - Current advancements in supporting speech

• 22.14 - Importance of managing expectations of what they are capable of

• 24.35 - What Neuralink is currently capable of

• 28.44 - What happens to the data extracted?

• 32.00 - Can the public trust companies to handle this technology and the data produced?

• 36.45 - Everybody’s brain is different. How can we be sure these technologies will work for many people?

• 43.50 - Current advancements in supporting vision

• 47.00 - Hopes for the future

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

This episode was supported by the King’s Public Engagement Small Grant funding scheme.

The PEACs (Pain: Equality of Care and Support in the Community) programme was co-designed with Black people to develop a person-centred and bio-psycho-social approach to treating chronic pain in diverse communities. Black women are twice as likely to experience chronic pain than white women, and less likely to be referred to tertiary care. The PEACs programme was developed with Black communities to ensure better support, empowerment, and improved quality of life for people living with chronic pain.

In this episode, produced by Trainee Clinical Psychologist, Mariam Shah, and Research Fellow, Dr Kathryn Bates, we find out why Black people face inequalities in chronic pain treatment, how healthcare programmes can be developed with communities and for communities, and we learn about the outcomes and next steps for the programme.

There are important insights for healthcare providers, clinical psychologists, and those living with chronic pain or interested to find out more. Make sure you stay till the end to find out the impact of the programme. The first episode of this two part series on what it means to live with chronic pain can be found here.

We’d love to hear what you think! DM us on social media or reach out at info@scienceorfiction.co.uk Make to subscribe to receive the latest episode in your inbox. Please rate and subscribe in your favourite podcast platform - it really helps us reach more people!

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What you’ll find in this episode:

00:51 - What is chronic pain

1:30 - Misha Gardner and PEACS introduction

07:40 - Access to quality healthcare and healthcare inequalities

09:32- 10:29 - Lack of trust from marginalized groups in healthcare systems

12:29 - Impact and stigma of chronic pain

22:14 – How codesign was approached for PEACS 7-stage pathway

34:00 – Changing our approach to healthcare

36:00 – Biopsychosocial approach to pain management

38:55 – Recommendations and impact of the PEACs programme

Resources and recommendations:

• PEACS Impact and Evaluation Reports can be found here: PEACs: King’s Health Partners

• Kings Health Partners, Mind & Body Programme can be found here: Mind & Body Programme

• PEACS Patient Case Studies: Pain: Equality of care and support in the community (PEACS) project - KHP Mind & Body Programme - YouTube

• Pain Free Mindset by Dr Deepak Ravindran: Book - Dr Deepak Ravindran

• Gabor Mate resources Mind/Body Health: Mind/Body Health - Dr. Gabor Maté

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

We answer these questions and more in our latest episode. This is the first of two episodes about chronic pain, produced by Trainee Clinical Psychologist, Mariam Shah, and Research Fellow, Dr Kathryn Bates. In this first episode, we interviewed Dr Anna Hood, Lecturer at the University of Manchester and expert in the biological, psychological and social challenges experienced by young people living with chronic pain.

This eye-opening conversation reveals how individuals experience chronic pain, as well as the structural and social barriers many people face when they are trying to seek help. We discuss how chronic pain is defined, why people feel they need to hide their chronic pain, and how a better understanding of the complexity of chronic pain and the bias present in healthcare could improve access to support.

We answered listener questions in this episode - make sure you follow us on instagram to see the shoutouts to contribute to episodes. Please rate and subscribe in your favourite podcast platform - it really helps us reach more people! You can also click the subscribe button on this page to receive a monthly newsletter with our latest episode.

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What you’ll find in this episode:

00:26 - Chronic pain introduction

08:56 - Explaining pain and hiding pain – what might lead people to hide and what can make it easier

12:32 - Ken’s lived experience story

16.06 - Moving away from a medical approach and incorporating biopsychosocial and structural

18.05 - Disparities and racism in healthcare

19:26 - Discrimination in sickle cell disease

21:00 - Examples from the research on pain care discrimination

23:27 - Young people experience of pain and phones

29:05 - Mind body connection and science behind it

34:06 - What to do if your experiencing chronic pain

36:55 - Fluctuations in chronic pain

Resources and recommendations from the episode:

• Article we discussed: “Racism in pain management causes needless suffering” by Dr Anna Hood, published in the British Medical Journal: https://www.bmj.com/content/389/bmj.r848

• Pain UK: a charity with resources and information about support groups:

  https://painuk.org

• NHS information on chronic pain: https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/brain-nerves-and-spinal-cord/chronic-pain/

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

The National Institute of Health, which funds billions of dollars of medical research, has already pulled funding from hundreds of grants, including projects on discrimination in healthcare and LGBTQ+ teen health.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs have also been terminated – several companies have dropped diversity targets and scholarships to support people from marginalised communities have been cancelled.

This isn’t just about limiting what science can study - it is about who gets to do the science in the first place. We spoke to Professor Christina Pagel, a Professor of Operational Research at University College London, and the author of a new report How Diversity Makes Science Better to understand the full impact of these restrictions and why diversity is important in science.

Christina's 3-page report, How Diversity Makes Science Better, published with Independent SAGE can be found here.

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

The brilliant Chloe Carrick will be producing a special neuroscience series of the podcast this spring and we are looking for a youth advisor to help create this series. Chloe is a PhD student in structural brain development at King’s College London and co-hosted our episode on brain changes during pregnancy.

You can find the job description and information on how to apply here - make sure you submit before Friday 11th April and if you have any questions, let us know.

This month we are celebrating women in science - why is this important?

Women make up only 33% of people in science, are paid less than men in science, and are more often in temporary contracts compared to men (listen here for more info on this topic).

This is not just about fairness, it is about inspiring the next generation and harnessing diverse perspectives in scientific research.

If we only used one scientific method, we wouldn’t make any advancements in science. The same applies if we only have one type of input or perspective. We must continue to champion diverse ideas, perspectives and experiences to make progress in science.

In honour of International Women’s Day this month, we asked some of the brilliant women who have been featured on the podcast: “What do you love most about being a woman in science?”. Here is what they had to say along with more about their work:

Professor Ellie Dommett is a Professor of Neuroscience at King’s College London and lead of the ADHD Research Group.

Dr Hannah Savage is a postdoctoral research associate at University College London where her work focuses on how bodily signals relate to emotions and mental health symptoms.

Dr Eleanor Chatburn is a research clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute focusing on global child and youth mental health.

Mariam Shah is a trainee clinical psychologist at King’s College London working with young people in research and clinical settings.

Dr Laura Pritschet is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania studying brain changes across puberty, pregnancy and menopause.

We’d love to hear who inspires you! DM us on social or simply reply to this email ✨

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

In each episode, we interview experts to separate the science from the fiction in media coverage of scientific findings in psychology and mental health. We make sure we focus on the scientific method. This is because it is not always clear what the evidence shows when we see snapshots of findings from different studies reported in the media. If we understand the methods and results better, we can be more critical of and ultimately more confident in the science.

Listening back to some of the episodes from this year, I found a common theme: don’t underestimate yourself. We’ve tackled some hard topics: is online self-diagnosis of ADHD a problem, why do we feel sad in the winter, and is our smartphone use affecting our mental health?

In our live podcast recording, Professor Ellie Dommett pointed out that self-diagnosis is a requirement to seek help or to change our behaviour:

In the episode on problematic smartphone use and mental health, Dr Nicky Kalk pointed out that teenagers have good insight into their smartphone use and many report having strategies to control their smartphone use:

One of our listeners asked whether it was normal to feel less energised in the winter. Dr Kari Leibowitz, health psychologist and mindset expert, said that is right to feel different and to make adjustments in the winter:

In each of these episodes, the researchers and experts by experience come back to this same point: we often have a better understanding of ourselves than we realise and there are likely things we are already doing to deepen that understanding and in some cases to seek help.

I learn so much from hosting these interviews and I hope you enjoy them. If you have a suggestion for a topic or have seen something in the media that has caught your eye, email us at info@scienceorfiction.co.uk or message us on Instagram: @scienceorfictionpodcast

In this newsletter, we’re bringing you a clip from our most listened-to episode this year: What happens to the brain during pregnancy?

Dr Laura Pritschet explains how she got into studying the brain during pregnancy and her alarm to learn that female brains were deemed as “too messy” to study:

Thank you to everyone who listened, messaged us, and sent us questions for the experts in 2024! Super chuffed with our Spotify wrapped - it has been so cool to see our little community grow!

If you haven’t already, please rate us and follow us on your podcast platforms, like and watch the reels so the algorithms don’t squash us 🫶

What was your favourite episode? What do you want to hear more of in 2025? Send us an email info@scienceorfiction.co.uk or message us on Instagram @scienceorfictionpodcast

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It can be difficult to be positive about the winter; especially in the UK where complaining about the weather comes before “hey, how are you?”. It can sometimes feel like we’re surviving this season until the days, and our moods, become brighter.

Dr Kari Leibowtiz is challenging our gloomy view of winter. Kari is a Health Psychologist with a PhD from Stanford University – she has spent her career studying how our mindsets affect our health. In her research and her new book “How To Winter”, she argues we need to change our mindsets about winter.

Can winter mindset improve our mental health in this season? How does this fit with what we know about seasonal affective disorder?

In this episode, Kari talks about the issues with how we have traditionally diagnosed seasonal affective disorder, how changing our mindsets about winter is associated with our well-being, and what the evidence shows us (and what it doesn’t).

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Part of the problem with a lot of pop science books is that they make big claims about associations or correlational evidence. Kari’s book, on the other hand, is balanced. It is clear when the evidence is limited or when she is drawing on other areas of the research, and where experience and culture come into the strategies. I asked her why it was important to write her book in this way and Kari talked us through piecing together the parts of the puzzle and ensuring she transparently presented the science.

I hope you enjoy this episode and it brightens your wintery day! We’ve been thinking about winter wins on Instagram and posting little snippets of something wintery that made us feel good - click reply to this email or tag us on Instagram to let us know your winter wins.

Resources and recommendations

The journal article discussed: Leibowitz and Vittersø (2020), Winter is coming: Wintertime mindset and wellbeing in Norway, published in International Journal of Wellbeing

More information on Kari’s book and newsletter: https://www.karileibowitz.com

Help and support

If you are affected by any of the issues discussed in the episode, you can access free support via the following links:

Samaritans contact information: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/

The Mix online chat and phone helplines for under 25s: https://www.themix.org.uk/get-support

Mind Charity contacts: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/for-children-and-young-people/useful-contacts/

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

In case you missed it, this week we hosted our first live podcast recording with ADHD experts Ellie Dommett and Shauna Campbell on self-diagnosing ADHD. For our sold-out event, we hosted an interview and audience Q+A, we had a subscription raffle where the winner took home a stack of popular science books signed by the authors (congratulations Lise!), and everyone took home a Science or Fiction Live tote bag. Make sure you subscribe to be the first to hear about the next live recording!

In this episode, we sift through the speculation around self-diagnosis of ADHD. Why are rates of ADHD increasing? How can we use social media as a tool to understand ADHD but still be conscious of the quality? Should we be worried about online self-diagnosis?

This episode answers these questions. We learnt so much from the experts—Ellie Dommett is a Professor of Neuroscience and lead of the ADHD Research Lab, and Shauna Campbell is the Podcast Director of ADHD Babes, an award-winning community organisation for Black women and non-binary people with ADHD.

As always, the resources and recommendations from the interview are below, as well as links to free mental health support. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the event or the episode! Just respond to this email or send us a message on social media.

Resources and recommendations

• Journal article discussed: Yeung and colleagues (2022), TikTok and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study of Social Media Content Quality

• Ellie also mentioned the diagnostic manuals DSM and ICD, you can read more about them here and here

• Ellie talked about this systematic review on digital media use and ADHD symptoms and this meta-analysis on screentime and child ADHD

• How to ADHD - content on tools and strategies created by ADHDer Jessica McCabe

• ADHD Babes - community organisation for Black women and non-binary people with ADHD

• ADHD UK – platform created by people with ADHD for people with ADHD with evidence-based support and resources

• ADHD Foundation - neurodiversity charity with support and resources

• Information on how to apply for access to work support can be found here

Help and support

If you are affected by any of the issues discussed in the episode, you can access free support via the following links:

Samaritans contact information: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/

The Mix online chat and phone helplines for under 25s: https://www.themix.org.uk/get-support

Thank you to the ESRC Social Science Festival 2024 for funding this event. Thank you to Lucy Foulkes, Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Ellie Middleton and David Speigelhalter for donating books to the raffle!

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

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Content warning: in this episode, we are discussing pregnancy. We use the terms 'women' and 'female' to discuss pregnancy-related topics, but we recognise that not all women will experience pregnancy, and not all who experience pregnancy identify as women.

In this month’s episode, we talked to Dr Laura Pritschet about what happens to the brain during pregnancy.

Around 140 million births take place each year, and 85% of women are likely to get pregnant when not taking contraception. This is a huge proportion of the population – but we know surprisingly little about what happens to the brain during pregnancy. Only 0.5% of neuroscience research is conducted on women’s health, let alone pregnant women’s health.

A new study scanned a first-time mother’s brain 26 times throughout her pregnancy – this study has really captured people’s attention: it has been featured in over 300 news articles at the time of recording, including in the New York Times, Fox News, the BBC, the list goes on.

Why has this study made such a splash and what have we learned about the brain?

Kathryn and Chloe Carrick (PhD student studying structural brain development) interviewed the lead author of the paper, Dr Laura Pritschet, to answer these important questions.

This is our first time covering a neuroscience topic! Make a coffee and settle in; Laura explains what brain changes mean, how the brain changes over the lifespan, and why we must understand brain changes in pregnancy. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue and whether you’d like to hear more about the brain in future episodes.

Resources and recommendations

The journal article discussed: Laura Pritschet and colleagues (2024), Neuroanatomical changes observed over the course of a human pregnancy, published in Nature Neuroscience

Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative: more info here

We also talked about adolescent brain development, here are some resources on this topic:

Help and support

If you are affected by any of the issues discussed in the episode, you can access free support via the following links:

Samaritans contact information: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/

The Mix online chat and phone helplines for under 25s: https://www.themix.org.uk/get-support

Mind Charity contacts: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/for-children-and-young-people/useful-contacts/

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

First, the live event! We are hosting our first Science or Fiction Live: a live podcast recording in London and streamed online. We will be interviewing ADHD researcher Professor Ellie Dommett (King’s College London) and ADHD advocate and podcast director Shauna Campbell (ADHD Babes) on self-diagnosing ADHD: social media, statistics and everything in between. The live event is on Monday 28th October at 6.30pm at the Science Gallery London in London Bridge. There will be prizes, merch and nibbles if you come in person, or you can stream online and still send in your questions for the experts. All the information is on our webpage and you can sign up for free tickets on the eventbrite – hope to see you there! 

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Let’s get into this week’s episode. The debate as to whether young people should be using smartphones, how much they should use them and what they should use them for is all over media (for example, here and here) – and there is little consensus on what we should do.

Some are calling for a smartphone ban – author Jonathon Haidt has claimed smartphones should be banned for under 14s and social media for under 16s. Not all scientists agree – digital health researcher Dr Amy Orben has said recently that we are a digital society and children and young people have the right to be a part of it.

Two studies published by researchers at King’s College London have delved deeper into how young people feel about their smartphone use, and how problematic smartphone use is related to mental health symptoms.

What makes smartphone use problematic and how does it affect us? Is there evidence to suggest we should ban smartphones for young people?

This month we interviewed Dr Nicky Kalk, author of the two studies in question, and research and clinical lead at King’s College London, to find out.

Listen here, wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on YouTube

Resources and recommendations

Journal articles we discussed:

• A multi-school study in England, to assess problematic smartphone usage and anxiety and depression, published in Acta Paediatrica

• ‘There’s more to life than staring at a small screen’: A mixed methods cohort study of problematic smartphone use and the relationship to anxiety, depression and sleep in 13–16-year-old students in the UK., published in BMJ Mental Health

• Problematic smartphone use: What can teenagers and parents do to reduce use?, published in Acta Paediatrica

Recommedations:

• Nicky recommended The Conversation for articles written by scientists providing overviews of their research

• I recommend Lucy Foulkes’ article discussing the nuances of this issue

Help and support

If you are affected by any of the issues discussed in the episode, you can access free support via the following links:

Samaritans contact information: https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/

The Mix online chat and phone helplines for under 25s: https://www.themix.org.uk/get-support

Mind Charity contacts: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/for-children-and-young-people/useful-contacts/

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

ADHD medication shortage:

• National shortage of ADHD medication is still ongoing in the UK

• Many blame an increasing demand, but there have also been issues with changing suppliers

• Uncertainty around the end of the shortage is negatively impacting affected patients

Read more:

Statement from NHS: https://swlstg.nhs.uk/adhd-medication-shortage/

BBC article: “ADHD: Medication shortages have 'profound effect' on patients”

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Special review of NHS trust mental health services:

Several concerns over "quality of [mental health] care and safety of patients":

• The review follows the Nottingham attacks where three people were killed

• The offender's psychosis was mismanaged by local care providers

• "Chronically underfunded and overstretched" mental health services to blame

Read more:

Guardian article: “Nottingham attacks: series of errors led to Valdo Calocane being discharged, review finds”

CQC statement: https://www.cqc.org.uk/publications/nottinghamshire-healthcare-nhsft-special-review

• The giant tech conglomerate is finally letting (some) mental health researchers access Instagram data

• The resulting studies could provide insights into the impact of social media on wellbeing

• Instagram has previously been scrutinised for damaging young people’s mental health

Read more:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/17/24200579/meta-instagram-researchers-study-teen-mental-health

https://www.cos.io/about/news/meta-and-cos-open-request-for-proposals

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AI-powered therapy

• AI chatbots are increasingly being used as tools for users with mental health struggles with pros and cons

• These tools could improve the accessibility of mental health support and relieve strained services

• The use of AI in talking therapies may raise concerns over ethics, user privacy, and AI’s (currently) limited empathy abilities

Read more:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/za/blog/the-psyche-pulse/202407/ai-chatbots-for-mental-health-opportunities-and-limitations

Imane Khelif: “I am a woman”

• The boxer, who won Olympic gold in Paris, was subject to intense online abuse over her gender eligibility to compete

• Khelif was assigned female at birth and has never identified as anything other than cis-female.

• The scrutiny has negatively impacted her mental health

• Legal action was filed against X over “gender-based cyber harassment”

Read more:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/imane-khelif-ap-paris-french-algerian-b2596142.html

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/14/jk-rowling-and-elon-musk-named-in-imane-khelif-cyberbullying-lawsuit

A recent report on this topic published by AI researcher, Sam Stockwell, from the Alan Turing Institute hit the headlines. We unpack the evidence, explained the implications, and Sam outlined recommendations for what governments and regulators need to do to protect our democratic process.

How do we measure the impact that AI might be having? Does AI pose a real danger to the future of elections across the globe?

Read the report here:

Briefing paper by Sam Stockwell and colleagues: AI-Enabled Influence Operations: The Threat to the UK General Election

Recommendations

• Electoral Commission voter guidance on disinformation

• CETaS research publication page

• CETaS generative AI report

• Turing Public Policy misinformation survey

• Brennan Center for Justice AI and Democracy article series

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or The Science or Fiction Podcast.