What happens when neuroscience meets advertising, technology, and mental health? And how can understanding the brain help us make better decisions in a world filled with screens?

In this episode of the Purpose Beyond Practice Podcast, host Dipesh Sitaram welcomes Dr. Carl Marci, a psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, and entrepreneur who has spent his career exploring how the brain responds to human connection, technology, and digital media.

Dr. Marci shares his journey from Harvard Medical School to groundbreaking research at the MIT Media Lab, where he explored early wearable technology and ways to measure emotional responses. His work eventually led him into consumer neuroscience, where he helped develop tools to understand how people respond to advertising.

Dr. Marci explains how his early interest in empathy and the doctor-patient relationship inspired him to study the body's physical responses to human interaction.

His research expanded into advertising, where tools such as eye tracking, heart rate monitoring, and skin conductance helped companies understand how audiences responded to media.

He also shares a fascinating 2011 study in which participants were asked to watch television without their smartphones. The results raised important questions about our growing dependence on digital devices.

The conversation explores how smartphones, social media, and constant digital stimulation may affect attention, behavior, and emotional well-being.

Dr. Marci discusses concerns about young people's mental health and the importance of creating healthier relationships with technology.

He also introduces his book, Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age, which examines how technology affects the developing brain and offers practical recommendations for families.

Beyond neuroscience, Dr. Marci shares his experience transitioning from academic medicine into entrepreneurship while maintaining a clinical practice.

He discusses financial risk, the importance of balancing volatility and leverage, and why protecting personal health and family time becomes increasingly important throughout a medical career.