Have you noticed yourself preferring to stay in more? Trusting people a little less? Finding small talk a little harder? You might not be imagining it — your brain might actually be changing shape. Researcher Sarah Stein Lubrano calls it social atrophy: the quiet shrinking of our social brains as we withdraw from each other. The more time we spend alone behind screens, the harder social cues become to read, the more suspicion creeps in, and the more we convince ourselves — "I prefer to be alone," "people can't be trusted" — that isolation was our choice all along. It's a vicious cycle, and in a world growing more transactional and distrustful by the day, we may all be caught in it without realizing. But Lubrano isn't here just to diagnose the problem, but to show us the way out. Because the brain that atrophies can also be retrained. Join Sarah as she unpacks the data, debunks the myths, and makes the case that regular, genuine social contact isn't a nice-to-have. It's the foundation of a shared life and the only place from which we can actually begin to fix things together. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Sarah Stein Lubrano is a researcher, author and broadcaster. Her academic research has focused on the role of emotion in political communication, and specifically cognitive dissonance. Lubrano is the head of research for the Future Narratives Lab. For many years she was the head of content at The School of Life, where she is still a content lead. She writes and speaks publicly on a variety of topics. In earlier lives, Lubrano made films and worked as a prison tutor and obituary writer. GOOD READS Don't Talk About Politics, How to Change 21st Century Minds (2025);