Your Phone Is Trying to Trick Your Brain — What I Learned from Brainhacked
A review of Brainhacked by Jennifer Beeston — one of the first books I read while researching The Warrior's Garden.
When I started writing The Warrior's Garden, I knew I needed to understand something first: why is it so hard to focus?Why do we scroll and scroll even when we don't want to? Why does it feel like our brains don't belong to us anymore?
Brainhacked by Jennifer Beeston was one of the very first books I picked up to answer those questions. And wow — it did not disappoint.
So, What Is "Brainhacking"?
Here's the big idea of the book: tech companies use science, brain studies, and your personal data all together to get inside your head.
In plain words? Apps and websites are built by really smart people who study how brains work. Then they use what they learn to keep you glued to your screen. It is not an accident. It is on purpose.
And it doesn't just make you buy stuff. It makes you emotional, lonely, and anxious too. That is a lot of power for a little phone.
"Brainhacking is the sum of all that technology, psychology, neuroscience, and data collection put together."— Jennifer Beeston, Brainhacked
The Brain Chemical Trap
Have you ever felt a little buzz of happiness when someone likes your photo? That feeling has a name: dopamine. It is a chemical your brain makes when something good happens.
Social media apps are built to give you tiny dopamine hits — then take them away — so you keep coming back for more.
"The rat isn't addicted to the cheese, per se. It's addicted to the anticipation: the mix of desire and uncertainty."
That's us. We are the rat. We keep checking our phone because maybe there's a new like. Maybe someone commented. Instagram even holds back your likes on purpose and drops them all at once — just to make that dopamine hit bigger.
This research directly shaped the ideas I'm building into The Warrior's Garden. A true warrior knows their weaknesses. If your phone is pulling your strings, you can't fight on your own terms.
Ads Are Watching You
You might think: "I don't care if they watch what I click. My life is boring." But the book has a great answer for that:
"They're not just spying — they're using that intelligence to probe deeper and deeper into your psyche so they can better lure you into putting your money into their pockets."
They are not just watching. They are learning you. They know things about you that even your family might not know.
The book tells a wild true story: a dad received coupons for baby products in the mail addressed to his teenage daughter. A store figured out she was pregnant before her own father did — just from her purchase history.
Search engines do the same thing. Advertising-funded search engines are biased toward advertisers, not toward giving you the best, most honest answer.
Your Brain Gets Weaker From Too Much Scrolling
This part hit me hard when I was doing research for The Warrior's Garden. Too much internet doesn't just waste your time. It actually changes how your brain works.
Too much internet browsing weakens your attention span and short-term memory. Without focus and self-control, we lose sight of our own goals and become vulnerable to digital manipulation.
A neuroscientist at Stanford even found that multitasking on screens sends new information to the wrong part of your brain. Instead of going into your memory bank, it goes to your habit center. It is like writing notes on sticky paper instead of carving them in stone.
And here's one more thing that blew my mind: when you take photos of everything on a hike, you actually remember the hike less. Your brain figures the phone has it covered. We are outsourcing our memories to our devices.
The Good News: You Can Fight Back
Okay — phones are sneaky. Ads are sneaky. Apps are designed like slot machines. But here is the best part of this book. Beeston gives you real tools to take your brain back. This is exactly the kind of practical wisdom that is shaping The Warrior's Garden.
Some of her best tips:
Turn off all your notifications. Every single one.
Wait 24 hours before buying anything in your online cart.
Confuse the algorithm — search for stuff you hate on purpose.
Go outside. Just five minutes in nature boosts your mood and lowers anxiety.
Keep a gratitude journal to grow your brain's optimism filter.
Build tiny habits. Small changes stick better than big ones.
"Leave your phone in your pocket or your car, and do something physical in natural light and fresh air. Spending time in nature improves your memory and is associated with reduced symptoms of depression, anxiety, and ADHD."
"Green time" — that is what doctors call time spent outdoors. It is medicine. And it is free.
The Optimism Superpower
One of my favorite things in the whole book is a little part of your brain called the inferior frontal gyrus. It filters out bad news. It is your brain's built-in shield against doom and gloom.
The stronger your optimistic bias is, the healthier you are — mentally and physically.
You can actually grow this part of your brain through gratitude, kindness, and thinking about your best future self. These are not just feel-good habits. They are brain training.
That idea — that inner strength ripples outward into the world — is at the very heart of The Warrior's Garden.
One Big, Bold Idea From the Author
My favorite experiment in the whole book? Beeston made a YouTube video with a mean, clickbait title — but filled it with a genuinely positive, helpful message. It became one of her top five videos ever.
"Let's deliver some 'glitter bombs' of sneaky joy hidden in the rage-bait and despair."
I love this so much. You don't have to play the algorithm's game by their rules. You can use their tools against them and sneak in something good. That is warrior thinking.
Who Should Read This Book?
Everyone. Seriously. If you have a phone, you need this book. If you have a kid with a phone, you really need this book. The parts about kids and social media are sobering — teen mental health, sleep problems, and rising rates of anxiety are tied directly to how these platforms are designed. That is not a side effect. It is built in.
Beeston writes in a way that is easy and actually fun to read. She is not preachy. She is like a smart friend who figured something important out and just wants to tell you about it.
A must-read for anyone building a warrior's mindset in the digital age.
The Bottom Line
Your brain is worth protecting. Your focus is worth fighting for. Your time is worth guarding like treasure. Brainhackedgives you the knowledge and the tools to do all three.
As I keep building The Warrior's Garden — a project about growing real strength, real presence, and real purpose in daily life — books like this one are the soil everything else grows from.
Put down your phone (after finishing this, of course), go outside, and pick up a copy.
The Warrior's Garden · Book #1 in the Research Reading Series