Mental Health and Technology with Barbara Diez - Psychologist

Many specialists have passed through this channel who make sure the networks don’t fail, that the interconnections hold and that the systems don’t go down. The problem is that those same people have another internal network, the one in their own head, which can also overload, fail and even be hacked. That’s what this conversation with Barbara Diez, a psychologist specialising in trauma, attachment and relationships, is about.

We start with the textbook cliche, the supposed addiction to phones and social media. Barbara adds nuance with good judgement: social media has its good side, keeping us connected, but it also eats up an enormous amount of our time, from the youngest to the oldest, and it doesn’t always create the bonds we think. We talk about how much is real and how much is exaggerated alarm in the headlines about the dangers of technology. And we get into ground that’s rarely discussed. Many communicators and cybersecurity professionals carry things that aren’t technical, but internal. Sometimes the problem isn’t in the code, it’s in the head of whoever writes it. A different kind of talk, more human than technical, and for that very reason a necessary one.