Sometime in 2024, I started getting ads in my Instagram feed from a supplement company called Thesis. The ads generally featured good-looking, fashionable people telling neat, 30-second stories about how the supplements had solved their chronic procrastination, indecision, or distractibility. Many of the evangelists were identified as high-achievers in their respective fields — a Ph.
D. neuroscientist, a CEO, or a surgeon. I’d be lying if I said that the ads weren’t compelling.
As a digital journalist, my working life is constantly mediated by my computer screen. That same screen is a gateway to a functionally infinite amount of information, news, and entertainment. And, over the years, the internet has slowly harnessed more and more of my waking hours on and off the clock.
It’s a reality that, at times, leaves me feeling overstimulated and paralyzed. Many other people have had a similar experience. Over the past decade, young people have experienced an increasing amount of psychological distress , and people have been diagnosed with ADHD at higher and higher rates .
Nootropic supplement companies pitch an attractive solution. What if you could take a pill (or powder or gummy candy) that would make your brain function better in our technology-mediated world? Something that would help you focus on what is important, remember the right details and block out the noise. The nootropic industry is already worth more than $2 billion and is expected to double in size in the ne.