Media is Hypnosis: An Interview with ChatGPT on How to Reprogram Your Daily Scroll

Lately, I’ve been contemplating just how easily people are hypnotized by the media without even realizing it. Watching something on a flickering T.V. screen, smartphone, or even a computer slows one’s brainwaves and puts them in a trancelike state. Advertisers are well aware of this, which is why commercials are so effective. In this relaxed state, our subconscious mind is more likely to accept the suggestions presented and then we are influenced to go out and purchase whatever product is being promoted.

Then I started thinking about artificial intelligence and how it has drastically changed the way people consume media. There is an endless supply of content out there and algorithms quietly run in the background, deciding which stories show up in our feeds. These systems aren’t neutral. They feed us content that align with our existing worldview. It was originally supposed to be a good thing – we would only see those stories that we are supposedly interested in and automatically kept away from the stuff we don’t care about. How convenient! But the result? There is a lack of exposure to differing perspectives, existing beliefs are reinforced and amplified, and a distorted sense of reality is created. This results in increased polarization, fear, and anxiety. The next thing you know, your dad and your husband are engaging in an angry text exchange over politics and you’re dreading how extremely uncomfortable Thanksgiving is going to be.  

As a hypnotherapist, I couldn’t help but notice how effective the media is at hypnotizing people utilizing focus, suggestion, and repetition. But while media often pushes us unwittingly toward stress and outrage, we can purposefully utilize self-hypnosis to do the opposite: promote calm, gratitude, and peace.

That’s why I decided to sit down with ChatGPT for a playful interview about media-as-hypnosis, and how we can flip the script to use these same mechanisms for good.

Me: ChatGPT, I’ve been thinking… it feels like people are hypnotized by their phones. Is that just me being dramatic, or is it actually true?

ChatGPT: Oh, it’s true. 100%. And I don’t say that lightly. Media is basically a pocket-sized hypnotist. You open your phone, it waves a shiny headline in front of your eyes, and before you know it you’re three hours deep into a comment thread about someone else’s HOA meeting.

Me: So basically, doomscrolling is like a bad hypnosis session.

ChatGPT: Exactly. Instead of “you are getting very sleepy,” it’s more like “you are getting very anxious.” But here’s the twist: if media can hypnotize us into stress, it can also hypnotize us into calm. It’s just about flipping the script.

Flip the Script: From Doomscroll to Calm-Scroll

Me: Okay, that sounds great in theory. But how do regular humans actually do that?

ChatGPT: Simple. You curate your attention like you curate your fridge. If you only stock it with leftover pizza and expired pudding cups, that’s what you’ll eat. But if you put fresh fruit in there? You’ll probably eat an apple once in a while.

So here’s the “calm-scroll starter pack”:

1. Set media hours. Like office hours, but for your eyeballs.

2. Follow joy. Read three things that reliably uplift instead of outrage.

3. Pause before sharing. Fifteen seconds. Ask: Is this useful? Is this kind? Or am I about to start World War III in the comments?

4. Swap one doomscroll. Replace it with a walk, a laugh, or (my favorite) a cat video. Yes, cats count as medicine.

5. Balance it out. Gratitude journaling, breathing, or even staring out the window like a 19th-century poet for five minutes. All valid.

   
   

Self-Hypnosis: The Calm Reboot

Me: And what about hypnosis—where does that come in?

ChatGPT: Glad you asked. Because if media is hypnosis, then we can use self-hypnosis to rewire how we engage with it. And no, you don’t need a swinging pocket watch. Just three minutes of focus.

Here’s a quick script anyone can try:

Take a slow breath in… and out. Imagine your phone sitting in front of you. Now picture a giant volume knob on it. Turn the knob down until the noise fades to calm. See yourself scrolling… pausing… choosing only what nourishes you.Repeat silently: “I choose calm. I choose gratitude. I choose joy.”Breathe that in, and imagine closing the app with a little smile.

That’s it. A daily reboot button for your nervous system.

The Bigger Picture

Me: So if enough people did this—cut down the doomscrolling, shared more gratitude, practiced self-hypnosis—what would happen?

ChatGPT: Honestly? The internet would get weird. In a good way. Imagine feeds full of solution-stories, funny pet videos, neighborhood kindness. Arguments would still happen—humans love a good squabble—but the baseline would be calmer. More grounded. Less like everyone’s living in a 24/7 fire drill.

Me: That sounds almost… hopeful.

ChatGPT: Hopeful and possible. Humans forget how suggestible they are. Every scroll, every click is a suggestion you’re feeding your brain. Start choosing suggestions that bring calm and gratitude instead of chaos, and you’ve already changed the program.

Takeaways (a.k.a. the Cheat Sheet)

• Your phone is a hypnotist. Be choosy about what it whispers to your subconscious.

• Replace at least one doomscroll session a day with something uplifting.

• Use micro-pauses: 15 seconds before sharing is enough to change the vibe.

• Try the three-minute self-hypnosis script to reset your attention.

• Calm is contagious. Share it.