Something You Should Know - SYSK Choice: How Technology Changes You For the Better & Medical “Truths” That Are False

Episode Date: February 8, 2020

The number of parents of who spank their kids as a means of discipline has dropped significantly over the past several decades – but some parents still do it. And in other countries, spanking is much more commonplace. But for those parents who still spank, there is a new reason to stop – and it has nothing to do with the kid – and all to do with the parent’s well being. Source: “30 Lessons for Living” by Karl Pillimer (https://amzn.to/36Pv8bV) Just how does modern technology affect you? It’s a fascinating discussion you’ll hear when I speak with Clive Thompson, a longtime contributor to the New York Times magazine, a columnist for Wired and author of a book called, Smarter Than You Think : How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better (http://amzn.to/2s5W9Ir). Clive makes the case that despite some negative effects of technology – it is mostly a positive influence on us. But it’s complicated. Plus, in this episode, I have some fascinating ways to save money you probably haven’t heard before. Here’s one: Even non-members can use the pharmacy at Sam’s Club and Costco and save a lot of money. And there are several more…https://www.rather-be-shopping.com/blog/2015/06/29/things-you-can-do-at-costco-without-a-membership/ And what you don’t know about your health can really hurt you. Dr. Richard Besser, former chief health and medical editor for ABC News and author of the book, Tell Me the Truth Doctor (http://amzn.to/2s5uuqW) explodes some myths and offers some important health facts you need to know to stay healthy and live a long time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a listener to Something You Should Know, I can only assume that you are someone who likes to learn about new and interesting things and bring more knowledge to work for you in your everyday life. I mean, that's kind of what Something You Should Know was all about. And so I want to invite you to listen to another podcast called TED Talks Daily. Now, you know about TED Talks, right? Many of the guests on Something You Should Know have done TED Talks. Well, you see, TED Talks Daily is a podcast that brings you a new TED Talk every weekday in less than 15 minutes. Join host Elise Hu.

She goes beyond the headlines so you can hear about the big ideas shaping our future. Learn about things like sustainable fashion, embracing your entrepreneurial spirit, the future of robotics, and so much more. Like I said, if you like this podcast, Something You Should Know, I'm pretty sure you're going to like TED Talks Daily. And you get TED Talks Daily wherever you get your podcasts. Today on Something You Should Know, some parents still spank their kids and there's a new reason for them to stop. Also, technology. Phones, computers, games, and apps have become a large part of our lives, but there are dangers. The single biggest

danger of technology is probably distraction, right? It's a testament to actually have stimulating and fun and delightful environments. It constantly overwhelms doing the boring stuff that you have to get done as an adult in everyday life. Then, some excellent ways to save money you probably haven't heard before. And myths about your health. For example, what to really expect from a doctor visit. The idea that you're going to go into your doctor's office and they're going to find something that you were absolutely clueless was brewing. I mean, that is the rare, rare, rare exception. They will find out a lot

more by having that conversation with you, by exploring your family history. All this today on Something You Should Know. People who listen to Something You Should Know are curious about the world, looking to hear new ideas and perspectives. So I want to tell you about a podcast that is full of new ideas and perspectives, and one I've started listening to called Intelligence Squared. It's the podcast where great minds meet. Listen in for some great talks on science, tech, politics, creativity, wellness, and a lot more. A couple of recent examples, Mustafa Suleiman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, discussing the future of technology. That's pretty cool.

And writer, podcaster, and filmmaker John Ronson discussing the rise of conspiracies and culture wars. Intelligence Squared is the kind of podcast that gets you thinking a little more openly about the important conversations going on today. Being curious, you're probably just the type of person Intelligence Squared is meant for. Check out Intelligence Squared wherever you get your podcasts. Something you should know. Fascinating intel. The world's top experts. And practical advice you can use in your life. Today, Something You Should Know with Mike Carruthers. It occurred to me that I haven't given out my email address in some time and consequently the

number of listener emails has dropped a bit so let me give it out because i always enjoy reading listener emails and if you have a question or a comment or a suggestion or just want to say hello i read each one and i respond and all you have to do is write me at Mike at SomethingYouShouldKnow.net. Once again, it is Mike at SomethingYouShouldKnow.net. First up today on the program, spanking. And certainly over the last several generations, people's attitudes towards spanking their children has changed. Many would agree that change has been for the better. Far fewer parents feel the need to spank their children has changed. Many would agree that change has been for the better.

Far fewer parents feel the need to spank their children. But a lot of parents still do. A lot of parents around the world still do. And if you do, there is a really good reason to stop it. A survey of 1,200 people over the age of 65 asked them to look back at their life and identify their biggest regrets. And the big one was that they spent too much time worrying. But right up there

on the list was hitting their kids. And many of these adults were from the spare the rod, spoil the child era of child rearing. So while people can still debate the good versus harm of spanking children, one thing seems really clear, that if you spank your children, it will make you feel terrible for doing it. And that is something you should know. You use technology every day, all the time, and you probably don't give a lot of thought to what that technology is doing to you. Not necessarily in a bad way, although there may be some bad effects and there may be some good effects, but certainly technology has to have an effect on who we are and how we work. One person who knows a lot about that is Clive Thompson. Clive is a longtime

contributor to the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired, and he's author of a book called Smarter Than You Think, How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better. Welcome, Clive. So, in general, how do you see this? How do you see technology affecting us? One of the big things technology is doing in the modern world is it's making us into more public and connected thinkers. People are able to, when they're wondering about something or interested in something or passionate, to broadcast what they're thinking about and connect to other folks who they had no idea existed and go really deep with them.

Which, you know, not that long ago was something you couldn't even fathom or even think of how you would do that even if you wanted to. And now today we all do it all the time. Yeah. And I mean, I remember, you know, growing up and having no sense that there was a way to talk to an audience. And having an audience, it turns out, is very psychologically powerful. When you look at the science behind this, whenever we go before an audience, even like

one or two or three people, we suddenly try to up our game. We try and think more clearly, be more precise, be more innovative. And this is happening over and over and over again. You see it online. Well, that's an interesting point, but you're right. You know, when you've got to get up at the meeting or get up in front of the PTA, I mean, you really put on your A-game because you don't want to look like an idiot. No, it's absolutely true.

One of the things I started doing when I researched this book was I would watch people tweeting. And it's actually kind of funny because, you know, you sit behind with a shoulder and they'll write six words and they'll erase all five of them. Then they'll write eight more words and erase seven of them. And they will do this for four minutes to write one tweet. And I'll say, why are you working so hard at this?

They're like, I want this to be right. I mean, they are literally applying a level of creativity to their tweet that I saw in headline writers, in newspapers that I worked at in the 1990s. It's quite remarkable. But isn't technology, whether it's better for you and a good thing, or whether you view technology as a bad thing, is kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy? Whatever you think is what will happen. I think it's definitely true that if you come at this stuff with a negative point of view, you'll sort of notice all the bad stuff, right?

Because, you know, if you wanted to ask me, okay, so give me some examples of terrible public thinking, I would say, all right, go look at a newspaper, any newspaper. They have dreadful comments. But that's because newspapers are lazy. They're not putting the staff time into moderating and cleaning up their comments, which they could do. But the truth is, newspaper comments are a tiny fraction of what people do online.

And every time you look off the beaten path, you discover amazing stuff going on. One of my favorite examples, Ravelry, a four-million-person website devoted to talking about knitting and crocheting. You go in there, and they are having the craziest, most intense, fascinating conversations about aesthetics and art and politics in their everyday lives. And before then, how would you ever connect with those people? But there is the argument that those connections aren't real, that although we have more Facebook friends than ever before, people are lonelier than ever before.

Yeah. I don't think I really buy the idea that people are lonelier than ever before. I've looked at that research, and it's all pretty provisional. And quite frankly, there's a lot of internal disagreement. Some studies say people are happier than ever before. What I think is really going on is we're changing to a different world where we are exposed to a greater array of voices. And there's something unsettling about it. It is like when we moved from the rural communities of the 15th and 14th centuries to the cities of the 16th and 17th centuries. There was this sudden sense that we

had to live in a different way, because suddenly you went from being in a town with 20 people to a city of 10,000. Much more creative space, but one that was difficult to deal with. How do you carve out your privacy? How do you keep from going mad when there's all these people right next to you? That migration is just beginning now online the same way. Isn't a lot of this also just the fact that it's new and different and a change and people don't like change? And, you know, everything has its good and bad, and, you know, people argue the bad when they don't like it, and people will argue the good when they do.

I think it's definitely true that people tend to be nostalgic for whatever were the technologies big in their 20s and 30s. So, people my age, in their 40s, they sit around talking about how great mixtapes were, as if this was the acme of human civilization.

In reality, we are an inherently conservative species. And I think there's something good about that. We're cautious. We make sure before something changes that it's not going to screw things up. I think that's salutary. But it can lead people to become a little sour about amazing things that are happening simply because they're different from the way they used to be. I mean, I, for example, people often say that the phone call, people don't talk on a phone so much anymore. And I say I think that's good because the phone was always kind of a dreadful technology. It didn't, it was an awkward way to have a conversation half the time.

It was very interrupting. I far prefer having very witty, funny conversations in text messages and in the words that I have so many friends now. I find that we have deeper, funnier, stranger conversations than we could have had back in the day when we were trying to leave messages on each other's voice answering machines. But others would argue that text messages can take, you know, what would take 30 seconds on the phone, we go back and forth for a half an hour before we finally get the answer. And I would argue that. I mean, and I'm a little older than you are, but I would rather just jump on the phone, ask the question, and get off,

rather than have to wait for a text message over the next half hour or maybe the next day and never get an answer. I think that's definitely true in one particular place, the workplace. The workplace has seen an explosion of over-messaging, email, text messages, whatnot, where people chew over stuff way too much and they should actually have more phone calls in that situation where they just dispense with something in 30 seconds. I think that's absolutely true because they get in these weird snits where they write like a 400-word email when they could have just had a five-second phone conversation. That is absolutely true. One area where you actually see, I think, modern communications tools metastasizing in a way that is not good,

not comfortable to thought, is in your average Fortune 500 corporation. Email is used way too much. I don't think anybody can argue that technology doesn't help and it's great and we can do things we we never could do before but i think that one of one of the valid criticisms of it is it wastes so much time people will just go on and on and on plus there's that weird i don't know what it is about technology for me but i'll sit down and start doing something and trying to figure something out and in 10 minutes all of a, it's three hours later. Yeah.

I think the single biggest danger of technology is probably distraction, right? You know, these tools, these environments are great for communicating, but because they're great for communicating, there's always something kind of more interesting you could be doing than the boring task you're trying to get done at work or at home. And so that leads you to these crazy holes.

You know, like I go to Wikipedia to find out something simple like how Fahrenheit converts to Celsius and then an hour later I've just read 40 recaps of Doctor Who episodes in the 1980s, and that really is because, frankly, you know, it's a testament to actually how stimulating and fun and delightful this environment is. It constantly overwhelms doing the boring stuff that you have to get done as an adult in everyday life. In many ways, one of the great coping skills has become mindfulness, has become paying attention to your own attention so that you are not just led by the bright, shiny pictures and noises and bits of tinfoil online. It takes work. The good news is you can actually teach kids to do this.

I've been in schools. They teach kids how to sort of pay attention and be aware of where their attention is going. And those kids are much less likely to fall down that weird doctor hole, doctor who rabbit hole. In a sense, I mean, this is an interesting conversation and it's worth talking about, but technology's here. It's not going anywhere. It's not like you can argue it away and say, oh, well, gosh, you know, we really should ban it. I mean, it is here, and to not embrace it

puts you at a disadvantage. I think it's definitely true that there is a lot of value in experimenting and being curious with the modern environment because there's a lot of interesting new tools that come along. And if you give it a try, you can often discover there's something really fun there. I was very skeptical of Twitter when it came along. I thought, who wants to read all these crazy little stupid messages all day long? But what I failed to understand until I'd experimented with it, that there was something very interesting and different

about seeing a bunch of little thoughts from someone over a long period of time. That, like, over a few days it would seem like trivia, over a few weeks or months it would start to see, like, a really interesting, oh, I see a picture of them swimming into view, and over a year it would feel like I was in telepathic contact with them. So I would not discover that if I wasn't willing to at least sort of give this thing a try. And I do think that it's useful to have an open mind and be curious with these things.

That said, you know, I think that also there's more out there than you could ever do. And so you have to sort of find only the two or three things that you really enjoy. Like, for example, I love Twitter. I like Instagram because it gets me to take pictures I would never have taken before. But I don't really go on Facebook. I just find there's too much going on there. It's too much of a mess.

It's too distracting. So I stay away. I found the things that work for me, and I avoid the things that don't. And I think this is sort of like, this is an intellectual task of the modern world. Yeah, well, and you just made the point, too, that, you know, you don't like Facebook, and you embrace Twitter, and there are millions of people who think, who, like you say, don't get Twitter. It baffles their mind, but they love Facebook, and whatever works is whatever works.

Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, in the same way that, you know, that there are different things we enjoy reading and different things we enjoy watching, media have always been curiously personal, right? Because my mind works in a slightly different way than yours. And so it's not surprising, in a way, that when we live in a world with more media and more ways to communicate that we're going to see situations where two

people just fundamentally disagree. If you really want to have some fun, get two or three executives together and ask them, which is the best application for storing information? And you'll see them come to blows over like, I use Evernote and I stuff everything in there. No, I have an organizer app that lets me write little notes and it's because each of them has a different cognitive way of doing the task of remembering and sorting. And they found the software that works really well with it

the way that 20 years ago they would have fought over which one had the best paper organizer. And I think this is actually sort of healthy in a way that people have these playful, funny arguments because it indicates that they're thinking about their own thinking, which is a valuable modern task. It makes you wonder how the technology will change over the next few generations. And it really is fascinating how this technology changes us and changes how we relate to each other. Clive Thompson has been my guest. He is a contributor to New York Times Magazine, a columnist for Wired Magazine, and author of the book, Smarter Than You Think, How Technology is Changing

Our Minds for the Better. And there's a link to that book in the show notes. Thanks, Clive. Not at all, man. I had a great time. We'll talk to you soon. Hi, I'm Jennifer, a co-founder of the Go Kid Go Network. At Go Kid Go, putting kids first is at the heart of every show that we produce.

That's why we're so excited to introduce a brand new show to our network called The Search for the Silver Lightning, a fantasy adventure series about a spirited young girl named Isla who time travels to the mythical land of Camelot. During her journey, Isla meets new friends, including King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, and learns valuable life lessons with every quest, sword fight, and dragon ride. Positive and uplifting stories remind us all about the importance of kindness, friendship, honesty, and positivity. Join me and an all-star cast of actors, including Liam Neeson, Emily Blunt, Kristen Bell, Chris Hemsworth, among many others,

in welcoming the Search for the Silver Lining podcast to the Go Kid Go network by listening today. Look for the Search for the Silver Lining on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. Since I host a podcast, it's pretty common for me to be asked to recommend a podcast. And I tell people, if you like something you should know, you're going to like The Jordan Harbinger Show. Every episode is a conversation with a fascinating guest. Of course, a lot of podcasts are conversations with guests, but Jordan does it better than most. Recently, he had a fascinating conversation with a British woman who was recruited and radicalized by ISIS

and went to prison for three years. She now works to raise awareness on this issue. It's a great conversation. And he spoke with Dr. Sarah Hill about how taking birth control not only prevents pregnancy, it can influence a woman's partner preferences, career choices, and overall behavior due to the hormonal changes it causes. Apple named The Jordan Harbinger Show one of the best podcasts a few years back, and in a nutshell, the show is aimed at making you a better, more informed, critical thinker. Check out The Jordan Harbinger Show. There's so much for you in this podcast. The

Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. When it comes to your health, there is so much information out there and misinformation out there. And some of that misinformation has become accepted wisdom. So how do you know what's true and what's a myth? Well, one person who is well informed on this is Dr. Richard Besser. Until earlier this year, Dr. Besser was the chief health and medical editor for ABC News, and he is now president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and before that he worked at the Centers for Disease Control, and his book is called Tell Me the Truth, Doctor.

Welcome, Dr. Besser. And so my take on a lot of this misinformation and people believing things that aren't true is that in many cases they used to be true. And things change, that one day something's good for you, one day something's bad for you. So things we thought to be true turn out to be not so true or just plain false. So what's a person to believe? Well, I think that that is spot on. Some of these are data-driven things, like should I take an aspirin to prevent a heart attack? It could be that there's more data that comes a few years from now that changes that answer. But I hope that in reading the book,

people will come away with a healthy skepticism for the headline of the day, and that they won't jump to change what they do until they're comfortable that the evidence is really in. So, since you brought it up, is taking a daily low-dose aspirin a good thing to do? Well, you know, that is one of the ones that drove me to write this book. I turned 50 a couple years ago, and when I went to see a new doctor, he said, well, you know, you're 50, are you taking aspirin? And I said, no. He said, well, I really think you should take an aspirin. And I said, well, I read the data and my risk of having a bleeding ulcer from an aspirin is higher than my risk of having a heart attack because I don't have risk factors. So I don't think I should take an aspirin. And he said, well, I think everyone should take an aspirin. So I went back and I reviewed the evidence and he was dead wrong.

You know, the choices we make depend on our risk factors and what we know about our families, our family history, and our own medical concerns. And so there is no one size fits all. You know, isn't that fascinating? Because that addresses the issue of, you know, doctor knows best. He's my answer is no. Your doctor is there to provide you with information so that you can make an informed decision. And two people may take in the exact same information, and based on their own values, their choices, their life experience, may decide on two different courses of action that are both appropriate. But it's not the doctor's decision to make. Well, let me just run down a couple of these. There's so many great questions in the book that I'd love to have the answers to.

Do I need to wash that pre-washed lettuce? This is one that's really counterintuitive. You think, well, I'm just going to wash it to be safe. Well, I actually went out to some of the farms in California that grow this lettuce, that do this washing. And the procedures they go through are pretty intensive. Most have three washes. What you do when you wash the lettuce again in your kitchen is potentially contaminated. There are all kinds of bacteria that live on our counter surfaces, especially in our sinks.

And doing that extra wash just to be safe may actually be putting you at greater harm. Oh, no. Well, who knew that? Yeah. It is counterintuitive. And for some people, they may want to go to head lettuce where they're chopping it up themselves so that they're able to control some of the factors a little bit better. But yeah, you'd think that, well, washing that lettuce is going to help. It may not do that at all. So is breakfast really the most important meal of the day, or will it help me lose weight if I just don't bother? Well, I think all meals are important.

I really am not a believer in skipping meals. There's good data to say that children perform better in school if they have breakfast. People can focus better at work if they have breakfast. And the information on skipping breakfast says it's a terrible way to try and lose weight. You get so hungry by the time lunch comes that you will more than make up for those calories that you skipped by forgoing breakfast. So don't do that. One question that doesn't seem to have a clear answer, so let's hear your answer. What about supplements?

Some people say it's an insurance policy. Other people say you don't need them, and in fact, there's evidence that they may do some harm. So what are we supposed to believe? Well, I mean, you're going to get different things from different doctors, but I am not a believer in supplements for most people. There are certain people who need to take a vitamin. Pregnant women need to take vitamins. Babies need vitamin D.

People with certain chronic conditions, medical conditions, need vitamins. But for most people, you don't need vitamins. And the best way to get your vitamins is through your food, through having a balanced diet. One of the big misconceptions is that, well, you know, I don't eat a lot of green things, so I'm going to take a vitamin just to make up for that. Well, you're not really making up for that. There's all kinds of micronutrients and things that come with eating vegetables and fruit and getting your vitamins that way that you don't get when you take a pill. The other side is that people who take megavitamins, when these have been studied,

just about every megavitamin, when it's been studied in controlled trials, not only doesn't help your health, most of them have proved to be harmful. So I am one of these people that's very skeptical about the vitamin and supplement industry. Congress, in its infinite wisdom, said to the Food and Drug Administration, hands off on vitamins and supplements. Let people take them. We'll treat them like a food rather than a drug. And so all of those safeguards that are in place around our drug supply are not there around vitamins and supplements. And it really worries me. Well, one of the arguments you so often hear is variations of what you said that, you know, it makes up or another way to put it is, well, what could it hurt? Taking a one-a-day vitamin, what harm could it do?

And maybe it's covering some bases I'm missing. Well, you know, if you look at a basic multivitamin, the data are mixed. Some studies have shown that there is a slight benefit from taking a daily multivitamin, but there are as many that say that there's harm. So I'm not a real fan. What I say is, you know, look for ways to try and increase real fruits and vegetables in your diet. It's a much better way to go. And we know there's health benefits from that. But what about kids, you know, finicky eater kids who only eat mac and cheese and hot dogs? I mean, is giving them a vitamin giving you peace of mind or is it a false peace of mind? Well, it's definitely giving you peace of mind, but I think your question is spot on. Is it a false peace of mind?

I'm a pediatrician. I'm a parent. I know that kids go through food phases where they're not eating a lot of fruits and vegetables. There are ways you can hide those in foods. You can grind up a lot of vegetables and put them in different sauces, and a lot of kids will not be aware of that. But also with children, if you try that vegetable over and over again, a child will be more likely to eat it.

So don't give up the first, second, or third time that they say no to broccoli. Maybe it's the fifth time that they say, hey, it looks like a little tree. Maybe I'll give it a bite. So should everyone be getting an annual physical exam? No. That is one of the things that has been overhyped. And I'm not going to convince many people that they don't need an annual physical. It's something that surveys show people want and doctors want. I'm hoping, though, that I can help reframe that visit. If you spend 90% of your visit with your doctor sitting across from them and having a conversation about your health, about your behaviors, about your concerns, it could be a visit well spent. But if you spend 90% of your visit in the exam room on a table wearing a paper gown,

it's a waste of time because most of the health problems that you're going to have, almost all of them, you will know before your doctor puts a stethoscope on your chest. Right. Yeah. He's not going to find much that way. Exactly. The idea that you're going to go into your doctor's office and they're going to find something that you were absolutely clueless was brewing. I mean, that is the rare, rare, rare exception. They will find out a lot more about what is brewing in your body and your future

by having that conversation with you, by exploring your family history, by understanding what you're eating, how you're using your body, are you moving, are you connected, do you have friends, what are you doing outside of work, what are those things that are causing stress in your life. Those are the things that in the long run will have an impact on your health. My guest is Dr. Richard Besser. He, until recently, was the chief health

and medical editor for ABC News. He is now CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. And the name of his book is Tell Me the Truth, Doctor. Hey, everyone. Join me, Megan Rinks. And me, Melissa Demonts,

for Don't Blame Me, But Am I Wrong? Each week, we deliver four fun-filled shows. In Don't Blame Me, But Am I Wrong? Each week, we deliver four fun-filled shows. In Don't Blame Me, we tackle our listeners' dilemmas with hilariously honest advice. Then we have But Am I Wrong?, which is for the listeners that didn't take our advice. Plus, we share our hot takes on current events. Then tune in to see you next Tuesday for our listener poll results from But Am I Wrong?

And finally, wrap up your week with Fisting Friday, where we catch up and talk all things pop culture. Listen to Don't Blame Me, But Am I Wrong on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Do you love Disney? Then you are going to love our hit podcast, Disney Countdown. I'm Megan, the Magical Millennial. And I'm the Dapper Danielle. On every episode of our fun and family-friendly show, we count down our top 10 lists of all things Disney. There is nothing we don't cover. We are famous for rabbit holes, Disney themed games, and fun facts you didn't know you needed, but you definitely need in your life. So if you're looking for a healthy dose of Disney magic, check out Disney Countdown wherever you get your podcasts.

So Dr. Besser, are there medical tests or procedures that you think are so important that people just absolutely must have them? And if they make excuses and they don't have these procedures done, and I'm thinking of things like colonoscopy, which is easy to put off. But the value of these procedures is so important. Well, I do think that there are certain screening tests that make a lot of sense. And one is the screening test for colon cancer. And you have choices there whether you want a colonoscopy, a sigmoidoscopy, or blood cards to do that.

But there there is value. When you're 50 for general population, 40 for people who are at higher risk. But there are a lot of cancer screening tests that are overused and misused. And I go through a lot of that. I had that experience. Again, the same doctor who wanted to put me on an aspirin. When I turned 50, he said, let's do a PSA for prostate cancer. And I said, well, you know, the American Cancer Society recommends we have a conversation about this

rather than just ordering the test because the data are really conflicting as to whether there's value. And I said, I've reviewed the data on that. And for me, I don't think that I want a PSA. Since then, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has reviewed the issue, and they don't recommend a PSA, a prostate screening test, for any man. The feeling is that the downsides of that as a screening test far outweigh the benefits. But it's just a blood test. It is just a blood test, and that doesn't hurt. It's the consequences of that blood test.

You know, it is far more likely to pick up a cancer that would never harm you than to pick up one that will impact on your life. And the downsides of having that blood test is it can lead then to a biopsy, which can then lead to treatment. The biopsy and the treatment all have significant side effects. And so it's more important exploring with your doctor your family risk for prostate cancer. We need a better test for prostate cancer. I'm not saying that we don't need risk for prostate cancer. We need a better test for prostate cancer. I'm not saying that we don't need screening for prostate cancer, but the current test was never designed

as a screening test. It was designed for use in people who already had prostate cancer to look for recurrence of that disease. And the man who developed the test is, you know, he's just bewildered that it has now been transformed into a screening test. Really? It's just become so routine that people just get it? Well, the concept made a lot of sense because PSA, it measures a protein that is made primarily by your prostate gland. And it was developed to look for recurrence of prostate cancer. So you'd measure this level, you'd remove a prostate gland that had cancer in it, and then you could follow a man over time by doing a blood test. And if the PSA reappeared, that told the doctor that the cancer had returned.

The problem is that many cancers that people have cause no problems. If you did an autopsy on every man who was 80 years old when they died, most of them would have evidence of prostate cancer. It didn't cause any problem. They died with it instead of from it. And the problem with the PSA is it can't tell the difference between cancers you will die from and cancers you will die with. And the side effects of the treatment are pretty dramatic in terms of sexual dysfunction and urinary incontinence. And if you have a cancer that wasn't going to cause any problems,

why engage the medical community that way? Well, also, there's just no, you know, once you're told you have cancer, I mean, it's life changes, I think. Yeah. And, you know, people say, well, you know, get the blood test and if it's elevated, we could just follow it. Well, the data shows that 90% of men who are told they have an elevated PSA go forward and have biopsy and then treatment. Because of just that, it's very hard to be told that you have cancer and, oh, don't worry about it. It's like, well, if we weren't going to worry about it,

why did we do the test in the first place? Because now I'm worried about it. Exactly. Well, this makes so much sense. In the last moments here, any of the ones in the book or just ones in the book that you think people are completely misinformed about, the ones that you would just like to scream from the mountaintop? Well, one in particular, and this is, I've probably done more segments on ABC News

about this than any other. It's, can cell phones cause brain cancer? And there's been a lot of concern about that. You have a device that emits a form of radiation and radiation, certain types of radiation we know cause cancer. Well, the type of radiation emitted by a cell phone is not the type of radiation, ionizing radiation that damages our cells and causes cancer. But there's still a ton of concern about this. And fine, if you're concerned, use a hands-free device, text, don't spend a lot of time on the phone. But what really gets me about this is that cell phones are incredibly dangerous. Any moment, there are at least 600,000 people who are texting and driving.

And that is a formula for an accident. And there are thousands of accidents every year from cell phones and driving. But everyone is all concerned about this cell phone and cancer thing, but no one is stomping their feet saying, put your cell phone in the glove compartment when you get in the car. It's an incredibly important thing, an easy thing that you can do for your health. And I wish there was more attention to that. Well, but there is more attention to texting and driving. I mean, there's some big

campaigns about not texting and driving. So I think the message is getting out. Well, there is more attention, but as you're driving down the street and next time you're at a stoplight, look over to the car to your left and your right. I bet one of them has someone who's on a cell phone and it's in their hand. Well, and you can also tell just by watching people drive. I've done this plenty of times. I bet you that guy's on a cell phone because of the way he's driving. Yeah.

And, you know, most of the time I'm right. You can see it. There's data to show that using a cell phone when you're in a car is equivalent to being drunk. And that's a scary thing. Well, there's clearly so much about health that we don't know and things that we think we know that turn out not to be drunk. And that's a scary thing. Well, there's clearly so much about health that we don't know and things that we think we know that turn out not to be true. So thanks for helping to set the record straight on some of these things.

Dr. Richard Besser is my guest. He's now president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and before that he worked at the Centers for Disease Control. His book is called Tell Me the Truth, Doctor, and there's a link to his book on Amazon in the show notes. Even if you consider yourself a savvy consumer, there are always new ways to learn to help you save money. And here are some you probably haven't heard before,

or at least you haven't heard them all before. And let's start with buying prescription drugs at Costco. Membership warehouse stores like Sam's Club and Costco have really good prices on prescription drugs. And here's the thing, you don't have to be a member to use their pharmacies. Scan your grocery receipts with your smartphone. If you use apps like Ibotta and Checkout 51, they give you cash back on your grocery store purchases. All you have to do is scan the receipts after you shop. For just a minute of your time, you'll likely earn about $5 a week, which can add up to hundreds of dollars a year. Ask for a free upgrade. When you reserve a standard car or hotel room, politely ask for a free upgrade when you arrive. If they have one, it's usually

a pretty easy score. Zip up your pants. Well, that's good advice pretty much all the time, but zip up your pants before you wash them. Those little metal teeth are like miniature chainsaws that can tear and ruin other expensive clothing in the washer and dryer. And finally, carry around $100. There is a lot of research that shows if you pay in cash rather than with a debit or credit card, you will likely spend less money. And to take it one step further, only carry around large bills like 50s or 100s, which are even harder to break. And that is something you should know. Which brings us to the end of this episode of the podcast. I'm Mike Carruthers. Thanks for listening to Something You Should Know. Welcome to the small town of Chinook, where faith runs deep and secrets

run deeper. In this new thriller, religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community. Everyone is quick to point their fingers at a drug-addicted teenager, but local deputy Ruth Vogel isn't convinced. She suspects connections to a powerful religious group. Enter federal agent V.B. Loro, who has been investigating a local church for possible criminal activity. The pair form an unlikely partnership to catch the killer, unearthing secrets that leave Ruth torn between her duty to the law, her religious convictions, and her very own family.

But something more sinister than murder is afoot, and someone is watching Ruth. Chinook. Starring Kelly Marie Tran and Sanaa Lathan. Listen to Chinook wherever you get your podcasts. Contained herein are the heresies of Rudolf Pantwine, erstwhile monk turned traveling medical investigator. Join me as I study the secrets of the divine plagues

and uncover the blasphemous truth that ours is not a loving God and we are not its favored children. The Heresies of Rudolf Buntwine, wherever podcasts are available.