Dear Brad...
YouTube doctor Brad Stanfield reddit clickbait, flipflop, drug-centrism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQky5xSk6U4 "I've heard your criticism"
Dear Brad,
Maybe you’ll see this by searching your name on YouTube (I’m going to try to upload an audio version there) or the internet.
It is impossible to interact directly via comments on your YouTube channel.
Everything I write gets deleted automatically.
Perhaps it’s a problem of numbers and your own success; when you hit a certain number of subs a wall forms around you, both self-created and created for you by the platform to protect its investment.
It’s also partly a problem that platforms heavily discourage organic interaction. It’s dangerous stuff. People need leading down simpler paths for their own good.
Big systems don’t like this healthy interaction. What they want is a managed pseudo-interaction to keep the money flowing and the narrative on the right channel.
Ad revenue, clicks, the hyper-centrist sales-friendly environment and the messages of power—corporate well being, lobbies and government— matter.
Doubts, debate, choices, ideas take things away from that.
YouTube is a really only great as a music platform these days. It’s the best one. It’s much more dubious at everything else.
Brad you’re saying in this video you’re looking at criticism of yourself on reddit.
Truthfully, it’s hard to tell if this is “brave” or just another marketing venture. I’m not going to form an opinion on that.
But you picked reddit to respond to.
Yet you’re smart enough to know reddit is mainly for morons, so it feels like everything is being kept within the tight grooves of managed pseudo-interactions.
I’ve learned some good stuff from you Brad. About studies, science, supplements, drugs and nutrition. I’ve sent some of your videos to my clients as they contain good info they can understand.
I’ve also experimented with some of your ideas like collagen and hyaluronic acid.
HA did what you reported the science said on this. But either the prolonged use of HA or possibly a different form that appeared on the market about 5 months ago also caused some unpleasant gut problems for me which still haven’t resolved. I also wonder if as well as probably helping some joint issues it could cause its own problems there.
Predictions are cheap, but I will make a prediction for your vitamin (really a multi-supplement) product. At some point pressure will appear to take the HA and TMG out because they will cause problems for some people who are sensitive. A “science led” multi-supplement is a fine pathway, but not everyone fits neatly into science.
Still I was impressed you got the money for the rapamycin study and if the vitamin helped, that’s great.
Not gonna lie. I’ve been around the block with this stuff, and I knew better than to get too excited about your videos on creatine monohydrate and psyllium. For some people (and I’m in this cohort) these two specifically will destroy their gut too.
I wouldn’t describe myself as exactly a “fan” of any content creator/influencer in the health or fitness space today, but I think there a handful who make some useful content with good information that’s usually sandwiched between their marketing efforts.
Fan is an American term anyway, that has no good translation or meaning in the the rest of the world.
But the marketing efforts—especially if they go too far—can really undermine their better work. You always have to ask the question, “is it worth another 1000 subs to do this?”.
So although I’m not exactly a “fan” of anyone in this sphere, in the YouTube space I’m Team Brad all the way—as long as the work is of good quality, not too clicky, and not list based—and never Team Huberman.
I see your content, some of it I like a lot, some I don’t so much. I applaud the stuff I like and have criticisms or ignore the stuff I think is lacking; the melatonin videos have been poor and crawling on the floor to Huberman was a mistake to try to get more views.
But Brad, here’s an idea, don’t go to reddit to read about yourself. Come here:
fitnesstroll.substack.com
instead.
Reddit can’t be saved. Reddit are children in adult bodies looking to snort powders they buy from GNC to put 2 inches on the penis or cure their “brain fog” or “feel more alert”. Their collective IQ is about 50.
Reddit is a reprehensible hell hole. But even reprehensible hell holes may contain fragments of observed truth that slip through the corporate filters on some occasions.
Clickbait
Clickbait is an issue for you, and although reddit are morons and deserve their spammy clickbait, it’s interesting that topic has come up.
I think the clickbait is because you have found as a content creator, redditism extends beyond reddit.
People want simple answers to complex problems.
For smarter people it’s frustrating. There is a dysgenic information cascade baked into the current internet. Everything is moving downwards into bite sized morsels of stupid attention grabbing info and sensationalism. Like many doctors, you’ve sought to extend your medicine by making it accessible, but also you’ve found yourself caught in the game of clicks.
And it has worked for you, if by “worked” we mean you got the money for your study.
But I believe doctors—loaded with good intentions but also with a rather serious job—are actually uniquely vulnerable to getting pulled into this swirling clickbait vortex.
Doctors may police themselves in their profession, but on social media nobody is policing them, therefore its our solemn duty here to do this for the good of humanity.
What you see from your perspective Brad is people who want to know which one supplement is going to make them live forever or add 2 inches to their penis. That’s all most of them want to know. And YT has been a central force in this race to the bottom.
You can’t help all of them. Especially the reddit types. You can’t save them with your medicine and there’s a danger of your medicine getting diluted by them, even if you appear to engage with them as a marketing strategy.
Focus on the people you can help. That can be saved.
Flip flopping
The flip floppism was another criticism. We’ve written about that here before. It’s not a crime to change your views on a topic. It’s a healthy thing. What I think is an issue is the absence of your own subjective judgement.
I understand why doctors may be reluctant to stray from the science, but I don’t like it if someone has no opinion of their own. No feel of their own. What do you think about a particular product or protocol? Not what a science paper says. A total adherence to science is unusual and nudges one into a rather uncertain and changing field.
Drug-centric medicine
I thought your comments about drug-centrism were interesting. Practicing MDs tend to have a more drug-centric view of the world than non-MDs but it’s a little bit odd hearing you talk about the American who comes to live in New Zealand only to find he can longer get the drugs he once had.
Sleep is a serious problem for some people that can’t be fixed with sleep hygiene or melatonin.
I can only hope a referral to a specialist overrides this advice at a GP level so people who need these drugs can actually get them. These drugs should be used appropriately, but it’s what I would call “hopeful” medicine that people with serious sleep problems will just “get their shit together” somehow.
I do think it’s quite possible many drugs are over-dispensed in some countries though.
Talking of criticism, your best work is your critical work. I can’t even post that comment on your YouTube channel. It gets automatically deleted.
Your work on resveratrol and NMN for instance and the video on Sinclair.
On this blog, we support your war of terror on “internet charlatans and health influencers”.
Actually it’s not a war of terror, but a noble quest requiring youth and daring.
More of that quest is necessary meaning more videos scrutinizing outrageous health claims. Yes keep reporting on science, but include more of what you think too. Please make less of the “top 5 supplements” and marketing vids for your pricey vitamin.
send bitcoins pls: bc1qy2gdzdqxeunvex3875kf6nuguvxrvmmhcfyz3k
or buy me a coffee: