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Steve Downs

@stephenjdowns.bsky.social
251 followers 410 following 82 posts

Co-founder of @buildingh.bsky.social, working to build health into everyday life. Teaching at @itp-ima-nyu.bsky.social and Stanford d.school. Former chief technology and strategy officer at @rwjf.bsky.social.

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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Terrific piece by @julieebeck.bsky.social in the @theatlantic.com on the social cost of convenience: www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
theatlantic.com
One Reason People Are Spending So Much Time Alone
There is a social cost to many modern conveniences.
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Reposted by Steve Downs
David Conroy @conroylab.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I’m hiring a Manager of Research Operations for my NIH-funded research lab at Michigan. Real ownership — budgets, people, compliance — not admin support. $89K–$104K, Ann Arbor. careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
careers.umich.edu
Manager of Research Operations | U-M Careers
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 19/08/2026
probably something a government that cares about anything other than maximizing gdp figures would want to get serious about addressing
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
One of the most popular items in our newsletter last week was this excellent piece by @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social on why it’s so important we start to measure — and take action on — economic externalities www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/enshittifi...
hamiltonnolan.com
Enshittification Relies on Broken Economic Math
Pay no attention to the externalities behind the curtain.
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Our latest newsletter gets into our newly released research on how to measure the health impacts of companies like Netflix and Burger King. Plus: all about inflammation; @drdanasuskind.bsky.social on chatbots and child development; Facebook as a public nuisance & more. mailchi.mp/a481763e847d...
mailchi.mp
Building H: Making It Count
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
"6330 premature cardiovascular deaths, 11,400 ischemic heart disease cases, 13,600 type 2 diabetes cases, 12.3 million highly annoyed, and 3.3 million with high sleep disturbance" pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42250846/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Health burden of transportation noise in the United States: a national assessment with equity analysis - PubMed
The United States has not produced a national noise health burden estimate using disability-adjusted life year methodology. We quantified the population health burden of transportation noise across th...
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Steve Downs @stephenjdowns.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
So good. “The question is not whether it is possible to develop AI in a non-exploitative way, or even whether we can trust AI companies to act in the public interest...
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Erik Nordman @eriknordman.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
🎂Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom was born on this day in 1933! Ostrom was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics for her research on "collaborative governance, especially the commons." She showed how communities of users could work together to sustain their shared resources. 1/9
Elinor Ostrom receiving the Nobel Prize in Economics. She is a older white woman with gray hair and glasses, wearing a long batik dyed dress, and holding the certificate and medal (in a box).
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
“Too often we ignore externalities in part because we don’t know how to measure them. We’ve now shown that calculating these sorts of costs—at the level of the individual company—is both feasible and, given the scale of the impact, worthwhile,” healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu/news/what-do...
healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu
What Do Your Favorite Brands Actually Cost Society?
Is it possible to measure the impact that food and entertainment have on our health? Researchers believe they've found the formula.
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Steve Downs @stephenjdowns.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
We all know fast food isn’t great for us. And watching TV isn’t super healthy. Those health impacts add up – and they have a societal cost. But we rarely measure it – and certainly not at the company level. But a new paper shows that we can journals.sagepub.com/eprint/TAMZN...
journals.sagepub.com
Prototyping a Methodology for Estimating the Economic Externalities Resulting From Commercial Products’ Influence on the Health of Their Users - Stephen J. Downs, Sara J. Singer, Carol Passarelli, Ina...
Purpose Determine feasibility of estimating economic externalities associated with influences that products of individual corporations have on their customers’ ...
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Steve Downs @stephenjdowns.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Nice write-up of our new paper from Stanford Health Policy: healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu/news/what-do...
healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu
What Do Your Favorite Brands Actually Cost Society?
Is it possible to measure the impact that food and entertainment have on our health? Researchers believe they've found the formula.
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Steve Downs @stephenjdowns.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
We all know fast food isn’t great for us. And watching TV isn’t super healthy. Those health impacts add up – and they have a societal cost. But we rarely measure it – and certainly not at the company level. But a new paper shows that we can journals.sagepub.com/eprint/TAMZN...
journals.sagepub.com
Prototyping a Methodology for Estimating the Economic Externalities Resulting From Commercial Products’ Influence on the Health of Their Users - Stephen J. Downs, Sara J. Singer, Carol Passarelli, Ina...
Purpose Determine feasibility of estimating economic externalities associated with influences that products of individual corporations have on their customers’ ...
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
"Its attempts to upsell Charpentier on extra Snickers for her Blizzard were perfectly polite."
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Julia Belluz @juliabelluz.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
For decades, people have talked about the toxic food environment and how it’s stacked against most people. For decades, little’s changed policy-wise, even in this #maha moment. I increasingly think there’s only one way out. That way is litigation. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Want a Better Food System? Use the Anti-Tobacco Playbook. (Gift Article)
A teenager’s lawsuit against the food industry shows us the path to a better food system.
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
This. Great piece arguing that our failure, not just to price in societal costs that businesses generate, but to not even try, is unacceptable. Product impact on health is a classic example.
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
A popular story from our newsletter last week was this report, from Ben Steverman, in @bloomberg.com, on the "fun shortage" -- the increasing decline of facilities to support recreational, social interaction: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
The Fun Shortage Is Real, and It’s Making America Miserable
With fewer places to relax and socialize, and steeper prices for entry, having fun is quantifiably harder than it used to be.
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
The most popular story from our newsletter last week was this piece, from Bryan Walsh at @vox.com, on the dramatic gains public for teenagers over the past few decades. And what we might have lost ... www.vox.com/future-perfe...
vox.com
The forgotten success story of America’s teenagers
Today’s teens are much safer than 1990s teens. Why doesn’t anyone talk about it?
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Steve Downs @stephenjdowns.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
great reflection of the challenges of alignment
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Our latest newsletter is out and we look at our societal failure to translate greater resources and know-how to better population health outcomes, reflecting on two new papers. mailchi.mp/13b090cfe1f9...
mailchi.mp
Building H: Translation Error
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
We're excited to launch the latest in our series of speculative design projects, partnering with @hcde.uw.edu. The Value of a Commute (www.buildingh.org/commute) looks at the frequent misalignment between people's values and their commuting choices -- and how to intervene in a harmful loop.
buildingh.org
The Value of a Commute — BUILDING H
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Robert Roy Britt @robertroybritt.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
The US is the undisputed leader of the "morbidity gap," the difference in years between how long people live and how long they are healthy. The data argue for greater focus on living well instead of worrying about living longer. medium.com/@robertroybr... #aging #longevity #health
medium.com
People Live Longer But Less Healthy as ‘Morbidity Gap’ Grows
Poor health isn’t confined just to “older people,” new research finds
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
The most viewed story from our newsletter last week, was @dkthomp.bsky.social's piece on the all too solitary nature of pursuing one's health: www.derekthompson.org/p/the-cult-o...
derekthompson.org
Why the Healthiest Generation Is the Loneliest
Americans have never been healthier, or more alone. These things might be related.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Another popular story from our newsletter last week was this piece, from Gary Taubes in @theatlantic.com, on the controversies about ultraprocessed foods: www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...
theatlantic.com
A Fancy Name for Junk Food
Does the war on “ultra-processed foods” make any sense?
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
For our latest newsletter, we look into different visions of the future of homes — and, inspired by @dkthomp.bsky.social and LM Sacasas, explore what these visions might say about how we pursue health. Plus why we need more sunlight exposure and more ... mailchi.mp/c43b588d90f2...
mailchi.mp
Building H: Do You Want to Live in the Jetsons’ Home?
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Good overview of the @amjpublichealth.bsky.social work on ultraprocessed foods by @jessgrose.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Deck Is Stacked Against Healthy Eating
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
One of the most popular stories in our newsletter last week was this report, from Rhitu Chatterjee of @npr.org, on a new study on remote work and mental health: www.npr.org/2026/06/08/n...
npr.org
People love working from home. But does it love them back? A new study says no
A study finds that people in remote jobs are more socially isolated, anxious and sad compared to people not in remote jobs. But demanding everyone return to the office isn't the answer either, say res...
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
For our newsletter last week, we delved into Pope Leo’ encyclical on AI, which manages to be both a reasonable and radical assessment of how societies shape technology in the modern world. www.buildingh.org/news/2026/6/...
buildingh.org
Newsletter | Pope Leo XIV Is a Big-Time Systems Thinker — BUILDING H
When an emerging technology is so significant that it promises (threatens?) to transform societies, the way we live and even what it means to be human, it is no surprise that religious leaders will fe...
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Pope Leo XIV wrote a lengthy encyclical about AI and it’s a fascinating exposition on technology, society, market capitalism and well-being. For our latest newsletter, we dig into the Pope’s arguments — which are simultaneously reasonable and — in today’s world — radical. mailchi.mp/2c73983bda70...
mailchi.mp
Building H: Pope Leo XIV Is a Big-Time Systems Thinker
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Another article we featured in last week's newsletter on GLP-1s was this piece by @arianaec.bsky.social on "Ozempic personality": www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...
washingtonpost.com
What is ‘Ozempic personality,’ and why does it make life feel ‘meh’?
Doctors and patients across social media are reporting a kind of emotional flattening while on GLP-1 drugs.
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
The most clicked story in our newsletter last week was this report on how a major study using data from Apple found a connection between hearing loss and walking speed: www.wsj.com/health/welln...
wsj.com
Walking Slower? Why Your Ears, Not Your Knees, Might Be the Problem
Apple’s hearing study used real-world data from more than 57,000 iPhone users to make an important health connection.
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Are GLP-1s essentially an inoculation against modern life? That’s the question of our latest newsletter. Plus: social media at a crossroads, the strange tale of Blue Zones and more. mailchi.mp/4c33a7b38165...
mailchi.mp
Building H: An Inoculation Against Modern Life?
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
There's been controversy about how to define ultraprocessed foods. Maybe it doesn't need to be that complicated: healthyeatingresearch.org/research/ult...
healthyeatingresearch.org
Ultraprocessed Foods in the U.S.: Recommended Definitions and Policies | Healthy Eating Research
Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity | Ultraprocessed Foods in the U.S.: Recommended Definitions and Policies
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
how it started: AI will cure cancer how it's going: AI will upsell fast food
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Really thoughtful piece on the science, legal and policy contexts surrounding social media and harms.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
And check out her follow-up piece, out today, on GLP-1s and children, in which she asks the right question: "why are we here?" www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | We’ve Missed the Point on GLP-1s for Children
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Another popular article from our newsletter last week was @juliabelluz.bsky.social's examination of where we are with GLP-1s -- and how their use is outpacing the science: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Great American GLP-1 Experiment (Gift Article)
Millions of Americans are experimenting with the drugs. Science can’t keep up.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
The featured story in our newsletter last week was this article, from @val-pfeifer.bsky.social and @mehlmr.bsky.social on how we're speaking fewer words aloud each day than we used to... journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
Sliding Into Silence? We Are Speaking 300 Daily Words Fewer Every Year - Valeria A. Pfeifer, Matthias R. Mehl, 2026
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Steve Downs @stephenjdowns.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Great read. A sad tale of commercialization and of missing the forest through the trees. For me, the interesting lessons were always about creating conditions and developing cultures that support sustainable, healthy living so that, as Buettner puts it, health "ensues" instead of being pursued.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
The most read story from our newsletter last week was @dkthomp.bsky.social's analysis of what happened to American happiness: www.derekthompson.org/p/if-america...
derekthompson.org
If America's So Rich, How'd It Get So Sad?
Or: How the 2020s broke our brains
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
For our latest newsletter we look at some new research that shows that the number of words we speak aloud each day has dropped -- by a lot. Plus: the GLP-1n revolution; the state of AI; are social media platforms public nuisances & more mailchi.mp/87ea96a0dd4e...
mailchi.mp
Building H: Use Your Words
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
very interesting tool for comparing by country and by time
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Another article getting a lot of attention in our newsletter last week was this excellent review, by @carlos-monteiro.bsky.social and colleagues, on the scientific evidence related to ultraprocessed foods: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
Ultra-processed foods and human health: the main thesis and the evidence
This first paper in a three-part Lancet Series combines narrative and systematic reviews with original analyses and meta-analyses to assess three hypotheses concerning a dietary pattern based on ultra...
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
One of the popular items from our newsletter last week was this piece, from Bryan Vartabedian, relating Julian Baggini's concept of instrumentalization to his own experience in health care: liminalmd.substack.com/p/the-measur...
liminalmd.substack.com
The Measure of Everything
Medicine has a word for what ails it. It's not burnout.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Maybe doing things for health’s sake actually takes us off track. For our latest newsletter, we explore philosopher Julian Baggini’s essay on how so much today is seen through the lens of what benefits it will bring, rather than for its intrinsic value. mailchi.mp/ff7f57a63af0...
mailchi.mp
Building H: Getting Beyond the Six-Second Hug
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David Shaywitz @dshaywitz.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Loved this by @bradstulberg.bsky.social critiquing our optimization culture: bradstulberg.substack.com/p/optimizing.... Yet I also noticed the soaring valuations (& popularity if not ubiquity) of wearables like WHOOP & Oura; I will be trying low-end Whoop (again) myself soon. How to square all this?
bradstulberg.substack.com
Optimizing Ourselves to Death
Perfectionism makes you fragile—here's a better way
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Projection doesn't factor in GLP-1s, so likely a high estimate, but even so -- unconscionably high. We have to do better. www.statnews.com/2026/02/25/h...
statnews.com
6 in 10 women will develop heart disease or stroke by 2050, heart association projects
“We're just setting up a generation of people to move through life, having their cardiovascular events earlier and more severe."
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
RFK Jr. created an uproar when he went after New England favorite Dunkin’, questioning whether their sugary frozen coffee drinks are safe. In our latest newsletter we look into the thorny questions that revolve around concepts of ingredient safety and health -- and more mailchi.mp/274d724fd9a7...
mailchi.mp
Building H: Should Dunkin’ Be Generally Recognized as Safe?
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
We also featured this piece, from Priya Krishna in @nytimes.com, on the massive influence that food delivery is having on the way we eat, in Monday's newsletter: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/d...
nytimes.com
Freedom With a Side of Guilt: How Food Delivery Is Reshaping Mealtime
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Also popular in Monday's newsletter was this essay, by Van Newkirk in @theatlantic.com, on the root causes of so many of our health problems in the US. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
How America Got So Sick
The health of a nation reflects the health of a democracy.
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Reposted by Steve Downs
Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
The most popular story from yesterday's newsletter was this report, from Eve Lu in @sciam.bsky.social on the role of a city's walkability in, well, getting people to walk more. www.scientificamerican.com/article/movi...
scientificamerican.com
Want to walk more without trying? Move here
Researchers found that walkable city design—not personal motivation—was the key factor behind people taking 1,100 more steps per day
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