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Digital Minimalism
End your Social Media Addiction(Dopamine Detox)
September 30, 2023
Wake up
Hit snooze 4 times
Grab your phone
Open Snapchat
Then Instagram
Scroll to the bottom of the feed
Go on tik tok where you can't get to the bottom
Then, after 2 hours of mindless consumption, you finally roll out of bed
You get nothing productive done for the rest of the day because you fried your brain first thing in the morning and your focus is scattered.
Later that day you stay up until midnight and start the cycle again. Only now, you have school/work tomorrow.
This should scare you.
This is what my days used to look like when I had social media on my phone.
And I’m sure it might be similar to your experience if you're reading this.
If you want to stop doom scrolling, be able to think more clearly, and be more productive then keep reading.
I’m making this as a follow-up to one of my previous newsletters about life without social media because there were a lot of really good questions.
I am going to give you the protocol that has helped me:
After spending years on these social media platforms, our brains are wired to seek instant gratification.
This not going to be easy and you won’t see results from this right away. You can’t “reset your brain in 24 hours” like the clickbait videos tell you you can.
The damage is chronic.
You can’t quit for a week and then go back onto it and expect change. In fact, you shouldn’t “quit” social media at all.
It’s the wrong mindset.
This is NOT a regular detox.
We are trying to take back control of our lives, so quitting it forever is not the answer (unless you really want to).
I’ll explain what I mean by this later.
It took me MONTHS to completely reset my brain and start making actual progress in the things that I wanted to.
It took me a long time before I got significantly better at reading, paying attention to people, and being more mindful.
So no, this is not a regular detox, this is a lifestyle change.
If you intend on fixing your life in 24 hours, this isn’t going to help you.
If you want to develop a healthy relationship with social media or just quit it altogether then this will help you.
Here are the things that I recommend you do on your phone if you want this detox to work. Because you can't go off of just willpower.
Look where "willpower" got you.
Silence all notifications.
Especially if there is a social media that you have to keep on your phone for some reason, for me it was YouTube.
At least have the notifications off.
This will prevent you from getting distracted from your work by getting sucked into something that’s unimportant.
Turn off email, random promotions, and other notifications that don’t serve you.
Next, set up a schedule on your phone that automatically locks you out of all your apps by a certain time.
This won’t keep you from using apps completely but it will at least act as one barrier between you and scrolling.
It’s also a good reminder to start winding down at night and get ready for bed.
Put your phone in black and white.
This is a great trick to prevent you from getting sucked into all the flashy colors on our screens.
When your phone is in black and white everything looks ugly and lifeless.
Which is good for what we’re trying to do.
Just having your phone in black and white is going to be a reminder for you that you’re trying to reduce screen time.
Delete your social media.
Delete any socializing app that you use on a daily basis from your phone.
Honorable mentions:
TikTok has got to go, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook if you’re a geezer.
These ones, in my opinion, are nonnegotiable simply because of their short-form content nature that is more likely to lead to you doom scrolling.
Remember, your brain is what got you into this situation in the first place.
So don’t sit here and act like you have the willpower to keep certain ones when your brain is conditioned to indulge in instant gratification all day.
This isn't just about intention.
Think about it, when was the last time that you went on TikTok because you wanted to see a specific video?
Or did you do it out of habit because you were bored?
Think for a second.
Do you remember that last tweet, Instagram post, or TikTok you saw?
Probably not.
You’re habitually using these apps even though is not what you really want to do.
The reason why these apps are so addicting is because of the anticipation in your brain.
When you anticipate something, your dopamine rises; which gives you motivation to act.
Drug addicts get a dopamine hit when they see and anticipate a substance.
Not after they take it.
I’m not calling you drug addicts but what I’m saying is that you get dopamine when you anticipate that the next TikTok is going to pique your interest.
But its actually a mystery which makes you anticipate it even more. Almost like gambling.
This entire “detox” is you getting rid of the bad habits,(mindless consumption) and replacing them with good ones(mindfulness and delayed gratification)
Youtube is a special case where you really need to be honest with yourself.
Some people I’ve talked to mentioned that they kept YouTube on their phone and still saw benefits and there are others who said that they ended up just replacing all that extra time with YouTube.
If you spend a lot of time watching shorts, then you need to delete YouTube too.
Or if you binge-watch videos nonstop then you probably should delete it also.
The way I went about it, was I switched up the way I used the app.
I transitioned from watching short quick-tip videos to watching very long-form videos like full-length podcasts and lectures.
In fact, I rarely actually even watched the videos.
What I found is that you don’t need to watch most content on YouTube because you can just listen to it.
But again, you have to be realistic with yourself. If you know that you are just going to replace social media consumption with YouTube videos then you should probably delete that too.
What worked for me might not work for you.
Keep in mind that I’m not in charge here.
This is just what I recommend.
Yes, but not on your phone.
Let me explain.
I have a business. YouTube is a part of it.
And I also do 1-1 Coaching calls where I help people with self-improvement.
So I need to use social media.
Like I said, YouTube is social media.
It is what it is, I’m not denying it.
The solution I have for you content creators is to try not to have the apps on your phone.
I have Twitter, Instagram, and a TikTok account.
But I don’t have them on my phone. I strictly use those on my computer and my iPad.
If you have a computer or some other device that you can do your work from, then strictly use social media on that device.
Unfollow accounts and people that don’t serve you.
Unfollow meme pages and subscribe to like-minded people in your niche that you want to emulate.
This is how you go from consumer to creator.
You can scroll your life away or you can use social media to build your future.
I made brand new accounts to promote my business and haven’t even bothered to check on the old ones.
Don’t use your business as an excuse to mindlessly consume content.
Utilize the screen time settings or use time limit extensions on your computer if you have them.
Unfortunately for this one, I’m going to have to hit you with some harsh truth.
There is a unique loneliness that comes from being disconnected from people and the world.
When people ask me how I deal with it, I usually say the same thing.
You learn not to care.
If your relationships cannot last outside of Social media, then they weren’t solid to begin with.
So if your friends are really your friends, then they wouldn’t stop talking to you if you deleted social media for a while, and you wouldn’t do the same to them.
If you can keep in touch, which isn’t very hard because I’m pretty sure all of you have cell service, then do so.
If it’s not working out:
Let. Them. Go.
If you’re on a trajectory for greatness. you cannot let other people slow you down.
I feel lonely sometimes, I can’t lie, but at the same time, I also have the most mental clarity I’ve had in my life, and I’m making more progress in everything I want to.
It’s give and take.
And I’m not just saying this because I don’t have a solution. This is something I’m still dealing with right now.
I don’t have the same people in my life as I did this time last year.
But I’m okay with it.
Things change.
Loneliness isn’t the only thing you’ll be feeling during this detox.
You’re probably going to feel anxious, bored, stressed, and uncomfortable without being able to use your phone whenever you feel like it.
You’ll start to realize how much you were actually using your phone every day without realizing it.
You’re going to have to use the bathroom without it, make conversation with people instead of sitting in silence, and eat your food without scrolling.
You’re going to have to sit with your own thoughts sometimes.
All of these feelings come from boredom.
This is where the term instant gratification comes in.
Your mind is wired to habitually pick up your phone during any of these moments.
And these moments are the most important for resetting your brain.
You have to be okay with being bored sometimes.
That’s how I built up my mindfulness.
This is completely up to you to decide what you want to do with your extra time.
However, I think that replacing instant gratification activities like social media with different ones, like watching TV and listening to music kind of defeats the purpose.
That doesn’t mean you have to sit and stare at your wall for hours either.
Use this period of time to have some self-reflection and experiment with trying new things.
There might even be some hobbies that you had in the past that you might want to try again.
There are some things that I would recommend you do that will improve your life and help with resetting your brain:
Studies show that physical activity triggers a release of dopamine and serotonin, and over time, exercise remodels the reward system in our brains.
Leading to higher circulating levels of dopamine and more available dopamine.
This is a perfect example of good dopamine.
So exercise can improve your mood, make you physically healthier, and help rewire your brain to delay gratification all in one.
Try working out or going on a walk or run.
If you want to start going to the gym check out my full guide.
If you want to you can even pair exercise with more fun activities like playing sports.
I picked up rollerblading again; now it’s one of my favorite things to do.
Start journaling.
Journaling can help you gain mental clarity by writing down your thoughts.
It can also help you build self-awareness, relieve stress, draw out creative ability, and can help you solve your problems.
I used to think it was weird to keep a journal growing up and I never saw the point of it until I had nothing to do besides drown in my own thoughts.
When you have a lot of free time you tend to overthink things and journaling is a good way to get all those anxious and random thoughts off your mind.
I made this a habit by trying to journal right before I go to bed every night.
I just do a big brain dump about what’s on my mind and how my day was and it always puts me right to sleep.
There are plenty of good journaling apps out there, but I recommend that you do this with a physical pen and paper if possible.
Just so you don’t get distracted.
The third thing that I highly recommend for anyone doing this is to go outside and get into nature.
I’m not saying that you have to go on a hike but you could at least take a walk down to your local park and just relax a bit.
Whenever I notice that I’ve been spending too much time in my room at my computer I’ll take a book and ill go to the park, leave my phone away from me and just read.
I enjoy the fresh air and think about life.
You start to see how beautiful trees and the animals and grass are when you aren’t buried in your phone.
I’ll just go to the park and sit there for an hour and a half sometimes. And I always feel better after I do.
If you are able to, try it after youre done reading this. You wont regret it.
You can honestly do whatever you want with this extra free time so just use it to try new things and see what you love.
I might not have started my channel if I didn’t have so much extra free time to do it.
Now most of my free time is dedicated to working on this channel because I’m passionate about it.
I don’t have time to scroll on social media because I’m too aligned with this project to care about anything else.
My best advice here, is to become obsessed with something.
I’m on the more extreme side.
I still haven’t downloaded these apps 10 months later.
And I honestly have no plans to either. I don’t really have a reason to.
I’ve completely eliminated my want for these apps.
There’s no prescribed amount of time away from social media that’s going to fix your brain but a good way to go about this “detox” is to take some time away from social media for maybe a few weeks to a month and then try to reintroduce these into your life if you are ready and willing to.
Before you go back, you need to ask yourself:
Does this serve me?
Do I have a good reason to reintroduce this into my life?
Will I be able to control my impulses and stop myself from wasting time?
If the answer to any of these is no, then wait a little longer.
If you do decide to go back, and you notice yourself slipping back into the cycle, then start again.
You can do it for as long as you want.
You might come to find out that you don’t want to have them at all. If social media doesn’t serve you and you realize that you don’t find value in a certain app or all of these apps, then there’s no need to have them at all.
I’m not anti-phone and I’m not against social media.
I think that these can and should be used to better our lives and help us do the things that we want to do.
You can find so much useful information on social media too.
I wouldn’t have started my YouTube channel and I wouldn’t have known that I can share my ideas online without it.
But too much of anything is a bad thing.
So essentially you don’t need to remove all dopaminergic activities from your life forever.
You just need to be mindful of what you’re spending your limited time on Earth doing.
Use this detox to take some time away to reflect on what you want out of your life and come back stronger when you’re ready.
So that is how I reset my brain this year using the dopamine detox and I hope that I was able to give you an idea of how you should go about this yourself.
That’s all for now. Thank you for reading:)
-Abraham
P.S. If you want more specific tips on how you can take up this detox yourself or if you have any other questions for me I do 1-1 Coaching.
Who is Abraham?
I'm a 19-year-old online
creator and self-improvement
coach.
I am obsessed with
self-improvement and
business and I want to
share that knowledge.
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