Digital Detox: Launching Your Summer of Health
I’m embarrassed to admit the amount of times I have caught myself in the endless void that is doom scrolling lately. What initially feels like a five minute respite from reality ends up being 40 minutes of mindless scrolling. While it feels like a break in the moment, the number of individuals on social media that are offering up their opinions on health and wellness makes the app feel entirely overwhelming. Suddenly I’m convinced that I should be mixing sauerkraut in my cottage cheese and only do reformer pilates.
Discerning health information and the source it is coming from is becoming an absolutely essential skill. With a platform available to anyone and everyone, every coroner of the internet is filled with tips, tricks and things we should all be doing. This is especially true in the health and fitness space. Everyone has the best new diet, exercise routine or holistic medicine cure. After seeing the 50th video on how to cure yourself and live your best new life, you’re left more confused than when you started scrolling.
Endless scrolling on social media triggers a response in our brain to dump dopamine when we are rewarded with a flood of new information. Dopamine is the feel-good neurotransmitter in our brain, essential in reward response and motivation. Before social media, and specifically short-form content such as reels and TikToks, we had to complete tasks to get the same rewards. More complex releases of dopamine, such as exercising, meditation and time with those we love has now been replaced with immediate gratification.
What feels good in the moment has a drastic negative effect on the reward system in our brains. As our brain is flooded with dopamine, it then experiences a drastic drop in levels. This pendulum swing causes us to have moments of elation that are then followed by lack of motivation, anxiety and depression. It also builds a tolerance to the effects of dopamine, increasing the need for more stimuli to produce the same effects. This is why the scrolling sessions begin to increase and it becomes even harder to put it down.
A big social media trend, quite ironically, is to do a digital detox. Most people have at least one person in their life who has raved about how deleting the apps has caused them to be more productive, less anxious and more excited to get out with others. Like any drug that produces desirable effects in our brains, it can be a major challenge to put the apps down and be present.
So I am challenging you all, just as I have challenged myself, to be more aware of what my screen time consists of. Luckily, our technology is telling us exactly what we need to know. Examining the amount of time spent on social media and creating a goal is the first step. Reducing your time spent mindlessly scrolling by even 10% can have positive effects on your brain.
It is also essential to understand when you are spending time on social media. Flooding your brain first thing in the morning is a recipe for disaster the rest of the day. Even if it is not social media, the stress of emails and texts can cause problems as well. Challenge yourself to stay off of your phone for 30 minutes right when you wake up. While it feels like problems need to be solved immediately, you will actually set yourself up for greater productivity later in the day.
Finally, the health routine information. Exercise and diet are crucial to being our healthiest selves, but that journey is very individual. Individuals posting what they eat in a day to have their physique does not mean that those habits will translate to everyone. Even as someone who knows better, I find myself questioning what I’m doing based on social media posts! Luckily Jenn, our health coach, is incredibly knowledgeable in how to help people achieve their health, wellness and physique goals with strategies backed by science and years of experience.
After listening to a podcast on this exact topic, I challenged myself to swap my typical morning scroll with a moment of mindfulness. I was shocked by the draw that I felt to open Instagram, but I was also surprised by the change I felt in my productivity levels throughout the day. It allowed me to be more present and focus on parts of my health that I often neglect. By making small, mindful adjustments to our daily routines and screen habits, we can break the cycle of endless scrolling, giving our brains the opportunity to create healthier habits.
Alex