Yup, after reading that title I suppose I should’ve rather said ‘Put your phone down after reading this article’ instead.
Most often, the quickest path (and the most low-hanging-fruit of options) to reducing your anxiety and stress level is to block out some mental space and to start limiting your time online.
Lets be honest with ourselves, the sum total of human knowledge in your pocket is a wonderful thing, but most of us (me included) just use it to look at pictures of cats.
Smartphones and the social media goodness they contain is a lot like that family sized bag of Quality Street you have all to yourself. It’s decadently good, but after a while you begin to realise that the human body wasn’t perhaps made to handle all that concentrated sugar at once. Same goes for your brain.
Like any salty or sugary treat, most social mobile apps (and the algorithms that power them) are specifically designed to help your brain release dopamine (aka reward juice) through perceived rewards. For instance, you open your favourite meme app and the resulting jolt of amusement triggered by the comedy you witnessed drops a dose of dopamine into your system (Note that opening Excel on your phone doesn’t drop AS much dopamine into your brain. Unless that’s your thing, in which case we’re not judging).
Small wonder that we sometimes get sucked into a feedback loop on our phones where we aimlessly cycle between the same 3 apps over and over and over, and then what was once a dark and peaceful night is now a bright and early morning with birds tweeting and oh god I REALLY suck at adulting.
So try the digital detox thing and begin to strike a balance. Maybe reduce your digital usage some days and stop looking at your phone past 5pm. Set up a blanket blacklist for Whatsapp between 5pm and 7am. Let those of importance to you know they can only reach you in an emergency with an actual phone call.
Try to swap out some of the hours spent on social media browsing with something from the analogue world that requires you to mentally be in the present. Reading, journaling, practicing a craft or just having some in-person quality time with someone you care about will do wonders for your anxiety. I run a movement meditation class most Saturdays.
I’m not an idealist that’s advocating for a complete cold turkey withdrawal, but I am advocating for a little more mindfulness in your daily routine.
A little will a long way.