Your Dopamine Detox Will Make Your Media Addiction Worse
Here’s what to do instead
„I’ve had enough! Starting tomorrow, I will no longer use social media!“
My mirror image didn’t seem impressed. I couldn’t blame it. After all, it hadn’t heard that speech for the first time.
Time and time I had reduced my social media and digital entertainment consumption to zero.
Then, a few weeks later, I was lying on the couch again, happily scrolling through Instagram and YouTube 8h+ per day.
„I don’t get it,“ I told my co-worker. „After not using social media for some weeks it seems like my brain craves distraction even more than before. Why is the detox not working?“
My co-worker chuckled. „You sound just like my aunt. She’s always on some fad diet, gets thin, and then puts it back on. I guess those weeks of dieting make her hungry because her body is trying to refuel itself.“
It took me a while to realize my co-worker was spot on.
The flaws of digital dieting
Digital detox is a trend that is gaining popularity. The idea is simple: for three to four weeks you cut down your digital media usage to zero.
