When you wake up in the morning, how long does it take before you check your phone? Before you go to bed, how long do you lie there before you check your phone just one more time? Have you ever felt your phone buzz, but you didn’t actually get a notification?
When we get a notification, it tells us that someone is talking to us. 62% of American adults agree with the statement: “When people react positively to the things I share on social media, I feel better about myself.” (Ford Media) When the notification comes through our brains release dopamine. The FOMO has actually become an addiction. This has become so prevalent that there is an acknowledged disorder called Internet Addiction Disorder. (Net Addiction) Our brains have become trained to crave that notification. We fall easily into the trap of fear of missing out, or FOMO. We want the validation that we are important and liked and social media gives us that, dozens or more times per day.
Millennials check Instagram up to 47 times per day. The generation growing up in a world where social media has always been prevalent don’t know a world where their brains aren’t trained to want thatnotification dopamine rush. This creates unnecessary anxiety in an already stressed out and anxious existence. This is something we can combat, something we can remove from the list of things that stress us out. We are already aware of the problem. 94% of US adults believe that it is important to disconnect and be alone with themselves. (Ford Media) When we go on vacation we try not to check our email. Many people actually seek out media free locations. We don’t, however, need to wait to go on vacation to give ourselves a break from always being so plugged in. Here are a few ideas how…
Go into your phone and change your notification settings. You can re-train your brain so that you aren’t on high alert for notifications any longer. Go even one step further, when you’re ready, and reduce the number of times you log in to check your social media accounts.
Make the decision to wait to check your phone for at least 30 minutes after you wake up and do not look at it 30 minutes before you go to bed. If you can, charge your phone in another room. Even if this means you need to go out and buy an actual alarm clock. Get one with a battery back up so if you lose power it will still wake you up, if that is a concern.
Ban phone use during mealtimes. If you are with people, be with them. You aren’t missing out when you’re with your friends and family, but you will be if you spend more time checking in with everyone else than experiencing life with the people in it.
Go into your phone and change your notification settings. You can re-train your brain so that you aren’t on high alert for notifications any longer. Go even one step further, when you’re ready, and reduce the number of times you log in to check your social media accounts.
Make the decision to wait to check your phone for at least 30 minutes after you wake up and do not look at it 30 minutes before you go to bed. If you can, charge your phone in another room. Even if this means you need to go out and buy an actual alarm clock. Get one with a battery back up so if you lose power it will still wake you up, if that is a concern.
Ban phone use during mealtimes. If you are with people, be with them. You aren’t missing out when you’re with your friends and family, but you will be if you spend more time checking in with everyone else than experiencing life with the people in it.
Getting your brain back, reducing your stress levels and engaging in your life will reduce your dopamine levels. Reducing your dopamine levels can help with so many things. Insomnia, anxiety, paranoia and stress, just to name a few. It will also give you the time to re-connect with your loved ones. Instead of finding yourself scrolling through pictures and status updated of all the things everyone else is doing, you’ll be out there doing it too. Instead of checking to see if any of your friends have posted something new in the past hour since you last checked, you’ll have the ability to be too busy enjoying life to even consider re-checking.
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