Resolutions Are Hard and My Phone Is a Cupcake...
100 Things #032 - Do a Detox
Yes, you read the title correctly…
I think one thing we can all agree on is that resolutions are hard.
After having just rounded the corner on the halfway mark for 2024, I think it’s as good a time as any to check in on not just how the year is going, but how we’re all doing as well.
And I don’t mean how the weather is, or how bad the traffic has been on the way in to work or anything like that.
I mean, just as the beginning of the year, or a certain birthday, or a first grey hair can all be very strong triggers in one’s life to reflect on how one’s time on this planet is going, so too can any random Monday along the way be a reminder to check in with oneself.
For me, one thing that I’ve been noticing more and more lately is that it can be difficult to put down a good thing.
Currently, there is a box of assorted cupcakes sitting maybe 4 feet away from me, nicely perched on the kitchen table, and it’s torturing me a little. Would it be easier to move a different table? Probably. Actually, I’ll do that right now, one moment.
Okay, I’m back. Cupcakes averted.
This year has been a lot of that for me. Social media is a cupcake, video games are a cupcake, shopping online is a cupcake. So much dopamine in so little time.
So now what?
I’m not exactly sure who decided it was okay for us to have our own personal digital infinities at the edge of our fingertips, but I’m happy to see that it’s becoming more and more normal to acknowledge the cupcake factory that is the internet’s dopamine fountain as a problem, and work together towards curbing the unrelenting addiction that so many of us feel in this modern setting we find ourselves in.
It can be easy to punch down, say, at TikTok for example.
“It’s ruining people’s attention spans… It rots your brain!”
While, yes, TikTok likely isn’t doing great things for our collective mental health, it’s also hard not to acknowledge the very real addictive qualities possessed by not only TikTok, but many social media platforms across the board.
Intervention!
It was put forward to me recently that we really should be placing the whole of this algorithmic marching band of apps and sites in the same spotlight that other addictive substances find themselves in.
It was actually in a recent interview with Joseph Gordon-Levitt that the severity of the situation was brought up, and he highlighted some of the external forces that one would hope in situations like these might think to intervene.
But I don’t think this train is one that necessarily stops at external intervention.
Do I believe that governing forces stepping in might help? Sure!
But do I also believe that we need to wait around for those external forces to take the toy away before we can begin to work towards self-soothing and independently working towards our own self-betterment and growth? You get the idea…
To put it to you straight, I didn’t make a firm resolution on December 31st, 2023 to do any sort of dopamine detox, or to use my phone less, or anything of the sort.
But, on this random Monday during the 28th week of 2024, I am deciding to at least be somewhat more conscious of both the quality and quantity of content I am consuming.
Maybe it will be a short-lived experiment, or maybe it will be a wake-up call? Who knows.
Either way, I think the value of a quick detox to jolt oneself back into their own mind can be a useful tool to keep in one’s back pocket whenever one’s cupcakes become just a little too tempting.
My hope is that this didn’t come across as preachy, or as medical advice, because it is certainly not medical advice, but instead as a gentle reminder that any day can be a good day to reflect, and that it’s okay to take a step back and evaluate your cupcakes.
I’ll leave you here with a few journaling prompts for those who want to do a bit of guided thinking around this topic:
Take a moment to check in with yourself. How are you feeling emotionally, physically, and mentally?
Identify your “cupcakes.” How do these affect your daily life?
Do you rely on external forces to help you change your habits, or do you take more of an internal, self-driven approach? Why?
Reply of the week!
This comment was in response to 100 Things #25 - Get Started.
Really appreciated this quick reflection from Anna a couple weeks back and thought I’d give it some extra love this week.
Thanks for responding
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For now, have a great rest of the week. Talk soon!
🧁 I enjoyed this. It does help putting a different perspective of picture on things. 👍🏽