I Want To Get My Pre-Internet Brain Back. Here’s How You Can Too

I wish I could say – with full confidence – that I can recall the last time I went a day without using my phone or hopping onto the internet. Doomed from the get-go, my generation, and all the ones that will follow it, can’t recall days like those. Try as I might, I was born into the internet era (98’er!), discovered its wonders early on, and could be considered by some to be (tragically) chronically online.

The internet is an integral part of my work, so its existence keeps me fed, housed, and, well, alive in a sense, but it was also a significant part of my childhood. I had internet friends on Neopets before I was even 8 years old. I watched some of the most iconic, classic YouTube videos, like Tay Zonday’s “Chocolate Rain,” before they even hit “viral video” status. I became familiar with messaging boards like 4chan at far too young an age to be seeing the subversive, often disturbing content that I saw (and became overly desensitized to) when I was really just browsing for vapid memes.

Of course, I also spent a great deal of time outdoors scuffing up my shins and knees, riding around my neighborhood on a RipStik, and creating Polly Pocket empires in my best friends’ bedrooms. But, at some point, the internet went from being a mere tool, which I could log on and off, to being a habitual temptation that rules my life with an iron fist. I never got to be acquainted with the analog world. 

While watching “old” films that give me a glimpse of yesteryear, I yearn for days that I’ll never experience. But that’s not enough. Thanks to the internet, I’m also overly acquainted with all the evidence that induces panic in us all – research study on research study that touts all of the dangers that come with “internet brain.” I’m ready to get my pre-internet brain back – how about you?

Your Social Media Habits Are Nearing Self-Harm Status

For many of us, we can’t opt out of the internet. Sure, it’s not like we’ve got chips in our brains that keep us hooked up to 5G, 24/7…yet. But despite our phones, laptops, tablets, and wearables being technology we can remove and physically distance ourselves from, many of us rely on the internet to make a living. It’s not just e-commerce marketers or writers for women’s magazines, either. Social media has fundamentally shifted how business operates in today’s day and age.

Your favorite mom-and-pop shop downtown is probably on Instagram. Your beloved local winery too – and they’ll probably update regulars like you with special deals through fleeting posts on their Stories. You might check your health insurance claims and see if they’ve been paid through its app, and perhaps you regularly pay off your credit card bills on-the-go in that style too.

Close the textbook – your language-learning classes are now available on an app, and its mascot probably makes ridiculous video content on TikTok. Cable news is in its flop era, with audiences dwindling in their interest over time compared to the unmatched, unbridled, and unfiltered access they have to breaking news in real time on X or streaming platforms. If only we weren’t all at the mercy of an unrefined, experimental algorithm.

Over half of American adults get some – if not all – of their news from social media. It’s convenient, quick, and interactive. At the same time, skepticism surrounding the accuracy, biases, and censorship of news available on social media has increased. Recently, Pew Research Center revealed that 90% of American adults have a smartphone, and four in ten survey respondents report they’re almost constantly online. If that sounds bleak, it’s because it kind of is.

We’re more connected (digitally) to one another than ever before, yet collectively lonelier. Sadly, negative effects just keep stacking up.

Humans aren’t built to withstand a constant state of multitasking. When apps with endless streams of highly engaging videos and photos taunt us, it’s difficult to resist the temptation to get distracted. In fact, people who are chronically online have been found by researchers to be less capable of ignoring distractions. Long-term, this sort of sensory-overload could shrink our brain’s neuroplasticity and destroy our ability to focus.

The happy hormones that reward our brains – serotonin and dopamine – get overtapped by social media websites and apps and foster a false sense of immediate gratification. Likes, comments, tags, notifications – they provide a “rewarding” emotional rush for little work exerted on your own part. It makes you feel good. But when the notifications stop pouring in, your brain is starved for that quick hit of dopamine. If nothing can satisfy that compulsion, you may begin to feel anxious or depressed.

Implications are drearier when you take developing brains into consideration. During rapid brain development – which takes place between ages 12 and 15 – adolescents who constantly check social media feeds have been found by researchers to be more sensitive to social rewards from their peers. Those who spent less time engaging on social media were found to have less interest in social rewards. While this doesn’t prove that social media outright changes our brains, we can’t ignore the possibility of long-term, unanticipated consequences on brain development into adulthood. 

Oddly enough, our mobile tech has also sparked abnormal physical phenomena such as “Phantom Vibrations.” Your mind has been classically trained to expect texts, emails, and calls. You know the sound your phone will make or the buzz you’ll feel from within your pocket or purse. Out of fear of missing out, people genuinely begin to imagine false sensations that clue them in to an incoming call or text. 

In one study about this “phantom” phenomenon done with medical students – a high-stress, in-demand industry – 60% said they experienced phantom vibrations and a little under half reported phantom ringing after they had been using their phones very frequently. The fact that that research found such high occurrences of “phantom” sensations back in 2010 should be eye-opening when you consider how everyday peoples’ relationships with their phones has grown exponentially in scale since then.

As a whole, social media has been rightfully slammed time and time again by its own users as being a misanthropy machine, meaning that it cranks out individual upon individual with latent feelings of disdain for society. Having unbridled access to this “social networking tool” actually makes us angrier with one another, fuels political polarization, and makes us unhappy with ourselves and our internet-crafted perception of the world around us. 

I don’t want this for myself. I don’t want this for you. Doomscrolling is so depressing when there’s a whole, wide world out there for you to explore with abundant curiosity and the companionship of IRL loved ones.

FOMO No More – Let’s Become Human Again

Let me establish one quick thing: You’re likely not addicted to your phone. Phone addiction is a common misnomer that people spread to fearmonger and virtue-signal when they’re holier than thou about their social media usage. 

Most people have compulsive habits when it comes to their phones, and these habits can be corrected through behavioral practices. For comparison, you wouldn’t consider someone with a body-focused repetitive disorder like trichotillomania to be addicted to pulling their hair out – scientifically speaking, they’re caught up in a compulsive behavior. 

Compulsions play a big part in addiction, but the latter is defined by the American Society of Addiction Medicine as a “chronic disease that involves compulsively using substances or engaging in behaviors that continue despite harmful consequences.” 

Compulsive internet-brain behavior can be massaged out of your mind, but it takes some real introspection and unpacking. It’s also not a linear journey that you can accomplish with one miracle treatment. I mean, I’m far from perfect when it comes to over-using technology, but I’m glad I’m going through the motions to get myself into a better place.

So, where to even begin? 

Get Back To Problem Solving Basics 

Recognizing you’ve got a problem and admitting your faults is a good place to start. If you’re going about your day and you feel a sudden urge to unlock your phone, be real with yourself and ask, “What am I doing this for?” 

If it’s not something urgent or useful at the moment – like paying a bill or answering a time-sensitive text – then perhaps it’s actually pointless. Seriously, you might find yourself a bit embarrassed by the number of times you’re about to act on some brainless compulsion. Resist that urge, make a mental note of it, and move on.

Give Yourself Dedicated Exercise Seshes with Minimal Technology Usage 

It can be as simple as stepping away from technology during the daytime for a five to ten minute walk where you let your mind wander, or doing a few at-home yoga flows without any tech interference except for, say, some light music. Moving your body is a scientifically proven way to reduce anxiety in the moment by shifting cognitive focus from thinking to feeling. 

I’m not saying that you can’t enjoy a podcast while you go on a long walk or that you should feel ashamed for using your phone in between sets while doing some strength training at the gym. Instead, you should strive to more frequently have sacred moments of mental peace during physical movement. 

Since I work from home, one thing that I like to do that I believe has made a great difference in my ability to focus throughout the workday is step away from my laptop and do some full-body stretching. If I’m really feeling antsy, I might even go do a quick, physical chore like vacuum one room, clean the bathroom sink, or do a load of dishes. 

Allow Yourself To Daydream 

The other night, I finished watching an old film, but my husband was out at a work event. I started to weigh my options for what to do next with my evening alone. I turned on my favorite classical radio station, filed my nails, and then just stopped and let the music take my mind away from my physical body for a moment. It was divine, and oddly memorable, since I’m usually moving from task-to-task.

We often turn to our phones to escape boredom or uncomfortable emotions. But distracting ourselves from negative emotions prevents us from actually dealing with them and growing, and not allowing ourselves to be bored prevents us from being creative. Letting our minds wander still has benefits, even when we're no longer trapped in a boring class in high school.

But if just existing idly doesn’t come easy to you, you may want to try out some breathing exercises. Mental health experts praise breathing exercises as simple, quick solutions to reduce in the moment anxiety – perhaps like that feeling you get when you’re antsy and considering opening up Instagram or TikTok. Alternate-nostril breathing, belly breathing, box breathing, 4-7-8 breathing, Lion’s Breath, pursed-lip breathing, and resonance breathing are all expertly vetted practices that could calm your stormy mind.

Stop Following So Many Accounts 

Do you need to follow every single news publication? Every influencer? If your social media feed is bloated, cut out the stuff that doesn’t matter. It’s not that being “informed” is overrated, but you really need to pick your battles. 

Unless diplomacy is part of your job, maybe random international controversies aren’t something you need to spend your time keeping up with. There’s only so much your brain can juggle at once – and making sure you’re well-educated on the stuff that directly affects you and your loved ones first should be a greater priority than inundating your psyche with stress-inducing headlines. 

Furthermore, you probably follow way more people than you’d realistically be friends with IRL. If someone posts content that aggravates you, then why bother following them? Curate a feed that adds to your enjoyment of social media rather than worsen your relationships with these platforms.

Consume Fewer Words on a Screen and More Words on Paper 

Growing up, I was a voracious reader. I’d take on library reading challenges like it was a cakewalk. But, through public school education, I grew so exhausted with the types of books I was being forced to read. After college, I decided I’d get my library card and just experiment with as many genres as I could until I found books that could rekindle my love for reading. 

You don’t need to be diving into heavy, philosophical literature. It’s less about the content and more about diverting your focus into one, screen-free hobby. Lately, to wean myself further away from the plague of “internet brain,” I’ve also been experimenting with turning my phone off when it’s my oh-so-self-indulgent quiet reading time. 

Sometimes, this isn’t such a realistic practice because I’ll be reading while my husband is out of the house and I want to keep my phone on in case he calls me with an emergency, but as often as I can zero in on activities that let me lose myself in fiction, I get lost. And yes, even the fluffy stuff is better for your soul than watching international war play out on your social media feed.

If You’re Willing and Able, “Go Dark”

Licensed marriage and family therapist Jenny Wise Black spoke on Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe podcast for her episode titled “BRB, Healing From Social Media.” Black hosts her own podcast called Lose The Phone where she challenges people to spend 30 days (or more) with a “dumb phone.” Through this project, she worked with researchers to see if, say, artists could become better creatives when they used “dumb” phones. 

Black urged on Bristowe’s podcast that a person’s number one most important relationship is actually their relationship with their phone. Wait, what? Not their spouse or their children? 

No, she explained that until you get in a healthy place with your phone, that little bugger will impact all other relationships in your life. You might not be able to take a 30-day sabbatical from technology to “reset” your nervous system. You might not be able to go totally tech-free like Black has because there are very real valid reasons why you should stay connected in some capacity.

But, Black encouraged listeners to rethink their digital habits. Why do we consider time spent offline as time wasted? I mean, really. Why don’t we consider it to be time wasted when we’re doomscrolling or getting triggered by posts and spend precious moments of our lives responding to pointless discourse? It wears us out, Black explained, and empties our proverbial gas tank for no reason. 

“I’m going dark,” she confessed. “And I’m not telling you what’s going on in my life to show you you’re allowed to go dark and not tell anybody what’s going on in your life.”

This concept of going dark is very much like the new trend of de-influencing, where people will post videos reducing hype around a particular product that has been oversold by social media marketing. 

Your digital detox might take a different shape than Black who went totally dark-mode. For instance, one day a week you could take a digital sabbatical. Or, if you think you’d still like to use social media in some capacity daily, you could limit your activity to once a day or be more protective over what you’re sharing about your private life.

“When you start processing your trauma publicly, to a screen, you’re taking your trauma and using it against yourself,” Black explained. “You aren't going to heal in that process. You are traumatizing and re-traumatizing yourself because you will not get in the virtual world the care that you will get in the real world”

Go dark until you’re healed, she urged. You don't want to use your social media channels like a megaphone to process your trauma.

Some other people might call this “monk mode,” meaning that you fully disengage with the system as though you were dedicating yourself to a disciplined, religious lifestyle. Proponents would allege it enhances your focus and, in turn, your productivity. It’s funny – perhaps the best “life hack” for being more productive is to be less “productive” by today’s modern metrics of always being on top of current events and religiously tracking your progress.

Closing Thoughts

I’m so grateful to have the answer to any question that my curious mind could conjure up totally free, without any judgment, and at a moment’s notice. What a treat it is to have all the funniest, most inexplicable memes to cheer me up every now and then. I’m so grateful for the career I’ve been able to build up through the power of the internet, and frankly, boosted up by the advent of social media too.

But I want my brain to function the way God intended it to function, and not deteriorate from a never-ending slew of brain rot being sent my way by an irreverent algorithm. Maybe monk mode isn’t in the picture for me during this season of life, but I’m actively pursuing more “analog” activities to bring my brain back to normal.

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