By the time I noticed, it was almost too late.
Even though I was doing the same work, I wasn't making progress like before. I'd write a little, then look at my phone. I'd think for a bit, then want to do something else.
Work that used to take 1 hour now takes 2.
I knew it was bad, but I couldn't resist the stimulation.
When I got stuck, I'd look at my phone. I'd aimlessly open SNS. I'd play videos. I'd escape into temporary pleasure.
Guilt usually arrived the next morning.
And then, I'd repeat the same day all over again.
Since entering my late 30s, I felt this kind of disorder was increasing.
Work responsibilities grow. Things to think about increase. My head is always overflowing with information, schedules, decisions, and unprocessed tasks.
Into that, I'd pour the stimulation of smartphones, SNS, videos, and notifications without rest.
Of course, the brain gets tired.
To put it bluntly, I felt my brain was clearly being "destroyed by dopamine."
I knew it, but I felt like I couldn't do anything about it. That kind of feeling.
However, it's better not to misunderstand this.
Dopamine itself is not a poison. It's a necessary human mechanism involved in motivation, learning, action, and expectation.
The so-called "dopamine detox" is not an act of removing dopamine from the body.
It is an adjustment to reduce strong stimuli that can be obtained repeatedly in a short time and return the brain to one that can wait for slow rewards.
As Anders Hansen, author of "The Smartphone Brain," points out, SNS notifications and reactions repeatedly give small rewards to the brain.
While smartphones and SNS are convenient tools, they are also devices that easily create the habit of constantly searching for the next stimulus.
If that state continues, you become unable to endure "slow-reward activities" like work, reading, thinking, or walking.
Concentration doesn't last. You can't settle down in quiet times. You can't think deeply about one thing.
In short,
The brain becomes unable to endure deep human activities.
When slightly bored, you want stimulation. When slightly difficult, you escape to another task. When slightly anxious, you open a screen.
As a result, you procrastinate on what needs to be done, increase unprocessed tasks, and put more load on the brain.
Tired from stimulation, and escaping to stimulation because you're tired.
My 30-something brain was on the verge of short-circuiting.
So what's needed is not to push yourself further.
It's not about adding more stimulation to force your mood up.
It's about returning attention, roughened by excessive stimulation, to a quiet state once.
Since then, whenever I feel I'm not concentrating, I've made it a point to periodically do a "dopamine detox."
I consciously did it again for about a week this time.
And I've decided to summarize 10 things that I felt were particularly effective among the various things I've tried.
You don't need to do everything perfectly.
Even reducing one entrance for stimulation can be a trigger to return to your original brain performance. I hope this helps those who, like me, are suffering from overstimulation.
1. Smartphone Detox | Remove it from arm's reach
The key to a smartphone detox is not willpower, but placement.
The more my concentration is scattered, the more I avoid putting my phone on the desk. I don't put it in my pocket either. I put it in a drawer. I place it where I can't reach it while sitting in my chair.
In fact, I wasn't touching my phone because a notification came.
I was touching it when I got stuck in the middle of writing.
In other words, rather than wanting to see the phone, I was using it as an escape hatch from thinking.
Think of a difficult sentence. No answer comes. It becomes slightly uncomfortable. If I reach out there, there's easy stimulation inside the screen.
From the brain's perspective, it's natural to escape there.
So, I put necessary notes on paper. I use a separate tool for a timer. For research, I don't start each item on the spot; I do them all at once later.
After creating a setup where work can function without a smartphone, I physically distance myself from it.
The essence of a smartphone detox is to isolate the temptation so that even a weakened, weak-willed brain won't lose.
2. SNS Detox | Return from a place of reaction to a work tool
This isn't about quitting SNS completely.
For me, X is also a work tool.
However, using it for work and unconsciously going to get reactions are different things.
When my concentration collapses, I return X to "opening only during decided work hours."
I don't open it casually.
I don't look at it for a change of pace.
I write the task first, start the timer, and fix what I will do in that time, such as:
- Posting
- Replying
- Quoting
- Analyzing
If I stare at it for more than 5 minutes, I quietly close it.
The more concentration is broken, the more you tend to do "Let's just check for a second."
But that's less of a check and more of a ritual to disengage from concentration.
Looking at it doesn't make work progress. Even so, by looking at new notifications or numbers, the brain alone gets a small reward.
This fine-grained disengagement destroys deep concentration.
The purpose of an SNS detox is to return SNS from a "place to go get reactions" to a "tool with a purpose."
3. Noise Detox | Remove the brain from the "constantly being called" state
When you can't concentrate, you should review not just information but also sound.
**If I'm going to play sound, I lean toward things with little change, like the sound of waves or rain. I avoid music with lyrics or sounds with strong stimulation. I use noise-canceling if necessary.**
Previously, I couldn't settle down if it was quiet.
I'd play music for the time being. Play videos. Play audio of someone talking.
But because of that "for the time being," the brain was always in a receiving state.
If words are heard, it processes the meaning. If the song changes, attention shifts. If a notification sounds, consciousness is taken away.
This time, I spent most of my time with just the sound of waves.
On days when concentration was severely broken, I even stopped trying to lift my mood with music.
Noise-canceling also works quite well.
I think of it not as a luxury item, but as a device to prevent the leakage of attention.
The essence of a noise detox is to remove the brain from the state of "being constantly called from somewhere."
4. Digital Detox | Return from screen speed to the thickness of reality
This is slightly different from just reducing smartphones or SNS.
It's about returning a life that is completed only inside a screen back to the reality side.
When my concentration collapses, I intentionally return to analog.
Write on paper. Put thoughts into a notebook. Turn book pages by hand. Take a walk. If talking to people, do it face-to-face as much as possible.
This time, I returned a lot of my thought organization to paper.
I purposely write on paper what I could write on a PC.
To be honest, it's a hassle.
But that hassle was important.
Digital screens are too fast. You can input. Delete. Duplicate. Search. Move to other information in an instant. Because it's fast, the brain also goes to the next thing immediately.
Paper is slow.
You have to write one character at a time. Space is finite. You can't search.
So, you stop for a moment.
The essence of a digital detox is to return a brain accustomed to screens that are too fast back to the speed of reality.
Reclaim the texture, distance, weight, and flow of time that cannot be obtained through screen-mediated connections alone.
5. Junk Food Detox | Don't process stress with food
The problem with junk food isn't just health.
The more tired, stressed, or dull the brain is, the more it tends to lean toward things with strong sugar or fat.
In short, you start trying to fix your mood with food.
It happened normally this time too.
Work is heavy. The brain isn't into it. Writing isn't progressing. At times like this, sweet or greasy things from the convenience store suddenly look attractive.
But that's often not real hunger, just the brain wanting additional stimulation.
So, stop once.
**"Am I really hungry right now?"
"Am I just tired?"
"Do I just want a trigger to escape from work?"**
Look at that.
If you're really hungry, eat.
However, if you're trying to eat to erase the discomfort of work, skip it once.
Drink water. Walk a little. Break work into smaller pieces. If you still want to eat, choose again.
The essence of a junk food detox is not about not eating. It's about stopping the reflex of processing stress with food.
Even just choosing again returns a bit of the brain's initiative.
6. Porn Detox | Don't layer stimulation that is too strong
I'm not going to talk about whether porn is good or evil.
What I want to look at here is not morality, but the strength of the stimulus.
What I'm conscious of is thinking separately about:
"Is this truly a sexual desire?" "Am I just seeking strong stimulation out of boredom or stress?"
When concentration is scattered or the brain is not settled, it can be the latter.
Touch the phone for no reason. Flow toward content with strong stimulation. Search for even stronger stimulation.
When this flow becomes a habit, every time your mood drops, you start overwriting it with strong stimulation.
However, there's no need to label yourself as having an "addiction" just because you have sexual impulses.
The important thing is whether you are choosing that action yourself.
- Are you repeatedly cutting into work or sleep?
- Are you in a state where you want to stop but can't?
- Is it the only means to distract yourself from anxiety or boredom?
Look at that.
When you're leaning forward into dopamine, don't layer more stimulation. Cut it there once.
The purpose of a porn detox is not to deny desire. It's to weaken the habit of processing emotions with strong stimulation.
7. Multitask Detox | Create an environment where you can only do one thing
In this day and age, if you leave things alone, they'll become multitask as much as possible.
Especially with AI, it's even more so.
Research. Write. Wait for generation. Look at another screen in the meantime. Reply. Go back again.
The brain keeps switching constantly.
Even if the person intends to proceed with multiple jobs simultaneously, in reality, they are moving their attention finely.
Each time, they have to reload the previous context.
So I use apps to limit myself so I can only do one thing. Make it impossible to open unnecessary sites. Write what to do on paper and cross them off one by one.
This works quite well.
The important thing is not to psych yourself up with "I'm going to concentrate!"
It's to make it a mechanism that prevents distraction.
A brain with low concentration finds escape routes cleverly.
If you get stuck on a sentence, you escape to research. If you get bored with research, you escape to email. If email is a hassle, you escape to SNS.
So, make it single-track.
Only this for now.
Don't go to another task until it's finished.
As Cal Newport argues in "DEEP WORK," the habit of constantly seeking stimulation and switching makes deep concentration difficult.
The essence of a multitask detox is to create an environment for yourself where you can only proceed one by one.
8. Physical Detox | Cut brain disorder from the body
When the brain is stuck, trying to do something with just the head can make it worse.
In such cases, use the body strongly to take away the power to think.
About once every two days, I include exercise that gets my breath up and makes me sweat properly, like HIIT.
I did it this time too.
Rather than doing it because I was in the mood,
It was closer to the feeling of forcibly pushing the poison accumulated in my head out through my body.
When stimulation and noise are congested in the head, it's faster to move the body before thinking.
Run. Breath goes up. Sweat comes out. Heart rate rises.
When you go that far, the thoughts that were occupying you until a moment ago step back once.
Of course, you need to match it to your exercise habits and physical condition. There's no need to push yourself to the limit suddenly.
Fast walking, stairs, or muscle training is fine.
The important thing is to return attention to the sensations of the body, not inside the screen.
The essence of a physical detox is to realign brain disorder from the body and regain the "feeling of being alive" before "thinking."
9. Meaningful Detox | Have time that is of no use for anything
Today's brain is quite weak during times when nothing happens.
If there's even a slight blank, you want to do something. Open your phone. Put in information. Advance work. Try to turn it into meaningful time.
I'm into walking right now.
To be honest, it's boring.
But that boredom is good.
Nothing happens. Nothing is produced. No one evaluates you. Even if you walk back, no deliverables remain.
Place the brain in that "nothingness."
At first, it's restless.
But as you become able to endure boring time little by little, you become able to see the fine things of daily life.
Wind, light, town sounds, seasons, body fatigue, what you were thinking.
Sensations return to things with weak stimulation.
I think the sign of starting to break free from dopamine addiction is not that you no longer need strong pleasure.
It's that you become able to feel ordinary daily life more than before.
In me, it's close to the feeling of gratitude for the obvious returning from a state of only chasing pleasure.
The essence of a meaningful detox is to remove the brain's anxiety of "I'm anxious if I'm not doing something meaningful."
10. Learning Detox | Return from videos and summaries to reading and notes
Learning is also easily roughened by stimulation.
Watch videos. Get knowledge on SNS. Summarize with AI. Snack on short know-how one after another.
This way of learning is novel and feels good.
You can understand immediately. Knowledge increases one after another. It's easy to get the feeling of having become smart.
But because of that, it's hard to lead to deep understanding.
I see whether concentration has returned by the following actions:
Can I read a physical book? Can I write my own words in a notebook? Can I move my hands and keep thinking about the same theme for several days?
If you've become unable to be satisfied with this, your brain is leaning quite a bit toward fast stimulation.
In the end, I returned here this time too.
Videos feel good. SNS is easy. AI gives answers immediately.
But reading and notes are hard to escape from.
If you don't understand, you stop. You can't write unless you think for yourself. If understanding is shallow, it doesn't become words.
So, the state of the brain comes out as it is.
Read a physical book. Stop. Think. Write in a notebook.
When you can't endure this plainness, there's a possibility that the brain is too used to fast rewards.
The purpose of a learning detox is not to reduce knowledge.
It's to return from learning with strong stimulation to learning that deepens understanding.
That said, a dopamine detox is not an "asceticism contest"
Reading this far, you might think,
"Do I have to endure smartphones, SNS, food, and entertainment, everything?"
But the purpose is not asceticism.
Smartphones, SNS, and videos are normally convenient. Music, food, and sexual desires are natural for humans.
The problem is not enjoying them.
It's escaping to stimulation reflexively without thinking every time discomfort occurs.
Smartphone because I'm stuck at work. SNS because I'm bored. Video because I'm anxious. Junk food because I'm tired. Strong stimulation because I'm lonely.
The more this reflex increases, the more the sense of choosing your own actions disappears.
So a detox is not about throwing everything away.
It's about returning to a state where you can stop once and re-choose:
"What am I seeking right now?"
Summary
You don't need to do everything in this content perfectly.
You don't need to throw away your smartphone for a week or seclude yourself in the mountains.
First, just keep your phone away during work. Decide on times to open SNS. Don't listen to anything during a walk. Open only one job.
That's enough.
A dopamine detox is not an act of making dopamine the villain.
It's not about becoming a hermit without stimulation.
It's an adjustment to return the brain to one that can once again enjoy "slow activities" inherent to humans, such as reading, thinking, working, walking, and talking.
I will do this again when my concentration gets scattered.
I'll probably do it periodically in the future too.
As long as you use smartphones and SNS, it's difficult not to be completely disordered.
However, if because of that, the things you truly want to obtain in your life are moving away, I think that's a waste.
Taking an appropriate distance from desires and stimulation and periodically looking back at your life in slow time might be what you need right now.
On this account, I verbalize daily with the theme of 1mm growth per day. Following is an encouragement.
https://x.com/antoshia2n/status/2080583675100676132
https://x.com/antoshia2n/status/2078389523348942894
**Reference books + Recommended books "The Smartphone Brain" Anders Hansen / Shincho Shinsho "DEEP WORK" Cal Newport / Diamond Inc. "Four Thousand Weeks" Oliver Burkeman / Kanki Publishing**
