Thread by @FitFounder

This 2 minute thread will save you 10+ years of your life:

The average person spends 4-6 hours a day on their phone.

If they did this from the ages of 20 to 80 they would have spent a total of 10+ years of their lives on a screen.

Phones are a great invention, but they're more toxic than you think.

That's not even the worst part...

Chronic phone overuse has been shown to change your brain chemistry.

It affects GABA production where disturbances can be a warning sign of addiction.

It triggers dopamine by giving it a short-term boost that leads to a letdown, which causes the brain to want more.

Gray matter shrinkage

Grey matter is responsible for controlling movement, memory & emotions.

A study scanned someone's brain addicted to phone usage & found lower volume of grey matter with their brains resembling the physical shape & size of drug users.

Altered white matter

White matter integrity helps the body process information & is correlated with intelligence.

Phone addiction has been shown to create “Spotty” white matter, which translates into loss of communication within the brain.

Important Note:

It's not the phones themselves that cause addiction.

Addiction largely comes from the apps themselves. They are designed to capture your attention by altering some serious chemistry in your brain.

Think of the phone as the gun where apps pull the trigger.

Other dangers of phone addiction:

· Anxiety
· Depression
· Car accidents
· Digital eye strain
· Neck & back pain
· Sleep disturbances
· Relationship problems

Being addicted to cells phones can destroy our mental & physical health.

But are you addicted?

Symptoms of Phone Addiction

· Craving it
· Always reaching for the phone when bored
· Giving it more attention than your kids or loved ones
· Using it during dangerous situations (ie. texting when driving)

Here's how you break the habit and get 10+ years of your life back👇

1. Awareness

Look at your screen time & get real with yourself.

Start listing all the ways you're addicted & stop rationalizing why you need to be on your phone.

The first step to solving a problem is admitting that you have one in the first place.

2. Dumbify your phone

Get rid of social media, email, Discord, Slack, and everything else that keeps you glued to your phone.

Only keep essential apps on your phone.

A big step to stop being addicted is to get rid of the apps that cause you to grab your phone constantly.

3. Make it ugly

Color stimulates your brain.

Set your phone to greyscale/black & white or put a reddish hue as a filter.

This reduces the stimulus & novelty your brain seeks, which contributes to your addiction.

4. Change the environment

When you're doing work or with your family put your phone in a different room.

Before you sleep put the phone as far from you as possible.

The best way to reduce phone time is to remove it from your environment entirely.

5. Turn off all sounds, vibrations & notifications

These trigger a pavlovian response to always stay glued to your phone.

Turn them all off except for those you need to get from family & friends.

This helps you avoid subconsciously reaching for it every time you hear a noise.

6. Create NO PHONE zones

We tend to lie in bed & scroll for hours before sleeping & we bring our phones to the dinner table.

You need designated NO PHONE zones in your home, hard rules & incentives for where you will use it (and not use it).

Cont..

The 2 places I'd bring my phone: The bathroom & the dinner table.

So I put books in my bathroom to read & made our dinner table a NO PHONE zone.

If I brought our table to the phone I'd have to donate $100 to Justin Trudeau as punishment. Trust me, this works.

7. Don't avoid. Replace.

Telling you to not go on your phone is like telling you to not think of a pink elephant. It doesn't work.

You don't avoid habits. You replace them.

So fill up that time with something (ie. reading, walking) more worthwhile than scrolling the internet.

8. Track screentime

How do you know you're winning the phone game? Track your phone usage on a week-by-week basis.

Treat it as a game & see how low you can get your usage.

Create a spreadsheet to track your progress.

This workouts because what gets measured gets managed.

Will we be able to get away from phones entirely?

No and it's not necessary.

The key is to control your behavior around it.

The phone is an incredible device that has brought me a ton of blessings, but I remind myself that it's a great servant but a horrible master.

Phones are great but addiction is dangerous.

Hope this thread helped you take a bit of control back in your life.

If you liked this then follow me @FitFounder.

Also, RT the tweet below if you want to help friends who are addicted to the phone.