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.
They said hamburgers was junk food, but the truth is they are one of the healthiest foods on the planet.
You only need 5 key ingredients.
Here's how to make it:
1. The Bun
Sourdough is the healthiest bread on the planet.
The fermentation process breaks down gluten and phytic acid for easier digestion while lowering the glycemic index, unlocking more nutrients and minerals for your body to absorb.
2. The Pattie
Grass fed beef is a superfood.
It's rich in heart-healthy Omega-3s, antioxidants like Vitamin E, CLA (which is a cancer-fighting fat), and key nutrients like iron, zinc, and B vitamins.
There's a diet proven to cut visceral fat by 14%, even if you don't lose a single pound on the scale.
It's not keto. It's not carnivore. And it's not counting calories.
It's called the Optimized Mediterranean Diet. Here's how to do it:
Visceral fat is the fat you can't pinch. It wraps around your liver, pancreas, and intestines, pumping inflammatory compounds into your bloodstream 24/7.
People in the top quartile have 10x higher odds of hypertension, 6x higher odds of diabetes, and 81% higher all-cause mortality.
The scary part is midlife belly fat predicts Alzheimer's markers 20 years before symptoms appear.
Higher visceral fat correlates with poorer executive function independent of total body fat. Your brain is paying the price before you notice anything wrong.
At 46, I got my abs back and this breakfast is the biggest reason why.
Here's what's in it and why it works:
I call it Glop.
It looks disgusting, tastes great, and the best part is it takes less than 3 minutes to make.
It contains 4 ingredients:
300g low-fat Greek yogurt 1-2 scoops whey protein
1 tbsp psyllium husk
100g frozen fruit
That's 350 calories. 40-60g protein. 10g fiber.
How to make it:
1. Prep this the night before (you'll see why) 2. Put 300g Greek Yogurt into a bowl with 1 scoop whey protein, along with a tablespoon of psyllium husk, and mix 3. Add 100g frozen fruit of choice 4. Put in fridge overnight
Overnight, the psyllium husk expands while the frozen fruit thaws, giving you a hearty breakfast you can eat right out of the fridge.