Your tech addiction is like being high on the Las Vegas strip.
You’ve most likely heard all about blue light by now, and that it affects your sleep by delaying melatonin, creating insomnia, making it harder for you to fall asleep.
Well aside, from delaying your melatonin, blue light also triggers dopamine.
The chemical in your brain that makes you feel oh-so-good, giving you pleasure and motivation. What it also does, is keep you awake and alert.
The instant gratification we receive from notifications, validation from likes, the FOMO, and endless content that all try to grab your attention, the personalized algorithms, and the games that light up the reward centre in our brain - our tech devices are like the endless casinos on the Las Vegas strip, but you have it all in the palm of your end. No, I stand corrected, it’s like being high on cocaine, on the Las Vegas strip, with your dealer beside you. A little extreme?
Think about it - the constant way you need your fix, picking up your phone every time you hear a notification or feeling bored. Take a second to be honest with yourself, how tough is it to set your phone aside? If you had to pay for your screen time, it’d be one hell of an expensive drug.
Not only are these activities increasing our dopamine levels, but blue light itself actually increases dopamine concentration in our brain and even our eyes. As per this study by Science Direct, where the experiment was conducted on rabbits, we may not be rabbits, but we’re also mammals with dopamine receptors.
Not only are our dopamine levels shooting fireworks like it’s the 4th of July from our nonstop tech usage, making it hard to put down our phone, but dopamine is also associated with wakefulness. With all these factors at hand, how can we even begin to fight against it?
1 more video you say,
1 more hour you think to yourself,
1 more episode…
and “1 more” later, a couple of hours has passed and so has your bedtime.
In this digital age, where most of our work is via the computer, and it’s also how we discover news, get our entertainment, maintain our relationships, network, and build our businesses - it’s definitely unavoidable. So with our tech, social media, and everything on it created to grab and maintain your attention, you’re not completely to blame.
So who or what can we blame?
We can blame the digital age culture,
Content creators,
Online gaming companies,
Our jobs that require work on the computer,
All the Social media platforms,
Netflix and all streaming services with endless content,
Millions of Apps,
FOMO,
The viral content,
The psychology tricks creators, brands, companies use to keep us watching,
the list of blame is endless…
All these tactics and factors that try to keep us glued to our phones actually use our own brain against us. See when we encounter pleasurable stimuli, our brains have a reward system that releases dopamine, making us addicted to that stimuli. It’s akin to the casino slot machines, rewarding us over and over endlessly until we find it within us to pull away.
With all these culprits we can point the finger at for our addiction, how is it possible to put down our phone and go to sleep?
It is difficult. Addiction is hard to overcome. It might not seem as harmful as other addictive behaviours, but an addiction is an addiction. But putting down the phone at a decent time before bed will reap more benefits in your life and the next day than those late night dopamine hits.
What are these benefits?
Putting down your devices at least 1 hour before bed will:
Increase your melatonin, allowing you to fall asleep faster;
Get deeper sleep
Increase your sleep efficiency
Increase your mood the next day (increased artificial blue light from tech usage increases depression)
Increased productivity
Improved mental health
Regain more time (for other activities)
Aligned circadian rhythm (blue light in evening disrupts our circadian rhythm)
Reduced eye strain
Feeling accountable to yourself
This is one trick to putting down your phone, it’s to recognize and remember the long and short term benefits putting down your phone has over the doom scrolling.
Yes, yes, we’re all addicted to our smartphones and devices.
But that’s not entirely your fault. Or is it?
You thought I wrote this article to alleviate your guilt for your tech addiction, didn’t you?
Well just like any other addictions, we have a choice.
We can blame all these factors vying for our attention, but what we can also do, is to take accountability for our actions and habits. It’s not entirely your fault. But you’re partially to blame if you can’t control your own urges and habits.
Everything may be pulling us towards the blue light abyss, but are you gonna let external factors win, or are you stronger than that?
Your tech addiction is stealing your bedtime. Are you going to let it win?
Are you able to control your urges, or are you going to continue to submit to being an addict? Take control, or let external factors win.
Good sleep is about creating good habits that allow you to stay disciplined and accountable to yourself.
Sure, it’s just “1 more” hour/game/show, but without the discipline to not just set up but adhere to a good sleep system, your sleep quality and energy won’t change if you don’t change your habits. That’s why when you work with me at Sleep Snob, we’ll be able to create systems and habits that work for you and plus you’ll have an accountability partner for when you’re finding it hard to keep yourself accountable.
If you need help eliminating your tech addiction before bed or setting up a good sleep system, you know who to call (not before bed, we’re not picking up) - contact us at hello@sleepsnob.com and meet with us for a free consult, We’ll give you the support and accountability to put your phone down, amongst other things, to get to bed.
Good night, Zzzzleep well xo,
Sleep Snob
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