How Overstimulation Is Ruining Your Life

You know that feeling, when you’re scrolling through your phone and nothing seems to be interesting anymore?

And you think to yourself - “why am I doing this?”

You’ve saturated your dopamine receptors and it is now hard for anything to make you feel good.

This is overstimulation.

Today I’m going to explore how this is ruining your life and what you can do about it.

Dumb apes vs Smartphones

For most of history, humans lived in times when there wasn’t much stimulus in their environments.

In the blink of an eye, we now have an abundance of stimuli that we haven’t been prepared for.

Our primitive brains weren’t designed for this overstimulation. As a result, modern-day humans are suffering from all kinds of mental issues.

From dopamine addiction and low motivation states to the inability to focus, and a general numbness to the beauty of life.

If it's free, you're the product

I'm sure you've heard the phrase "Attention is the new currency." It’s scary how true this is.

Modern tech companies are giving you "free" products so they can hook you on their platform and milk you dry, all in the name of profit.

And once you’ve had a taste, good luck finding your way out.

It's a battle between your willpower and 200 IQ nerds in Silicon Valley. Who do you think win's that battle?

If we don’t snap out of this dream state, we’re going to become a generation disconnected from reality - a generation more interested in showing ourselves, than knowing ourselves.

Tools to help you regain control

A few weeks ago I discussed taking a dopamine detox as a way to quickly reboot your dopamine system.

But, that is only the first step. Overstimulation will always be prevalent in modern life, we need to learn to deal with this long-term by creating our own systems.

Here are some tips you can incorporate into your life to defeat overstimulation:

1. Alarm clock

It starts with the beginning of the day - you need to ensure you don't use your phone for the first hour of the day.

Personally, when I start my day off by scrolling through my phone, I feel unmotivated  and lazy as fuck for the rest of the day.

Like most people, you probably use your phone as an alarm. This is dangerous because it leaves you prone to browsing your phone right upon waking.

What's worked for me is using an old phone without any apps as an alarm clock. I place this on the other side of the room so it forces me to jump out of bed to shut it up. Once I'm out of bed, it's easy for me to start my day.

2. Disable notifications

Disable notifications from as many apps as you can - especially social media apps.

Depending on your work circumstances you might need certain notifications urgently (e.g. Slack/Email). But most other crap can (and should) be turned off.

99.97% of the time you do NOT need to respond to anything immediately.

If it's urgent they'll call you.

The potential for human creativity is at its greatest during flow states. And it's impossible to fall into this state when your attention is snatched every few minutes.

Don't let your phone dictate your attention, you dictate your attention.

Your attention is precious. Protect it.

3. Delete apps from your phone

For those feeling bold:

You can go a step further than disabling notifications - you can completely delete the apps off your phone.

You can still access these from your computer. But you want to get them off your phone since your phone is always with you.

By limiting yourself to only the computer, you are significantly decreasing the potential time you can spend on these apps.

3.1 News Feed Blocker

This one goes hand in hand with the previous tip.

There's no point deleting social media apps from your phone if you spend all day browsing on your computer. That's why you also need to install a news feed blocker on your computer.

Personally, I use the News Feed Eradicator chrome extension. I love it because it completely blocks the news feed while still allowing the other functions on the website.

I have no interest in my Facebook feed, but I still like to use Facebook for its messaging, marketplace, and events functionalities.

4. Out of sight, out of mind

Physically move your phone out of sight when you're doing anything that requires focus.

When I'm writing at my desk I'll make sure my phone is out of sight hidden away somewhere.

When I'm reading I'll literally leave my phone in a different room so it's not on my mind in the slightest.

You can't use what you don't have.

5. Go for a walk every day without your phone.

Why do profound thoughts always come in the shower?

Because it's one of the few times that we're relaxed without our phones.

As our society advances, it's becoming increasingly hard to disconnect from technology.

Your brain needs time to decompress and unwind. It needs space to dissect and digest any lingering thoughts.

We keep pouring into our full cups when what we need to do is empty them.

Technology-free walks are a great way to empty your mind.

Become super-you

By using all those tools, you will recover the ability to find pleasure in the small things in life. You can sit on a park bench and enjoy listening to the birds sing.

You will regain the ability to focus by entering states of "deep work", allowing your brain to perform at higher levels. Your memory, focus, and creativity will improve. Studies have found people exposed to boredom are better at problem-solving and creativity.

And most importantly, you'll remember what it feels like to have a sense of drive and motivation. A sense of grabbing life by the balls and taking what's yours.

Recap

To summarise, here's what I want you to do right now.

1. Get a physical alarm clock

OR

Grab an old phone (ask a friend or family member if needed). Delete all the apps and set up your morning alarm on this phone. Now place it on the other side of the room from your bed.

2. Open your phone and delete the apps you know are wasting your time. If you REALLY need to keep those apps, at least turn off the notifications.

3. Open your computer and download the free News Feed Eradicator chrome extension.

4. Schedule into your calendar a time when you'll go for a walk without your phone. I'd recommend immediately after lunch/dinner (for health and digestion benefits).

Once you’ve done all those, you’re now on the right path to self-mastery.

I wish you the best of luck.

Cheers

– Ivan