Screen addiction risks
By
Kashif Mag
By
Kashif Mag
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Are you constantly seeking dopamine hits from gaming, social media, or even binge-watching?
00:07Remember, dopamine is the molecule of more and it's insatiable.
00:12Maybe you even find that your motivation for real-world experiences is dropping
00:18and your pleasure in life has gone down.
00:22Well, in today's video, I'm going to show you how digital overstimulation
00:27rewires your brain through supernormal stimulation.
00:32And more importantly, I'm going to show you what you can do to take back control.
00:37I'm going to show you how you can reset the dopamine system in your brain
00:42for healthier pleasure and happiness.
00:45I'm Dr. Trish Lee.
00:47Welcome back to the channel where we help people understand how modern technology
00:53impacts your brain, hijacks the dopamine system, and keeps you wanting more in the screen
00:59but preventing you from enjoying your life.
01:02If you want to know what you can do to reset the dopamine system
01:07so you can feel happiness at higher levels again, well, you're in the right place.
01:13Let's dive in.
01:14Technology is designed to hijack your brain so that you feel more pleasure in the screen
01:20but less pleasure and happiness in your real life.
01:24It's called supernormal stimulation and it keeps you going back for more.
01:30It can be experienced on a continuum from emails to explicit matter.
01:36Let me tell you how it works.
01:37Every time you go back and you check your email or a notification, a DM, a dating app,
01:45a short-form video, a long-form video, all the way up to explicit matter,
01:51your brain is experiencing what I call a deluge of dopamine.
01:56You're getting more dopamine from the screen than you ever possibly could
02:02from real-world experiences.
02:05This is what keeps you coming back for more.
02:07Over time, this reduces your ability to enjoy real-life experiences
02:13because there's less dopamine there for pleasure, but you still experience pleasure,
02:19but you also get serotonin for joy, and you also get oxytocin for connection.
02:26It's called the happiness trifecta.
02:28But the more you go into the screen, the less you want to hang out with your friends,
02:33play your guitar, or cook or garden, or do any of your favorite hobbies.
02:38But the good news is you can reset your brain and the pleasure pathways within it
02:45so that they no longer crave those high levels of dopamine.
02:50Instead, they want the happiness trifecta from your life.
02:54So your happiness hack for today is an activity that I call dopamine determination.
03:01It works like this.
03:02Get out a journal, and in the left-hand column,
03:05write down all of the screen-based, supernormal stimuli that you're going back to right now.
03:12Realize you're getting high levels of dopamine from those tech-based activities.
03:18Now, in the right-hand column,
03:21write down all the things that you used to love to do in the real world,
03:25the hobbies that you do love to do but you don't do enough,
03:28or all the things that you've ever wanted to do.
03:32In this way, you can determine real-world activities that will give you dopamine for healthy pleasure,
03:39plus the serotonin and oxytocin for happiness.
03:43Make sure that these activities are important for you.
03:47This is your dopamine determination, not your brothers, not your girlfriends,
03:52you, your dopamine determination.
03:55And if you want more help figuring this out,
03:58please go over to drtrishlee.com where you can download my free guide,
04:04Reward Reset, 32 Brain Hacks, to leave the screen and reclaim your life.
04:09It'll help you figure out what you want to do.
04:12Okay, so you may not realize that you are, in fact,
04:16stuck in a cycle when you go back to social media.
04:20And the more you go back, the more you're stuck.
04:23Remember, dopamine is insatiable.
04:26I even had a client who had a tattoo that said,
04:29less is more.
04:31The more he got sucked into this cycle,
04:34he actually changed the tattoo to read,
04:38more is more.
04:39More is more is a dopamine cycle.
04:42So I want you to know,
04:44if you're having difficulty staying away from social media,
04:48gaming, or any screen-based activity,
04:51this isn't about willpower.
04:54It's about instant gratification.
04:57Your brain has been trained to hit the easy button
04:59so you can feel the pleasure of high-level,
05:03supernormal dopamine from the screen,
05:06but unfortunately, taking away from your real life.
05:10If you want to know more about the easy button,
05:12I've written about it in my number one best-selling book,
05:16Mind Over Explicit Matter.
05:18This way you can learn,
05:19when you hit the easy button,
05:21it keeps you going back for more.
05:23Now, the more stressed out you feel,
05:25the more you're going to crave this dopamine.
05:28It's important to be aware of that.
05:31So stress reduction is really important
05:34so you don't find yourself back in the screen.
05:36The way that that's played out for me is two ways,
05:40Poshmark and puppies.
05:41If you know what Poshmark is,
05:44it's where I can go to find Christian Louboutin
05:46red-bottom shoes at a great price.
05:49And I've used that for real-world rewards before.
05:53But when my stress levels go up,
05:55Poshmark calls me.
05:57The same thing with puppies.
05:59I've been eager to get a Bernie Doodle puppy.
06:02So when I'm maxed out on my work,
06:05I find myself going to the puppy website
06:08to click and look at those little cuties again.
06:12So it's really important that you get structured
06:15and stepping away from the screen.
06:17Because the more dopamine that you've gotten,
06:20the more you may experience withdrawal.
06:23That can lead to anxiety, depression,
06:26or anhedonia, the lack of feeling overall.
06:29So you have to train your brain
06:31just like that Bernie Doodle puppy.
06:34And this is how you're going to do it.
06:36Be careful with your digital dopamine detox,
06:40but structure it and step away from the screen.
06:43At the same time, add a happiness trifecta stack.
06:49What that means is you try to get
06:51as much dopamine plus serotonin and oxytocin
06:55for joy and connection from your real life.
06:58Join an activity that you've wanted to do for a long time.
07:02Go visit friends that you haven't seen.
07:04Get into your life and enjoy it.
07:07Happiness plus pleasure.
07:09After you've detoxed plus stacking,
07:12then you can stabilize.
07:14So it's important not to go for a full-blown digital detox
07:18without making sure that you're making up
07:21for those neurotransmitters from your real life.
07:24But once you've done that,
07:26then you can bring the levels of dopamine down
07:29and stabilize it into a balanced life.
07:31So remember, quitting cold turkey rarely works.
07:37This is because of the dopamine dependency
07:39at the core of screen use.
07:42So instead of quitting cold turkey, balance.
07:46The way that you can balance your screen time
07:49is by using a happiness hack that I call the three S's.
07:54It's important to set structure with a schedule
07:59and having limits that allow you to enjoy the screen time
08:05to use it as mindful motivation.
08:08But then when your alarm goes off,
08:11you come out of the screen for your screen-free times.
08:15So you want to set structure, schedule limits,
08:18and have screen-free time.
08:20If you're serious about stepping away from the screen
08:23and rewiring your brain
08:25so that you can improve your focus, clarity,
08:29offset anxiety and depression from screen time,
08:32then please go to drtrishlee.com.
08:35The link is in the description so you can check out the services
08:38that me and my team offer.
08:41We offer QEEG brain mapping.
08:43You can actually see how screens have impacted your brain.
08:47Then using advanced neuroscience and technology,
08:50we can help you rewire your brain back to optimal levels
08:55using the Dr. Trish Lee app.
08:57So I would love to help you.
08:59If you're looking for help, schedule a consultation
09:02so we can get you on track.
09:04Okay, so let's pull it all together today.
09:07First of all, you're going to do
09:09your dopamine determination activity.
09:11You're going to find out what screen activities
09:14you're going back to too much for supernormal stimuli.
09:18Then you're going to plan
09:19your happiness trifecta activities.
09:22After that, you're going to train your brain
09:25like that little puppy
09:26through a digital dopamine detox
09:29plus a happiness trifecta stack
09:33plus then moving into the stabilization period
09:37after your brain has calibrated
09:39to need less dopamine from the screen.
09:42When you're done doing that,
09:44you're going to use the 3S strategy.
09:47You're going to set a schedule
09:49with limits and structure
09:51and screen free time.
09:53So you can enjoy the time
09:54you go on the screen for motivation,
09:56but more importantly,
09:57you can enjoy your life.
10:00Now, if you want to learn more
10:01about how dopamine is affecting your brain,
10:04especially from the screen
10:05and what you can do to improve your focus
10:08and feel less stress and feel more calm,
10:12then please click the video in the corner
10:14so I can help you move forward.
10:16And as always, remember,
10:18control your brain or it'll control you.