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The Good Brigade\/Getty Images<\/p>\n <\/span> \nIn our increasingly tech-filled world, it\u2019s not uncommon for people to spend large swaths of their free time staring at a screen, whether that be scrolling through Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter; watching videos on YouTube; or binging shows on Netflix. But this persistent exposure to media has some young people concerned for their wellbeing, and many are turning to \u201cdopamine detoxes\u201d as a possible solution.\n<\/p>\n \nThe exact parameters seem to change from person-to-person, but usually these dopamine detoxes involve taking a break from watching TV or social media for at least a few consecutive days.\n<\/p>\n \nDopamine\u2014a chemical that motivates people to seek out certain pleasurable behaviors\u2014may play a role in fueling an attachment or addiction to social media. Dopamine detoxers say that taking a break from the constant release of this chemical makes them feel less reliant on social media once they do pick it back up.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cIt [kind of] regulates your dopamine response and makes you feel calmer, less anxious, clearer in the head, and more focused,\u201d one TikToker shared in a video. \u201cYou start enjoying the smaller things and you notice more things. The beginning is tough but it\u2019s so worth it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThroughout their week-long dopamine detox, the creator said they felt more imaginative, creative, and focused; and even rediscovered a love of reading.\n<\/p>\n \nThough there\u2019s currently a lack of concrete research on this type of dopamine fast, experts agree that taking social media breaks or setting limits on consumption can certainly improve a person\u2019s health.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI think it\u2019s a novel and actually a very good idea,\u201d Kaz Nelson, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Minnesota Medical School, told Health<\/em>. \u201cIn mindfully choosing to \u2018detox\u2019 or take a break from stimulating these systems, what you\u2019re doing is you\u2019re helping the systems to regulate and to break away from some of that tolerance behavior.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHere\u2019s what experts had to say about why taking breaks from media and TV can be beneficial, some possible limitations of the practice, and what to keep in mind before starting a dopamine detox.\n<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nThere are still many things that researchers don\u2019t fully understand about how social media affects the brain, including if taking a break could really level out dopamine, explained Elias Aboujaoude, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry at Stanford University and author of Virtually You: The Dangerous Powers of the e-Personality<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n \nThough the actual connection to dopamine is tough to measure, experts agree that social media can be addictive, in that it can get people to alter their behavior.\n<\/p>\n \nMany of the television and social media platforms people use are designed specifically to get people to stay online for as long as possible, whether that be through frequent notifications or never-ending scrolling opportunities. Beyond these strategies though, social media at its core can be addictive to some people.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cSocial relationships are one of the most ancient and long standing forms of reinforcement for the human species,\u201d Dr. Nelson said. \u201cEven though we\u2019re in different circumstances, today, of course, our brains still have this wiring and sensitivity to social relationships.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nSocial media \u201cleverages, in an extremely powerful way,\u201d humanity\u2019s desire for connection and inclusion, Dr. Nelson said. Scrolling, because it may lead to a positive experience, triggers this reward system in our brain, she added.\n<\/p>\n \nOnce these behaviors become habits, even things such as turning off notifications may not even decrease a person\u2019s screen time\u2014almost 90% of smartphone interactions are caused by the user, not prompted by a notification.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \nWith dopamine in the brain telling people to seek out these pleasurable rewards from media, the time spent staring at a screen can feel all-encompassing. One report estimated that, globally, people spend about seven hours looking at screens each day.<\/span> Kids ages 8 to 18 get 7.5 hours of screen time daily, on average.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n Digital Detox: Your 10-Step Guide<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nBecause of this common compulsion to constantly check social media or watch TV, many people hope that abstaining from these platforms for a period of time will provide a kind of \u201creset\u201d for their brains. When the detox is over, that dopamine-driven urge to check screens should be squashed, in theory.\n<\/p>\n \nBut researchers don\u2019t yet know how media affects dopamine levels in the brain, Dr. Aboujaoude said, so it\u2019s hard to quantify if a detox would really have any biological effect.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThere\u2019s just no direct evidence, no established evidence that, baseline, the dopamine is changing and readjusting [during a detox],\u201d Dr. Aboujaoude told Health.\n<\/p>\n \nDr. Nelson said that, since dopamine is tolerance-based, it\u2019s very possible that doing a detox could lessen the dependency a person feels toward their phone. But it\u2019s also possible, Dr. Aboujaoude added, that a person could simply take a week off of social media and then resume their old habits once they return.\n<\/p>\n \nThough the specifics are a bit unclear, there are a number of clear benefits from spending less time looking at screens just generally speaking, Drs. Nelson and Aboujaoude agreed.\n<\/p>\n \nCertain features of social media\u2014likes, comments, follows\u2014can promote negative mental health, so reducing time spent on the apps may make someone feel better.<\/span> Also, people tend to watch TV and scroll on their phones before they go to bed, Dr. Aboujaoude said, so removing those habits may promote better sleep. A dopamine detox could also free up more time for other activities or work, making people feel more focused or productive, he added.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cIt\u2019s not uncommon that people will feel or will report\u2014after going to that initial withdrawal period, so to speak\u2014a better sense of wellbeing related to their brain and their executive functioning,\u201d Dr. Nelson said. \u201cTheir body\u2019s not consumed with craving, or the desire for the reinforcement mechanism.\u201d\n<\/p>\n When Should You Take a Break from Social Media? Tom Holland, Jonah Hill Leave Instagram Due to Mental Health\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n \nBecause dopamine detoxes aren\u2019t a clinical recommendation, there\u2019s no proper parameters for what it should look like.\n<\/p>\n \nFor now, people have been experimenting with dopamine detoxes that last anywhere from a few days to weeks. Longer breaks could be beneficial if someone has had a particularly negative experience online, Dr. Nelson added, such as bullying or harassment. But media breaks don\u2019t have to be a large commitment.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cEven taking a few days off might be a nice health break for your brain and these reinforcement systems,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n \nBut don\u2019t expect it to be pleasant at first.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMost people are going to find that this is pretty challenging, especially if they\u2019re spending a lot of time in these spaces,\u201d Dr. Nelson said. \u201cTake care of yourself during that period of time when you\u2019re stepping away from social media\u2014you\u2019re probably going to need to engage in a lot of self care.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe detox should get easier over the course of a few days, but Drs. Nelson and Aboujaoude agreed it\u2019s smart to plan ahead and find other ways to pass the time without media. That can be hanging out with friends, or engaging in non-screen-related hobbies, such as reading or exercising. It\u2019s even an opportunity to spend more time outside\u2014the joke that people online should go \u201ctouch grass\u201d has a ring of truth to it, Dr. Nelson said.\n<\/p>\n \nBesides abstaining from media altogether, tapering use is another possible way to cut down on dependence, experts agreed.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI would start by getting a sense, quantifying how much time is being spent on what, and trying to establish some kind of hierarchy in terms of what the most problematic activities are,\u201d Dr. Aboujaoude said.\n<\/p>\n \nBut slowly diminishing social media use can be really challenging when people feel such a strong pull to check these apps, Dr. Nelson said. For many, they may have more success if they just wipe everything from their phone. It all depends on the individual, she added.\n<\/p>\n \nThe most important thing is that people get to a place where they have a sustainable and healthy relationship with social media. If that\u2019s accomplished through a few days of detoxing or tapering off use, that\u2019s great. But if not, it\u2019s worth brainstorming other solutions.\n<\/p>\n \nAt the very least, it\u2019s a good idea to have a plan for how to reintroduce media once the break is over, Dr. Aboujaoude said. That is more likely to lead to long term success. And if someone is still struggling, people can seek out a therapist to help them get over any internet or social media addiction, he added.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThe goal, again, is not so much to turn the clock back and pretend that these technologies don\u2019t exist,\u201d Dr. Aboujaoude said, \u201cbut rather to learn how to consume them responsibly and in measured doses.\u201d\n<\/p>\n 7 Things To Know if You Think You're Addicted to Your Phone<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Creators online say that taking a days or weeks-long \u201cdopamine detox\u201d from TV and social media can lessen social media dependency and improve wellbeing. Researchers don\u2019t yet know if a social media break can truly reset a person\u2019s dopamine levels, but social media breaks in general can have a number of positive effects. The goal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[410,963],"tags":[116,964],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17217"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Why Do People Feel a Need to Look at Their Screens? <\/span> <\/h2>\n
Benefits of Doing a Dopamine Detox <\/span> <\/h2>\n
Finding a Way to Make Media Work for You <\/span> <\/h2>\n