Eliminate your ‘drug of choice’ (e.g., social media, video games, cannabis) for a minimum of one month to allow your brain to restore dopamine levels back to a healthy baseline. Be prepared to feel worse for the first two weeks due to withdrawal, but expect to feel better by weeks three and four, gaining insight into your usage’s true impact.
Create literal and metacognitive barriers between yourself and your chosen ‘drug’ to make it harder to access. This pause can be enough to prevent impulsive use, such as removing email from your phone to avoid checking work messages on weekends.
Proactively decide what you want from your smartphone and only introduce apps that enhance your life, rather than allowing it to become a ‘sweet shop’ of constant gratification. This prevents technology from making you a slave to its offerings.
Dedicate one day a week to abstaining from digital products and devices, like email or social media, to reset your relationship with them. This practice can lead to a reduced desire to use them by the end of the day.
Approach personal changes, like eliminating a ‘drug of choice,’ as a scientific experiment where you are the scientist gathering data on your own life. This empowers you to observe the effects of your actions and gain control over your behaviors.
Be kind to yourself throughout the process of reducing compulsive overconsumption, but do not give up on your efforts. Understanding that instant pleasures can be a major source of suffering helps motivate sustained effort to recalibrate your brain.