overstimulation is ruining your life
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Abraham, a 20-year-old self-improvement advocate, discusses the impact of excessive screen time on mental health, attention span, and productivity. He introduces the concept of a 'dopamine detox,' which involves reducing high-dopamine activities like social media and video games to reset the brain's reward system. Abraham shares personal experiences of overstimulation and how detoxing helped him regain focus and motivation. He encourages viewers to evaluate their screen habits, highlights signs that a detox might be needed, and invites them to join his upcoming workshops on personal growth and productivity.
Takeaways
- 🕰️ The number 26 years represents the average time people spend on screens during their lifetime.
- 📅 If you're 18 years old, you likely have around 864 months left to live, assuming you reach 90 years of age.
- ⏳ About 93% of free time is spent on screens, including phones, TV, and games, leading to a lack of productivity and mental strain.
- 📱 Excessive screen time can lead to poor attention spans, decreased focus, and mental health issues such as anxiety and stress.
- 🧠 A dopamine detox is about cutting down activities that release high levels of dopamine, like social media, video games, and junk food, to reset the brain’s reward system.
- 🎯 Signs you may need a dopamine detox include difficulty concentrating, craving instant gratification, feeling unmotivated, and anxiety when away from your phone.
- 📖 The detox encourages appreciating smaller, fulfilling activities like reading, nature, and simpler hobbies to improve focus and well-being.
- 🌍 The modern world is full of distractions, and taking control of your dopamine can help you regain focus and productivity in life.
- 📝 Reflecting on your habits and identifying what you’re avoiding can help guide your personal detox plan.
- 🎥 Future videos will cover practical steps for starting a dopamine detox and how to reclaim your focus from distractions.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of the video?
-The main purpose of the video is to explain the concept of a dopamine detox, how overstimulation from screen time affects mental health and focus, and to offer a solution for regaining control over one's life by managing dopamine levels.
Who is the speaker in the video, and what is his mission?
-The speaker is Abraham, a 20-year-old who struggled with focus and attention due to overstimulation. His mission is to help others regain focus in a world full of distractions through dopamine detox techniques.
What is dopamine, and why is it important in the context of this video?
-Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in reward, motivation, and pleasure. In the video, it's highlighted as a key player in making people seek instant gratification, which can lead to addiction and distraction, making it difficult to focus.
What is a dopamine detox?
-A dopamine detox involves consciously eliminating activities that provide high levels of dopamine, such as social media, video games, and junk food. The goal is to reset the brain’s reward system, regain control over impulses, and improve focus and productivity.
Why does the speaker emphasize the number 26 years?
-The speaker emphasizes 26 years because it's the estimated amount of time the average person spends engaging in screen-related activities over their lifetime, which can lead to overstimulation and mental health issues.
What signs indicate that someone might need a dopamine detox?
-Signs include difficulty concentrating, constantly craving instant gratification, feeling unmotivated or bored easily, loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities, and experiencing anxiety or stress when away from the phone or social media.
How does overstimulation from screen time affect mental health according to the speaker?
-Overstimulation from screen time can lead to mental health issues such as anxiety, low self-esteem, and attention problems. It also fosters a dependency on instant gratification, which makes it harder to focus on long-term or less stimulating tasks.
What personal experiences does the speaker share about his own struggles with focus and screen addiction?
-The speaker shares that he once played video games for 16 hours a day and frequently used social media between games. This led him to lose interest in outdoor activities and hobbies he once enjoyed. He also struggled with focusing in school until he learned about dopamine detox.
How can a dopamine detox improve one's life, according to the video?
-A dopamine detox can help reset the brain's reward system, making it easier to focus, improve productivity, and find joy in everyday activities. It can also reduce dependency on instant gratification, leading to better mental health and well-being.
What action step does the speaker recommend for viewers at the end of the video?
-The speaker recommends that viewers reflect on the signs and reasons for considering a dopamine detox. He encourages them to think about their phone usage, identify activities they no longer enjoy, and consider how much of their time is spent seeking instant gratification.
Outlines
⏳ The Importance of Time and Screen Usage
The speaker introduces the concept of time management, focusing on how much time people, especially teenagers, spend on screens. By calculating the months left to live based on an average lifespan of 90 years, the speaker highlights that 93% of a teenager's free time is spent on screen-related activities. This overuse of screens is linked to mental health issues and poor attention span. The speaker teases upcoming videos in the series, aimed at addressing these problems and improving focus.
🎮 The Impact of Instant Gratification and Screens
This section emphasizes how instant gratification, particularly from social media and games, deteriorates attention and productivity. The speaker shares a personal experience of wasting time on Instagram and video games, leading to what they term 'brain rot.' A contrast is made between the past and present, where now they can spend hours reading or even sitting quietly, highlighting how reliance on screens has changed their behavior. The speaker urges viewers to recognize when they can't just 'be' without constant stimulation.
🌳 Losing Motivation and Connection to the Outdoors
The speaker recounts how they shifted from an active, outdoor lifestyle to being consumed by video games and internet usage, especially after receiving a PlayStation and smartphone in 2018. They discuss the loss of interest in hobbies and the decrease in outdoor activities, attributing this shift to overstimulation from digital devices rather than simply growing older. The speaker contrasts this with their current efforts to reconnect with outdoor activities, like playing hacky sack or climbing trees, arguing that age shouldn’t stop people from enjoying such activities.
📱 Anxiety and Stress Linked to Phone Dependency
This paragraph examines how phone dependency can induce stress and anxiety, especially when separated from devices. The speaker highlights the phenomenon of FOMO (fear of missing out) and the use of phones for escapism from life’s problems. Drawing on Victor Frankl’s quote about people distracting themselves with pleasures when lacking purpose, the speaker suggests that many waste time online due to a lack of deeper meaning in their lives. They share a personal experience of being overly involved in TikTok during the chaos of 2020, which added to their stress and anxiety.
🧠 The Long-Term Effects of Dopamine Dependency
The speaker argues that long-term dependence on dopamine-driven activities, like social media and video games, can harm mental health. They stress that a dopamine detox can help reset the brain, improve productivity, and enhance overall well-being. The speaker shares their own experience of struggling with focus until learning about dopamine detox, which significantly improved their ability to concentrate. They encourage viewers to take back control of their lives by managing dopamine consumption, framing it as a solution to the distractions of the modern world.
📝 Action Steps and Upcoming Content
In this final paragraph, the speaker encourages viewers to reflect on their need for a dopamine detox by considering signs mentioned earlier, such as constant phone checking or loss of interest in hobbies. They announce future videos on how to start a dopamine detox and a free community workshop for productivity and self-development. The workshop will help participants reflect on the year, plan for the next quarter, and learn about upcoming content. The speaker concludes by urging viewers to like, share, and comment on the video to help others who may benefit from the information.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Dopamine
💡Dopamine detox
💡Instant gratification
💡Attention span
💡Overstimulation
💡Mental health
💡Productivity
💡Distraction
💡Reward system
💡Instant gratification cycle
Highlights
You have approximately 333-334 months of free time left in your life assuming you live to 90, after accounting for sleep, work, and other necessities.
The average teenager spends 312 out of their 333 free months looking at screens, with 93% of their time being devoted to digital entertainment.
5 hours a day is likely spent on mobile devices, contributing to overstimulation and a decline in attention span.
Abraham, a 20-year-old, struggled with overstimulation and a short attention span but found improvement through dopamine detox.
Dopamine detox involves consciously eliminating activities that provide high amounts of instant gratification, such as social media, video games, and junk food.
Dopamine detox aims to reset the brain’s reward system to regain control over impulses, improving focus and overall well-being.
Signs that you may need a dopamine detox include difficulty concentrating, constantly seeking instant gratification, feeling unmotivated, and increased anxiety.
The constant craving for instant gratification from social media and quick entertainment can lead to multitasking, which reduces productivity.
A dopamine detox helps to appreciate smaller, more fulfilling activities by resetting how your brain responds to rewards.
Feeling unmotivated or bored with previously enjoyable hobbies is another sign that dopamine overstimulation may be affecting your well-being.
Anxiety or stress when away from your phone may be due to an overreliance on digital platforms to escape problems.
Distraction from personal problems using social media and entertainment leads to inaction and a cycle of stress.
Victor Frankle’s concept of distracting oneself with pleasures when a deep sense of meaning is lacking reinforces the idea of dopamine-driven escapism.
A dopamine detox can kickstart personal growth, helping regain focus and productivity in areas of life that matter most.
Abraham encourages viewers to join his community and participate in a free workshop to reset their goals and regain control over distractions.
Transcripts
26
years I want you to remember that number
because it will be very important in a
moment that is if you have the attention
span to make it long enough if you were
to live to 90 somehow that would mean
that you would have been alive for 1,80
months so for the sake of argument if
you're currently around 18 years old
then that means that you have about
864 months left to live assuming you
live to 90 531
of those months go to sleep school and
work eating driving errands and the
bathroom you spend actually over 2 years
in the bathroom so that leaves us with
about 333 to 334 months of time left and
with that time we can do whatever we
want with it we can go have fun we can
explore we can engage in Hobbies we can
hang out with our friends build
relationships all that fun stuff right
well out of 333 months the average
teenager you spends about 312 of those
looking at a screen I want you to pull
out your phone and go to the screen time
settings you will see how many hours
that you spend each day on your phone
it's likely that at least 5 hours a day
is spent on your phone and the rest is
probably spent watching TV or playing
games and if the average teen is
spending 8 hours a day looking at a
screen on entertain mment then that
means that 93% of your free time is
spent looking at a screen 26 total years
of your life if you're struggling with
mental health problems right now this is
probably why if you're struggling with
bad attention span right now this is
probably why and I know that correlation
doesn't always equal causation but as
we'll discover over the next few videos
over the next couple weeks it's the
truth and if you're struggling from
those things I understand I have been
there as well and this video series that
I'm doing will help you I'm going to be
releasing a lot of videos over the next
few weeks detailing everything I know
about this stuff so who am I my name is
Abraham I am 20 years old and my mission
is to help you gain focus in this world
of distraction I used to struggle from
over stimulation and my bad attention
span held me back in school and in work
for for years I couldn't focus in school
and I always thought that there was
something wrong with me but there isn't
anything wrong with me and there's
nothing wrong with you what you need is
a dopamine detox so why should you
consider a detox well I will explain
what dopamine is first so dopamine is a
neurotransmitter that plays a role in
reward motivation and pleasure but I
want to highlight pleasurable activities
because those ones release dopamine
making you you want to repeat them and
the more stimulating an activity is the
more that you're perpetuating a cycle of
instant gratification to the point of
dependency dopamine detox is not
actually detoxing from dopamine itself
that's not how it works dopamine detox
is the conscious elimination of
activities that provide high amounts of
dopamine so this is social media video
games junk food and other things like
that the goal of a dopamine detox is to
reset your brain's reward system to
regain control of your impulses and
doing this will give you a chance to
appreciate the smaller more fulfilling
activities in your life this will
improve your focus and productivity
through narrowing your concentration and
it will just improve your overall
well-being by finding joy in regular
less stimulating and stressful
activities so I have a list here and I'm
going to go through some signs that you
may need a dopamine detox so I have a
feeling that one or many of these things
are going to stand out to you so listen
closely number one difficulty
concentrating or easily distracted so
maybe you struggle to focus on
schoolwork or other tasks that you set
for yourself or you keep switching from
tab to tab or task to task you don't
know which one to focus on or you want
to focus on a bunch at a time so you're
multitasking but everyone knows that
multitasking is not productive when I
used to try to sit down and do homework
I would get the urge to check something
on my computer and then I would go
online or on YouTube and then I would
tell myself that I'm going to go back to
the work after after I check this thing
and then I never would I was trying to
multitask your brain can only move in
One Direction at a time so number two
constantly craving instant gratification
so this is when you're feeling the need
to check your socials or your messages
or you're just always seeking quick
entertainment like Tik toks or Instagram
reals that variable reward system is
really really enticing when you're bored
because you know you're going to find
something that Sparks your interest it's
just a matter of time when I used to
play video games I would watch Instagram
reels in between the games during the
loading screens I honestly had no idea
at the time that I was maximizing brain
rot
but I was doing like a brain rot
speedrun playing fortnite and then in
between the games just scrolling
Instagram reals ah that was so terrible
versus now the other day I was waiting
in a doctor's office for like 2 hours
and I for one of the hours I just read a
book and then for the other hour I kind
of just sat and stared at the wall which
is not something that I ever would have
been able to do before so if you can't
just be then that is a problem so number
three is similar but a little bit
different and it's feeling unmotivated
or bored
easily so this is specifically when
you're losing interest in hobbies that
used to be enjoyable for you and when
you're doing those things you're always
bored and you're restless and you just
want to do something more fun more
stimulating I've always been more of an
outside kid growing up I've always been
scootering biking and skateboarding and
jumping over things and climbing trees
and all that stuff I've always been an
out Outsource Outdoors kid but
everything changed back in 2018 when I
got my first PlayStation so I went from
being a kid who was Outdoors all the
time to playing video games for 16 hours
a day at my Peak that wasn't daily but
and on top of that I had just gotten a
phone with internet access too so it was
just doubled suddenly I didn't want to
play outside anymore the way that I used
to I still did occasionally but it
didn't bring me the same joy as it did
before I used to have so many different
interests like origami or just random
things like parkour just you know all
types of things that I used to do for
fun when I was a kid that I just
suddenly stopped doing and I know people
might be saying well you just got older
that's what happened you didn't want to
play outside anymore but I would
disagree strongly with that because I
play outside now like I I go outside and
I like to just play hacky sack with
myself or like when I go to the park I
just jump over stuff I fell out of a
tree a couple weeks ago you know like
it's you don't just because you get
older doesn't mean that that you can't
like have fun in the ways that you used
to so the fourth sign that you may need
a dopamine detox is that you have a lot
of anxiety and you're feeling very
stressed and especially when you feel
anxious or stressed when you're away
from your phone for an extended period
of time you can't go anywhere without
your phone it's either because you want
to have that quick instant gratification
of social media at hand whenever you
need it or you just have fomo where it's
like you you you're scared of missing
out on the messages or maybe the news or
whatever's going on you just don't want
to miss out on something that you think
might be important but in reality it's
not and you may feel stress being away
from your phone or socials for a while
because you might be using these
platforms to mentally escape from your
problems you're mentally escaping online
Victor Frankle in his book a man search
for meaning he has he writes if a man
cannot find a deep sense of meaning he
distracts himself with Pleasures I think
that a lot of us waste so much time
online and just on instant gratification
in general because we don't know what
else to do and it's a lot easier to
distract ourselves with something
that'll bring us pleasure in the moment
then face the reality of our situation
it's too daunting to take action
sometimes so we choose distraction and
distraction leads to in action I
remember back in 2020 I was chronically
online and I'm sure as you guys remember
that was a terrible year that was when
Co hit there were protests there was the
elections there was so many things going
on and being on Tik Tok during that time
period was just terrible I didn't
realize it was terrible at the time but
I was I was so bombarded by all the
different news different opinions that
were going on and on top of that like
just like the Mindless entertainment
that where Tik Tok was still relatively
new at the time as well and it was it
was really bad I felt like I needed to
be informed about every little thing
that was going on and I basically based
all of my identity on things that I saw
online I thought that I was better than
most because I wasn't building a
parasocial relationship with anybody and
I never have but really what I was doing
was no better because I was being part
of a collective internet identity that
was you know like rigid on one side
rather than the other now if you have
these signs can you imagine the
long-term effects that this would have
on your mental health it's the constant
comparison the low self-esteem escaping
from problems I genuinely believe that a
dopamine detox will Kickstart your
growth in these areas cuz your mind
needs time to work on itself and not
only that you can get back your
productivity like I did you can do more
of what actually matters to you I
seriously thought that there was
something wrong with me because I could
never focus in school and it wasn't
until I started working on my own and I
started getting into this digital
detoxing dopamine detoxing thing that I
realized that I really wasn't the
problem I still struggled with Focus but
it had gotten a lot better ever since
learning about this stuff the truth is
that the modern world is out to get you
we live in a world of distractions so
you are not the problem but you are the
solution you have the power to take back
control of your life by taking back
control of your dopamine so here is an
action step for this video I want you to
think about some of the signs and
reasons that we went over for why you
may be concern considering a detox or
you may need a detox then let me know in
the comment section what you think so
ask yourself and you can even Journal
this as well do you find yourself
constantly checking your phone what
activities have you stopped enjoying how
many of these signs resonated with you
over the next coming weeks I'll be
releasing the next videos in this
dopamine detox series as well as some
other big things coming out very soon as
well and the next video will be how to
do a dopamine detox so I will share
practical steps that you can take to to
start your dopamine detox and reclaim
your focus we are already more than
halfway through 2024 and if you're
anything like me some of your New Year
resolutions may have fallen by the
wayside or you have just completely
forgot them and it happens life gets
busy priorities shift and our goals can
get kind of pushed to the side but it's
not too late I invite you to join us for
a special weekend Workshop hosted by me
in my free community app perception
Alliance hosted on June 29th we will
will reflect on the year so far discuss
what went well what didn't and plan for
the next quarter this is a really good
opportunity for students creators and
anyone focused on productivity and
self-development and the workshop will
be recorded So if you can't attend live
then you can watch it there again
completely for free you have nothing to
lose by showing up and at the end I'll
also be announcing something even bigger
than the workshop that will also be free
so you have that to look forward to as
well I will see you there if you got
value from this video I I don't usually
ask this but I highly encourage you to
like comment and even share this video
especially to someone that you feel may
need to hear it it really helps me help
more people I'm sure you may be able to
think of a friend who could benefit from
this information so please share it with
that person and for more frequent
content and updates regarding events and
launches and things like that you should
join my Weekly Newsletter the Saturday
self-improver and also follow me on
Instagram I will see you next next time
with more tips on how you can start a
dopamine detox and you can watch that
right here and with that all said
remember purpose is your priority and
distraction is your enemy
[Music]
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