By Janet Vargas - Independent Natural Health Researcher 30+ Yrs
With Guided and Selected AI Assistance
Tech Devices and Dopamine Cravings: Causing unperceived disruption in our Brain (mind and emotions) more than we realise often. Sometimes it is even responsible for Stressed Marriages and Disrupting Family Lives!
The Hungry "Give Me, Give Me" Tech Related Sabotager Dopamine:
How It Negatively Affects Home Life, Marriages and Families. Take Care!
It Diminishes Anything or Everything from Home Chores and Practical Things to Personal Communications; Productive Living; Bonding with Loved Ones; Connectiveness in Parenting - so Vital; Planning Our Days; Attending to Responsibilities and Official Matters; it Disrupts Mealtimes and Courtesy to Friends and pretty much Anything Inbetween.
So how do we Handle this Monster we've Created by spending too much time on Computers and Tech Devices?
Here in this Article, you will find some Ideas to Ground You - and Help You Restore Equilibrium, making your Mind Balanced to Communicate with Family Members more Appropriately; Attend to Responsalilities and Focus on Other Things you can Also Enjoy without out the Strong Pull that Addiction to Tech Devices Imposes on Us AND Family Members who Miss our True Presence. And Enabling us to Afford showing Undivided Attention more often to those deserving of Better from Us than maybe we are now able to give them if that Dopamine Chemical has really got a Grip on Us.
Let's find Our Way to Sanity shall We? So Our Lives can find Balance. Are you with me Would you like to know more? Let's Go!
We Start right here, by making a Conscious Decision that goes like this:
"I do not want So Much Dopamine Related Tech Stuff at the Expense of Other Things - Especially Deprivation it Brings to Loved Ones. And that Causes me to Miss Out on So much LIFE around me or could be in Daily Life."
Tech sometimes seems to be Kinder than Reality pastime for many people. But when we are up against the Dopamine Monster, it's not such a Pleasant Pastime after-all, and our Instincts will be telling us "Something's Wrong, Something's Wrong!"
This has happened to me from so much engagements with running Websites - I am passionate about.
So let's take a dive into this shall we?
We will bring my AI Assistant in on this.
Here is a highly flexible, choose-your-own-adventure style list. You can pick just one Simple thing to try whenever you feel the "Dopamine Monster" tugging at you!
The "Pick-and-Mix" Daily Sanity Saving Menu
No schedules. No pressure. Just choose one simple practice whenever you need to breathe.
Tiny Tech Tweaks (Do once and forget)
- The Grey Screen: Flip your phone settings to greyscale to make it visually boring.
- The Human Filter: Silence all notifications except for direct calls from real people.
- The Out-of-Sight Basket: Park your phone in a drawer or basket when you walk through the front door.
Nervous System Sips (Quick herbal resets)
- The Afternoon Break: Swap your 3:00 PM screen-scroll for a soothing cup of Lemon Balm or Chamomile tea.
- The Adrenal Shield: Drink a midday mug of Holy Basil (Tulsi) tea to buffer tech-induced stress.
- The Sleep-Prep Elixir: Enjoy warm milk with Ashwagandha before bed to deeply anchor your nervous system.
Physical Circuit-Breakers (Quick somatic resets)
- The Vagus Reset: Splash ice-cold water on your face three times when you feel a compulsive tech craving.
- The Earth Connect: Step outside and stand barefoot on the grass for just two minutes.
- The Oxygen Drop: Take three slow, deep belly breaths before you look at a new notification.
Real Life Replacements (Simple analog choices)
- The Table Rule: Keep the dining table a completely device-free zone during meals.
- The Morning Buffer: Do not touch your phone until you have looked out the window at the natural morning light.
- The Paper Swap: Write your daily to-do list or grocery list with a pen on scrap paper instead of an app.
Janet's Grounding & Energy Tips
- First Thing in the Morning: Stepping Outside in the Fresh Air and Sunrise OR Sunshine for 10 Minutes. Not letting Tech Stuff take our first minutes of the day. It grabs more attention and Affects Energy Level. Then we've given ourselves a "Not so Good Start to the day"
- Having Short Walks: Just 5-10Mins is all we need sometimes to help dampen that Dopamine's wretched effect on us if we keep doing this often through the day when it wants "More, More Tech, Give me More!" and if you Walk for 15 or 20 Mins that's even better.
- Cycling or Exercise Bike: 5-10 Mins on my Exercise Bike a few times a day has been good for me. It helps me Reset. I alternate it with 10-12Min (4 Streets Locally)
- Alternating Tasks: I also Alternate time doing Physical Things with Screen Time. So many Minutes of one thing and so many of the Other.
- Nature Time: Even Sitting out on my Veranda having Breakfast or Lunch - watching the Bees fly from flower to flower is a nice experience.
- Some Garden Time: I have some Flowers out the Front - you don't have to have a Lot to Enjoy - and some Herbs & Veggies in a few Raised Garden Beds in the Back. These give me a real Sane-Change to Screen Time, and they don't require a lot of Upkeep. It's Nice watching them Grow.
- Favourite Chores: Whatever House Chores you Like OR have Liked at sometime, you can engage in those more often. It breaks up how much Tech Time you have.
- Hobby OR Interest: Again, such things can help to Divert the amount of time you spend on the Internet and Smartphone. Sometimes Smartphones aren't the Smart way of doing things when they want too much attention. Hey? Many people are starting to Cancel Social Media Accounts and use Emails again because it was taking a lot of "Productive Time" OR "Family Time"
- Time with Family & Friends: Believe it or not, this one is added to the List because when we spend a Lot of time on Tech Devices, it can have a pull on us and Loved Ones OR Friends miss having True Communications with Us and those "Special Moments" that are So Important.
There's also these Factors to Consider. The Overuse of Tech Devices:
- Sets us up for Internal Stress because things are not done.
- Creates Chaos or Tension in the Home - it becomes Less of a Home.
- Dopamine Competes with our Other Neurotransmitters which Need to be Balanced.
- Makes us feel Yuck when there isn't much of Other Things accomplished in a Day.
- All the Time Spent on Tech can't be bought back. So we need to practice Some Restraint Now because it just Claims More and More Time if we're not Careful.
- Plus Unwise Use of Tech Devices is an Energy Zapper - well and truly!
- It's just not worth it - it's Acting like a Drug and dominating us. It's Unhealthy. Let's find Balance!
Let's Try these Sanity-Savers, shall we Friends? And I'm adding a Journal Tip for You.
Journals are great. People use them for a Lot of things. Why not for Monitoring Tech?
Personal Daily Reflection Journal
Use this space to write down what your instincts are telling you as you unplug.
- What I noticed about my cravings today: __________________________________________________
- How my family responded to my true presence: ___________________________________________
- One beautiful piece of "LIFE" I would have missed if I was looking at a screen: ___________
All the Best to You Friends!
Janet, your Health, Nature and People's Advocate on Ours Australia