[TrentCrimmIndependent]

I left my phone at home when I went out this past weekend.

There were moments of tedium, sure, but it was a great little dopamine detox with a lot less extreme highs and lows that allowed enough uninterrupted quiet to actually brainstorm a few solutions for myself. And overall, the mental health was really good. A big part of that was not being overstimulated. Even just reaching for your phone to check if an email came in or what a buzz was about can split your attention from what you're doing and overwhelm you over the course of a day. And seeing news headlines and angry tweets isn't putting you more at peace, it's draining your peace a little bit each time while also taking you out of the present.

You don't realize what being plugged in all the time does to you until you consciously experience what unplugging feels like and compare the two.

I'd say that while unplugged from devices my mental health gravitates to about an 8 (after the initial discomfort subsides) while plugged in it drifts into the 4 range if I'm continuing to engage with it (scrolling social media, news, forums, etc).