Harvard Professor’s 3-Step Cure For Doom Scrolling - Arthur Brooks

Three Behavioral Steps to Break Addiction00:00

All addictions share three common behavioral steps for recovery. The first step is to get angry about the addiction. Recognize that the behavior or substance is subjugating you and keeping you in a cage. Develop a spirit of rebellion against being a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, behavior, or culture. Without readiness to rebel, recovery will not happen.

The second step is to figure out how to stop using an algorithm specific to the substance or behavior. Science exists for stopping any addiction that can form.

The third step is learning to live with yourself again. Addiction means not liking being home in your head and using the behavior as distraction. This step is often the hardest.

Personal Example of Recovery01:30

Arthur Brooks stopped drinking at age 38. In his 30s he did not like being alone with his thoughts and used alcohol for relief. After his father died, people he cared about pointed out that his current path was his future, prompting him to stop. The most difficult part was being alone, awake, and alive with himself.

This challenge is even more extreme for people deeply engaged with technology, as the doom loop prevents finding meaning in life while creating anger, depression, anxiety, and loneliness.

Recovery Is Possible02:30

Recovery from phone addiction is absolutely possible and has been witnessed repeatedly. Unlike heroin, detox from phone addiction does not require giving up the device entirely. It requires putting the phone in proper boundaries with rules and good habits. Protocols around phone use are essential.

Recommended Phone Protocols03:30

• Do not look at the phone for the first hour after waking for neurocognitive programming. Journalists or others who must check for emergencies should do so then put the phone down.
• While eating, avoid using devices. The neuropeptides in the brain, especially oxytocin, flow when eating with others, fostering kin bonds as humans evolved around campfires. A phone on the table prevents this neurochemistry.
• If eating alone, read a book or listen to music instead of looking at the phone.
• In the last hour before bed, avoid devices to support sleep architecture, melatonin production via the pineal gland, and relationship presence when drifting off to sleep with a partner.

Phone-Free Zones05:30

Never keep the phone in the bedroom. Getting up at 3:00 a.m. and checking it shuts off the pineal gland, stops melatonin, and spikes cortisol. The phone should stay on a different floor in a closet, plugged in, from one hour before bed until one hour after waking.

No phones should be allowed in any classroom from kindergarten through PhD level. This is especially critical during lunch when students need social interaction. Phones in schools interrupt learning and prevent friendship formation.

Phone Fasts06:30

People need technology fasts. A recommended 96 hours per year can break the relationship with the phone. Research shows this helps prove the device is not needed. By the fourth day, users often reach a state of bliss.

On spiritual retreats with no phone, the first day brings mental noise like children screaming in the head. The second day brings calming. The third day brings enjoyment. The fourth day brings a wish that it lasted the whole year.

These protocols address stopping the behavior but do not replace the need for rebellion in step one or becoming comfortable with oneself in step three.