3 simple ways anyone can reduce anxiety
Modern technology hijacks the habit loop to increase engagement and usage. A by-product of this is elevated anxiety levels.
First, let’s quickly examine the habit loop:
A cue triggers a routine which results in some kind of reward. This automatic process is powerful and trains our brain to repeat a behavior.
Anxiety is a common cue associated with addictive behaviors like smoking. This cue is leveraged by technology to increase engagement (addiction).
Technology Creates Fake Anxiety
Your anxiety level is increased by fake anxiety, which is anxiety that you voluntarily opt-in to by using technology in certain ways.
Your brain doesn’t know the difference between fake and real anxiety.
One of the best ways to reduce your overall anxiety level is to become less informed by your technology.
Smartphone Notifications
A smartphone is designed to create a habit loop and to intentionally create anxiety that isn’t necessary.
Cue
- Phone buzzes, makes a noise, or the screen lights up.
Routine
- Fake anxiety level increases in response to an unread notification.
- Reaching into your pocket, lifting up the phone, unlocking the phone, checking the notification.
Reward
- Reduction in fake anxiety created by not checking your phone.
- Release of dopamine in response to the notification.
Smartphone notifications generate fake anxiety and then reward you with a reduction of fake anxiety it created in the first place!
Disable notifications on your phone, especially for apps.
Control the News
If you’re the kind of person that tries to keep up with everything happening in the world, take a temporary break during your recovery.
News organizations know that people are more likely to pay attention to something that produces anxiety rather than something wholesome or positive.
This incentivizes media companies to spin content in this way, while also training distribution algorithms to prioritize this kind of content.
Compulsive, constant reading and watching of the news is most likely elevating your base anxiety level.
Recommendations:
- Remove smartphone or browser widgets that constantly show you trending news stories. You should decide when you are exposed to the news instead of allowing technology to do this for you.
- I personally have a rule for myself that I only check the news on Saturday morning while sitting at a coffee shop. Then I only have to deal with elevated fake anxiety once a week instead of daily.
- For a cold-turkey approach, update your website blockers to include news categories:
Media Consumption Topics
If you’re like me and you have formed a habit of listening or watching something while you do other things, you don’t need to necessarily stop this habit. If you live alone it’s useful to have background noise.
One huge mistake I made during my recovery was listening to content that focused on negative things. This elevated my base anxiety level as I learned about all the things going wrong in the world — especially with my social group (young men).
I would sometimes think “nothing matters” or even rationalize my porn use in response to negative thinking!
Alter your content choices from negative things to neutral or positive things.
Social Media News Feeds
Social media is an anxiety-producing machine due to the algorithm that keeps you engaged on those platforms. Furthermore, it’s easy to stumble on arousing content that causes you to “fish” for more — eventually leading to looking at porn.
The dangerous side of social media comes from the News Feed and not necessarily the ability to connect with people you already know.
I personally don’t use any social media apps on my phone — only on my computer. This allows me to use social media and grey-area websites like Reddit without a News Feed.
You can download News Feed Eradicator for your web browser, which replaces social media feeds with an inspirational quote. It works on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Reddit, and even LinkedIn.
You’ll be surprised how much that cuts down procrastination and compulsive browsing. You can still directly talk to friends or look up profiles, but you won’t be algorithmically manipulated to consume endless content.
