Do You Need to Detox Your Brain in 2013?

Abbie Stutzer |

Sep 10, 2024

You’re following your 2013 New Year’s resolutions perfectly, so why do you still feel drained? Perhaps it’s because you obsessively check your smartphone whenever you wake in the middle of the night.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by news, media and entertainment. And electronic devices can suck up time and claim hours normally spent with loved ones, or better yet — alone.

Maybe it’s time for a brain detox (no supplements or juice required.) There’s no better time than the present to organize your digital accounts and commit to ignoring the screen and reconnecting with the living more often than the digital in 2013.

…step away from the screen

You’re probably familiar with the piercing anxiety that floods your body when you haven’t checked your email in over an hour. Well, next time you feel the technology withdrawal, try to go with it. Your heart will not stop beating if you don’t immediately respond to a friend or colleague. And while it’s important to check your work e-mail during the day, you don’t need to click refresh every 15 minutes. Constantly interrupting your work flow can negatively impact the quality of your work.

Read the news, not all of the news

Guilty. I often feel like I have to read absolutely everything that goes to my reader. But lately I’ve noticed that I leave some sites’ feed full. Articles are piling up and my reader’s counter has climbed to the point where it’s, like, “you have 2000+ unread items. Must delete or I will die.”

Carve some time out this weekend to sift through your reader and newsletter subscriptions. Cancel subscriptions you automatically delete and delete feeds you leave full. And while you’re organizing your news sources, consider deleting subscriptions that report junk. Sure, we all like to read a bit of celebrity gossip every now and again, but reading the same sad, depressing story about some star who has been sent to rehab is a drag.

Too many commitments

Are you constantly forgetting to attend that book club? Do you keep canceling with the shelter you swore you’d volunteer for this week? If so, you should probably cut back on your social calendar. It’s hard to say no sometimes, but constantly canceling isn’t great, either. Take time to organize your calendar and see how much time you really have. You can do all those activities when your schedule clears.

Other brain detoxifiers to commit to year-round