Are you stuck in a Tech Trance?

Waking Up From the Tech Trance

Have you ever picked up your phone “just for a minute”… …and then looked up, slightly dazed, half an hour later?

Maybe your mood has dipped, your shoulders feel tense, and you can’t quite remember what you even saw – only that you’ve lost time.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not broken.You’re living in a world that is designed to keep you in a tech trance.

This blog is adapted from Week 1 of The Tech Reset, our 30-day journey to help you reclaim your attention, time, and wellbeing.

It’s not your fault – your phone is designed this way

Most adults think their phone trouble is a willpower problem:

“I just need more discipline.” “Everyone else seems to handle it.” “Why can’t I just stop scrolling?”

But the truth is, smartphones and apps are built to be sticky.

They hijack your brain’s reward pathways using the same principles as slot machines:

• bright, eye-catching colours

• endless scroll (no natural stopping point)

• unpredictable rewards (that random “great” post or message that keeps you hooked)

Your brain loves novelty, and your phone is a novelty firehose.

Our nervous systems were never designed for:

• 24/7 stimulation

• constant comparison

• notifications at all hours

• the pressure to be permanently reachable

So if you feel overstimulated, distracted, or strangely flat after being online… that reaction is actually healthy. Your body is telling you something is off.

Wellbeing: why you often feel worse after scrolling

You might have noticed this pattern:

1. You feel okay.

2. You open your phone “just to check something.”

3. Ten minutes later, you feel restless, low, or not-good-enough.

What we consume online shapes how we feel:

• comparison-heavy feeds can chip away at self-esteem

• negative news can fuel anxiety and helplessness

• constant stimulation makes quiet moments feel unbearable

At the same time, screens get in the way of the things that protect our mental health:

• moving our bodies

• being outside

• experiencing real-world setbacks and learning we can cope

• spending time in person with people we trust

So it’s a double hit: more of what drains us, less of what nourishes us. It’s a cycle, but we can break it. 

If you’d like to reset your own relationship with tech, have a look at our 30-day tech reset programme here.

Laura & Nicola x