What If You Scrolled Your Last Scroll Today?

Before I started the Digital Detox Club I used to wake up, reach for my phone, and lose the first 20 minutes of my day (at least!) to nothing.

Emails I didn’t need to read yet. Posts I didn’t care about on the infinite scroll. Messages that definitely could have waited.

Then I read something that really made me sit up and take note.

Someone had written an article about how neuroscientists describe sleep. It explained how, for the 7–8 hours I spent asleep each night, “I”didn’t exist in any conscious way. My awareness was gone, I wasn’t thinking or aware of my surroundings. And then, somehow, I came back to consciousness every morning.

If you think about it – it’s kind of a miracle and certainly a gift to wake up each day. And what did I do with it? I spent it scrolling.

So what did this article say?

It sounds dark, but it’s true: when you sleep, you’re in a state neuroscientists say is indistinguishable from death in terms of awareness. Every morning is a resurrection.

And yet most of us treat that gift like it’s disposable. We wake up, grab our phones, and hand over the first moments of our day to someone else’s algorithm.

The Science

When your phone pings, your brain’s ancient survival systems fire up. Focus locks in on the screen, and the rest of the world blurs. It’s not just psychological - brain scans show your peripheral awareness and spatial processing actually shut down.

What We’re Trading Away

If that day I woke up & scrolled had been my last, here’s what I would have missed that morning:

• The warmth of the duvet

• The way the light came through the curtains

• The quiet peace before the day began

• My lovely dog wagging her tail to say hello

• Actually savouring my lovely morning coffee

All traded for a handful of notifications that, in the grand scheme, mean nothing and probably just made me at least a little bit stressed about the world!

The Real Urgency

We think urgency means rushing, hustling, doing more.But real urgency is this:You woke up. You have today.

Some people didn’t wake up this morning. You did. The question is - what will you do with it?

The Fix

So tomorrow, when you open your eyes, try this before you touch your phone:

Ask yourself…

What if I hadn’t woken up today?And now that I have - what do I want to notice before it’s over?

Then get out of bed. Look around. Smell your coffee. Hug someone (or your dog). Step outside. Do things that don’t involve a screen.

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