This Is your brain on wifi…
It didn’t start with a study. It started with a moment—one of those quiet, creeping realizations that hits you in the chest like a sledgehammer wrapped in velvet. I was in my backyard, standing still for the first time all day, and I could feel it: my jaw was locked, my fists clenched, my mind racing through tasks that didn’t matter. And in that moment, it hit me—I wasn’t living. I was reacting. Navigating life like it was one long emergency.
I see this every day. In clients. In colleagues. In friends. In myself.
So when I came across a study where researchers shut off the internet on people’s phones—no apps, no mindless scroll, just calls and texts—I didn’t just read it. I felt it.
Here’s what they found:
Mental health improved
Focus returned
Well-being climbed
Castelo, N., Kushlev, K., Ward, A. F., Esterman, M., & Reiner, P. B. (2025). Blocking mobile internet on smartphones improves sustained attention, mental health, and subjective well-being. PNAS Nexus, 4(2), pgaf017. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf017
Not a huge shock, right? But that’s what pissed me off. We know this. Deep down, we know this.
We know it when we reach for our phones for no reason. We know it when we unlock the screen and forget what we were even trying to do. We know it when our bodies buzz with urgency while nothing urgent is happening.
I keep my phone on Do Not Disturb. Not to be trendy or holier-than-thou…but because if I don’t, I spin out. I disappear. I become a version of myself I’ve worked too hard to outgrow: edgy, disconnected, distracted. I can’t show up as a clinician, coach, dad, or partner from that place.
What this study confirmed was what I’ve been learning the hard way: if we never turn the noise off, we forget how to hear ourselves.
And the worst part? It doesn’t always show up in ways you expect. Sometimes overstimulation looks like:
Waking up exhausted even though you “slept”
Snapping at your kids and apologizing five minutes later
Overthinking texts, tone, or timing
Feeling more connected to your to-do list than your own thoughts
And if you’re not careful, it builds. You start spiraling over little things. A parking space. A late reply. A missed meeting. A conversation about little league baseball that turns into a shouting match.
This isn’t about demonizing phones or technology. It’s about reclaiming space. It’s about recognizing that peace doesn’t show up when the world quiets down…it shows up when you do.
You don’t need a silent retreat. You need a minute. You need air. You need time away from everything that keeps whispering that you’re behind.
Sometimes healing looks like fly fishing for ten hours in freezing water and not giving a damn that you didn’t catch a thing.
Sometimes it looks like watching the light filter through trees and actually feeling something.
Sometimes it’s saying “That comment wasn’t okay,” and meaning it…because you’re grounded enough to know your voice matters.
This work…our work…is about finding clarity. That doesn’t happen when we’re buried in inputs.
So if you’re restless, tense, or just feeling off… try unplugging. Even for ten minutes. See what returns. You might find focus. You might find calm. You might find yourself.
Start there.
I’ll be here when you get back.