Overstimulated

There were no phones allowed in the school I went to for undergrad. Yes, in the university I went to for 5 years cell phones were banned, meaning that the longest stretch that I used my phone in this period was for 3-4 months at best.

Without going into the downsides of this, one of the advantages is that I was weaned off the phone and didn’t build a lot of destructive habits that teenagers can at the time. As an example, I could easily go off social media and focus on whatever pressing thing was happening in real life.

Fast forward to now, and phones and other connected devices are ubiquitous. Habit stacking means I listen to content on runs, in the bathroom or doing household chores.

I’ve found myself playing video games, talking on the phone and also playing music at the same time. Only when I tried to combine this with yet another thing did I realize wow, overstimulation.

A couple of times recently I’ve been out without earphones and frantically wondering how I’d enjoy the walk or car ride home without the distraction of watching or listening to something to make the time go by faster.

It makes me wonder what the long term impact of all this is.

If my brain is constantly ingesting, where’s the time to make the connections and ‘cook’ something useful with all these inputs? Am I losing my ability for creative, serendipitous thought?

I’d like to make more space for thinking and do things daily where I’m not overstimulated: reading physical books, writing notes in physical books, not listening to anything sometimes when I run or stretch, and adding more physical activities like gardening, calisthenics.