TikTok is KFC for the brain

TikTok is KFC for the brain

The modern world is a place of overstimulation and overconsumption.

Our environment primes us to seek out instant gratification. We are easily swayed by what is happening in the present, particularly the powerful forces of social media.

Don’t want to feel the pain of doing your work?
Don’t feel like sitting with uncomfortable thoughts and feelings?

No problem!

You can go on TikTok for instant relief.

But the problem with TikTok (and all forms of social media) is that it’s like KFC for the human brain.

It delivers short-term rewards that create long-term costs.

Think of it like this . . .

Those 15 second attention grabbing videos are like deep fried little treats.

And TikTok is an all you can eat buffet where the food has been engineered to give you a massive hit of dopamine. This dopamine-rich food environment is within arms reach and it never runs out. You can eat as much as you want, whenever you want.

The team of TikTok chefs and food engineers are constantly adding more and more greasy food creations to the buffet. With each day that passes, the food options become more novel and extreme (deep fried spam and cheese covered in panko crumbs, anyone?).

But here’s the really creepy part . . .

Because you frequent the buffet multiple times per day, the staff get to know exactly what you like. They know your name, where you live, what you like and don’t like, and the places you like to visit. This means they serve you food that hits the sweet spot every time.

In other words, this machine knows you better than you know yourself.
It’s highly addictive.
It’s easily accessible.
And it’s making you sick.

As Matthew Crawford states in his book The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction:

“The media have become masters at packaging stimuli in ways that our brains find irresistible, just as food engineers have become expert in creating “hyperpalatable” foods by manipulating levels of sugar, fat, and salt. Distractibility might be regarded as the mental equivalent of obesity.”

Here’s the thing . . .

You may have noticed that the more you consume from the TikTok buffet, the less you enjoy it. But even though you don’t enjoy it, you can’t stop going back for more. You keep piling your plate with more sickening fried food.

The problem is your brain hasn’t evolved to handle this massive amount of useless content hitting you at such fast rates (with no stop mechanisms in place).

Without good strategies in place to protect yourself, you’re at serious risk.

Your ability to focus and think deeply about who you are and what you want from life will be diminished.

In addition, when you’re constantly bombarded with highly curated, beautiful images of people who have more and better stuff than you, your perception of reality becomes distorted.

As Dr Anna Lembke states:

“We’re now comparing ourselves not just to our classmates, neighbors, and co-workers, but to the whole world, making it all too easy to convince ourselves that we should have done more. Or gotten more, or just lived differently.”

Social media influencers have a lot to answer for. These people set fake, wildly unrealistic standards which no one can live by. They can’t even live by the ridiculous standards they set and promote.

It’s these impossible standards that are making so many people feel anxious, depressed and insecure.

In fact, studies show young people are getting more plastic surgery due to the pressure from social media.

In short, TikTok is making our brains, thinking, and expectations go haywire.

Recalibrate your brain

If your TikTok use has got out of control, never fear. The human brain is super adaptable. You can reset things, so you feel less anxious and more in control.

How do you do this?

One way is to engage in a Dopamine Fast.

A Dopamine Fast involves giving your brain a break from constant overstimulation by avoiding all technology (e.g., phone, video games, and social media) for a period of time. Start with just 24 hours.

You might be thinking, “Well, that sounds boring! Why would I want to do that?”

But as Dr Anna Lembke states in her book Dopamine Nation:

“Boredom is not just boring, it can also be terrifying. It forces us to come face-to-face with bigger questions or meaning and purpose. But boredom is also an opportunity for discovery and invention. It creates the space for new thoughts to form, without which we’re endlessly reacting to stimuli around us, rather than allowing ourselves to be within our lived experience.”

Challenge yourself to take a break from the TikTok buffet and be alone with your thoughts and feelings. Notice what comes up for you as you don’t go on your phone (Boredom? Anxiety? FOMO? Freedom?)

It’s a good idea to write down or draw out what you experience on your Dopamine Fast.

After the Dopamine Fast is over, before you quickly run to the TikTok buffet, ask yourself this:

Am I fully in control of my brain?
Or has TikTok hijacked my attention?

If you do choose to go back on TikTok, you need to put limits in place. Easier said than done, right?

It’s your brain up against a big machine of industrialised persuasion.

This is why the Chinese government heavily regulates TikTok. If you’re a teenager in China, here’s how TikTok works:

• You can only use it for 40 minutes a day
• It has opening and closing hours (it opens at 6am and closes at 10pm)

Until our governments start to seriously regulate big tech companies, here’s what I recommend you do:

Delete TikTok.

Because let’s be clear: TikTok does not have your best interests at heart.

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One sec app

 

Are you happy with how much time you spend on your phone?

When you feel slightly bored, do you feel a reflexive, gravitational pull to check your phone?

If you spend hours each day clicking, scrolling, and posting, I want you to know that it’s not your fault.

It’s not that your weak willed, lacking discipline, or a lazy person.

It’s none of these things.

It’s no mystery or secret why so many people waste so much time on social media. Like a poker machine, these platforms are designed to be highly addictive.

Apps like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube contain persuasive design features that hijack your most valuable and precious resources: your time, energy, and attention.

 

Why are these Big Tech companies in an arms race to capture and hold people’s attention?

Because the more time we spend on their apps, the more data they can extract and sell for social influence.

The business model of Big Tech companies is simple: Keep people glued to their platforms for as many hours a day as possible.

In other words, your time and attention equal massive profits for these companies.

In his excellent book The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Dr Jonathan Haidt presents data showing teens aged 13-18 spend an average of six to eight hours every day on social media apps. That’s close to 50 hours a week.

 

 

Dr Haidt notes that this is just the time spent on the app. It doesn’t factor in the time spent thinking about social media while they multitask in the real world.

So, that’s 50+ hours that could have been spent outside in nature, learning a language, working a part-time (or full-time) job, making art, cooking, exercising, getting more sleep, and hanging out with friends.

Let’s also not forget that these apps intervere with and harm our wellbeing and ability to think and learn.

The multi-tasking that takes place as we engage with these apps throughout the day drains our brainpower, weakens our memory, and makes us tense and anxious.

The social comparisons we engage in on these platforms also warps our perception of reality and leaves us feeling like we’re not enough.

So, here’s something to consider . . .

 

What if you could protect your time, energy and attention from social media companies?

It’s possible, and I’m going to show you how.

I recently discovered a simple tool that helps people stop mindlessly consuming social media and other addictive apps.

It’s an app called one sec.

one sec is a self-nudging tool that helps you to create barriers to Big Tech that align with your goals and values.

 

 

Here’s how it works:

As you open up an addictive app, one sec intervenes by creating a 10-second delay in opening the app.

one sec creates the little bit of friction needed to make you pause and reconsider your behaviour.

After the delay, one sec presents you with a choice: Do you want to proceed with opening up the target app (e.g., TikTok)? Or close the app and do something else?

The creators of one sec explain it works by utilising three intervention strategies:

  • Creating friction (i.e., the time delay)
  • Giving you the option to not proceed and close the target app
  • Deliberate messaging

 

It’s important to highlight that you’re in control of the whole experience. You specify what apps you want one sec to target. You can also modify the time delay (making it shorter or longer) and change the deliberate messaging.

The question is, does this app work?

Or is it just another gimmicky product that fails to change your behaviour in a significant way?

I’ve been experimenting with this app for the last month, and I’m pleased to say it’s working for me!

Even though I don’t have social media and the wicked algorithms that come with them, I recently noticed that I was spending far too much time in group chats.

one sec has helped me be more intentional and deliberate with how I engage with these chat groups.

Instead of mindlessly checking these apps whenever I have time to kill, I now have dedicated periods when I engage with them. I’m following Dr Faye Begeti’s advice when she recommends in her book The Phone Fix to “Set a finite number of times for checking social media, condensing a large number of short checks into defined, longer ones.”

This is what one sec has helped me to do, and as a result, my focus and well-being have improved. I feel calmer. My days feel longer and less frenetic.

But I realise I’m a sample size of one. Plus, I’m highly motivated to reduce my time on addictive apps.

Is one sec effective in helping others to reduce their social media consumption?

The short answer is yes.

This research study found the app one sec helped people to significantly decrease their social media consumption.

 

 

In this study, 280 participants used the one sec app for a six-week period. Here’s what the researchers found:

36% of the time participants attempted to open a target app, they chose to close the app using one sec (i.e., they did not proceed with using the target app).

 

 

Over time, participants also opened the target apps less.

 

 

Opening problematic apps less or choosing to close problematic apps before engaging with them is actually a really big deal. Here’s why . . .

Less engagement with these addictive apps means less hits of dopamine.

Every quick and easy hit of dopamine you get from social media leads you to crave more stimulation from these apps. Before you know it, you’re in a full blown dopamine driven feedback loop.

Whenever I’m stuck in a dopamine loop, I’m not #livingmybestlife. Far from it! I feel overstimulated, chaotic, and jittery. Here’s why . . .

In his book How to Calm Your Mind, Chris Bailey explains that the brain networks for dopamine and calm are anti-correlated.

What does this mean?

It means when the dopamine network is activated, the calm network isn’t.

Imagine every time you mindlessly reach for your phone to check social media, you’re moving further and further away from a state of calm.

This may explain why participants in the one sec study reported experiencing increased satisfaction and happiness after decreasing their consumption of problematic apps.

 

Other one sec features worth exploring

The main intervention features (i.e., the time delay and option to not proceed with the target app) will help you decrease your consumption of addictive apps.

But there are many other features available with this app.

As you explore the additional features, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. There’s a lot of extra bells and whistles. For example, there is the “Don’t get lost” notifications (i.e., scheduled reminders to close the target app when you are using it) and website blocking.

But like a lot of things in life, more features don’t necessarily result in a better user experience.

Ultimately, I decided to follow BJ Fogg’s behaviour design principle of ‘Simplicity changes behaviour’. I stuck with using just the basic features of this app.

I knew if I overcomplicated the app, I probably wouldn’t use it.

All that being said, there were two additional features I incorporated:

1. Strict Block Feature

I use the strict block feature every day. To be clear, the strict block feature is not to be confused with the basic block feature. What’s the difference?

If you select a basic block, you’re not really blocking yourself from the app. But there’s a barrier in place. If you try to open the target app, it brings up the following message:

 

“Be honest with yourself. Do you really want to stop this block?”

 

Whereas a strict block is a genuine bona fide block. You cannot use your target apps until the block is over.

If you have developed a mindless habit of reaching for your phone and checking certain apps, you need a strict block in place until your brain has had a chance to recalibrate itself.

Here is the tiny habit I created to give my brain a chance to rewire to lower hit of dopamine from my smartphone:

 

After I pick up my phone in the morning, I will open one sec and press strict block for six hours.

 

Activating a strict block means I’m in charge for the first six hours of my day (and the addictive apps are not running the show). This sets the tone for the day and puts me in proactive mode rather than chasing quick hits of dopamine. It also helps me stay calm and grounded.

 

A word of warning:

Even when you feel like you have regained control over your target apps, you must remain vigilant. It’s super easy to get drawn back into a dopamine-driven feedback loop.

 

2. The Journal Prompt Feature

The journal prompt is simple and effective. Before accessing the target apps, I am prompted to write about what I have done and what I feel grateful for.

I write 25 words before proceeding to the target app. This gives me a moment to reflect, which is always a worthwhile practice.

 

 

Free alternatives to one sec

There is a free version of one sec you can use, but it limits you to applying one sec to only one target app.

If you have multiple addictive apps on your phone (as most of us do), I recommend the paid version to unlock all the features.

It costs $25AUD for the year, which is value for money if you ask me. The app has already paid for itself in terms of the time, energy, and attention I’ve reclaimed.

I should mention that I had trouble initially installing one sec and getting it to work on the target apps. The process was a little finicky, and I nearly gave up after 20 minutes of trying to figure out how to get the app to work.

You can find similar intervention apps that are free and easier to install, such as ScreenZen. ScreenZen appears to be based on similar mechanisms (i.e., introducing a time delay and friction to the target app).

My brother recently started using ScreenZen to help combat his mindless habit of scrolling through social media. When I asked for his thoughts on this self-nudging app, he said, “It’s annoying.” But then he quickly added, “But that’s the point. It’s annoying, and that’s why you use the apps less.”

Another great feature of ScreenZen is that after spending seven minutes on the target app, it puts a stopping mechanism in place by prompting you to think about if you want to keep using the app.

 

Final thoughts

I don’t think anyone consciously sets a goal to spend 20, 30, or 50+ hours a week on social media. But if you don’t have strategies to combat the addictive apps on your phone, one thing is certain: Big Tech companies will hijack your time, energy, and attention.

As Michael Harris states in his book The End of Absence:

 

“Never forget that you live in an ecosystem designed to disrupt you, and it will take you for a ride if you let it.”

 

So, don’t be taken for a ride. You can easily access self-nudging tools, such as one sec and ScreenZen, to help you defend your time, energy, and attention.

Think of the things you’ve always wanted to do but tell yourself, “I don’t have the time. I’m too busy”. What if you could reclaim a significant chunk of time to do those things today? Would it be worth taking a chance on a self-nudging app?

You’ve got nothing to lose except potentially $25.

I encourage you to test out one of these apps to protect your most precious resources (i.e., your time, energy, and attention).

 

Note: In case you’re wondering, I have not been paid or sponsored by one sec to write this article.

What activities help you get through tough times?

Over the years, I’ve experimented with a range of weird and wonderful stress-busting activities, including yoga, pilates, meditation classes, floatation tanks, massages, acupuncture, and sound healings (to name a few).

I’ll be the first to admit that cash-grabbing wellness gurus and advertisers have sucked me in.

In our capitalist culture, we’re sold this idea that in order to relax, we need to spend big dollars. But I now realise that the best relaxation experiences are cheap or free.

In this blog, I want to share one of my favourite relaxation practices: cooking.

I’ve created rituals around cooking that help me stay calm, grounded, and focused throughout the day.

These days, cooking is my number one way to relax. My kitchen is my happy place, and it can be your happy place, too.

Perhaps this sounds a bit strange. But hear me out.

I haven’t always found cooking to be relaxing or particularly enjoyable.

Being half Italian, I used to get involved with the occasional food tradition, such as tomato sauce-making day. But it wasn’t like I grew up with the delicious smells of homecooked food wafting through the house.

My teenage years and early twenties were filled with processed junk foods: a dizzying array of Hungry Jacks combos, greasy fish and chips, and takeaway meat lovers pizzas.

Cooking was a relaxation practice I stumbled upon much later in life.

Since upping my kitchen game and trading the expensive wellness activities for a sharp knife, solid chopping board, and fresh vegetables, my savings and confidence have grown.

How does one cultivate calm in the kitchen?

To emerge from the kitchen in a calm and tranquil state, a few conditions have to be in place:

1. You cannot feel rushed
2. Your kitchen counter must be clean and clutter-free
3. You need a sharp knife to chop with
4. Your phone must be out of sight (like most things in life, it’s best not to multitask)

If these conditions are met, cooking can feel like a meditation or an empowering yoga class.

I’m not the only person who feels this way.

In the book ‘Uncook Yourself: A Ratbag’s Rules for Life’, Nat’s What I Reckon shares how he cooks his way through tough times. He writes:

“I reckon getting in the kitchen and un-cooking yourself from the tough moments in your head every now and then is a way better self-help routine than throwing five grand at some short-lived back pat from a cash grabbing blowhard at a self-help seminar just to tell you you’re not doing life right.”

How does cooking lead to a sense of calm? What are the underlying mechanisms?

One reason is you need to focus your mind.

When chopping with a sharp knife, you must pay attention to what you’re doing. If you get distracted, and I have (many times), you might pay the price with a cut to the finger.

Chopping is also a repetitive activity that delivers an immediate outcome. One minute, the bok choy is on the chopping board in full form; the next, it has been chopped and is ready for tonight’s stir-fry.

Cooking also requires you to slow down.

When you’re online, you tend to jump around in a frenzy. But when you’re cooking, you have to follow a recipe step-by-step. This requires focus. This focus helps to clear your mind.

Cooking also gives you a sense of control, power, and agency. As food journalist Michael Pollan says:

“Eating out breeds helplessness, dependence and ignorance, and eventually, it undermines any sense of responsibility.”

When you cook, you’re in control of the process (not some big corporate fast food company). Plus, compared to that commodified wellness experience, cooking is super cheap (all it costs is the price of a few ingredients).

It also produces a nourishing meal at the end. That meal will give you energy, help regulate your mood, and keep you calm and steady.

Food impacts your brain

In the book ‘The Food Mood Connection’, Uma Naidoo argues that to decrease anxiety, you should pay attention to what you’re eating. She writes:

“A crucial part of battling anxiety is making sure your diet is full of foods that are calming and free of foods that put you on edge.”

What foods could put you on edge?

Fast foods and highly processed foods. These foods (e.g., greasy hot chips and baked goods) are problematic because they lack fibre and the fragile micronutrients and phytochemicals needed for good brain health.

Naidoo recommends increasing your fibre intake by consuming more plants and whole foods, such as beans, brown rice, baked potatoes with the skin on, broccoli, pears, apples, and oats.

“But isn’t it easier and cheaper to buy takeaway?”

A few years ago, I delivered a talk called ‘Rediscovering the Ancient Art of Thrift’ at a local library. In my presentation, I shared the thrifty practice of avoiding eating out and cooking meals at home.

At this point in the presentation, an elderly gentleman put up his hand and said:

“But vegetables are expensive. Why not just get McDonald’s? It’s cheap, and there’s no cleaning up at the end.”

I immediately thought of a friend who, at the time, ate only McDonald’s (for breakfast, lunch, and dinner). His housemates had confided in me that his feet had developed a pungent odour.

Although my diet was far from perfect, I was concerned. If my friend kept going down this path, I could see him heading for serious trouble.

Fast forward a year: How was my friend doing?

He was not well.

He had put on a significant amount of weight and seemed depressed, rarely leaving his room except to get his next McDonald’s meal (back in those days, there was no Uber Eats).

I explained to this elderly gentleman in the library workshop:

“Maybe you’ll save a bit of time and money in the short term [buying the fast food], but eating processed food will cost you down the track. It will cost you in medical bills and poor health. Your quality of life will suffer.”

He nodded, but I could tell he wasn’t entirely convinced.

Cultivating calm and confidence in the kitchen

Until you’ve cut out the processed junk food, allowed a couple of weeks for your tastebuds to readjust, and developed the habit of home cooking, it’s easy to be sceptical. After all, we live in a world that values convenience. Opening an app, pressing a button, and having dinner delivered to your door in less than 20 minutes has some definite appeal.

But every time you order Uber Eats, you miss out on a valuable opportunity to practice slowing down and calming your mind. You also undermine your cooking skills.

If you haven’t developed the habit of cooking or cooking makes you feel anxious, there are a few simple things you can do to cultivate calm and confidence in the kitchen:

1. Give yourself permission to make a mess

Cooking is a messy process. While I may start with a clean kitchen bench, it quickly becomes a mess. That’s how the process goes (I try to clean as I go).

It’s also okay to mess up a meal. Not every meal is going to be an absolute winner. In ‘The Four Hour Chef’, Tim Ferris encourages the reader to see meals that don’t work out as cheap cooking classes. Learn the lesson and move on.

2. Break down the process

When you think of cooking as one activity, it can feel overwhelming. I divide the cooking process into two stages:

1) Preparing the mise en place: chopping vegetables, taking out utensils, etc, and
2) Pulling it all together: cooking the dish.

In the morning, I take out all the ingredients for a dish so they are ready to go when I need to take a break from my work. I chop earlier in the day and cook the dish in the afternoon/early evening.

If I’m overwhelmed by the idea of chopping vegetables, I break it down to chopping just one vegetable at a time. I’ll say to myself:

“Just chop the capsicum. That’s all you need to do.”

3. Invest in good tools

It’s not fun chopping with a knife with a dull blade. A sharp knife combined with a lovely chopping board makes all the difference.

4. Learn how to chop

Learning basic chopping skills is a game changer. With the proper technique and a sharp knife, there’s no need to worry about cutting yourself. You can chop with ease.

I took a chopping skills course with the online cooking school Rouxbe, but you can find YouTube videos teaching you good chopping techniques.

5. Take your time

You’re not running a restaurant. You don’t have to rush to get meals out to hungry customers. Take your time and enjoy the process of chopping each vegetable.

To sum up

If approached with the right mindset, cooking can deliver a sense of calm and ground you in the present moment. You also get to experience the mental and physical benefits of a nourishing home-cooked meal. The bonus extra is saving a bit of money.

So, what are you waiting for? Pull out some ingredients and start cooking today.

Technology can work for you or it can work against you.

If I’m honest with myself, there was a time when technology was doing me more harm than good.

On Facebook, I frequently fell into the comparison trap (comparing myself to people who had posted delicious dinners, amazing holiday photos, etc).

On Twitter, I’d get baited by trolls (and I’d foolishly take the bait).

Throughout the day, I’d constantly check my phone and email, which left me feeling jittery and chaotic.

Big Tech was constantly hijacking my time, energy, and attention. Every time I retreated to my devices for a quick shot of dopamine, I moved further away from my goals. I didn’t like this, and I knew something needed to change.

Over the past three years, I’ve implemented many practices to regain control of my time, energy, and attention (including deleting all social media).

These practices have made a big difference in my life. But I’m well aware that not everyone feels the same way I do about Big Tech, nor are they in a position to be able to delete all their accounts.

My Reality Check

Following a school presentation, I spoke with a small group of year 8 students. I shared with them that I didn’t use any social media, to which a year 8 girl quickly chimed in:

“My grandma has Facebook. What’s your excuse?”

Her words struck me like a bolt of lightning. I didn’t know what to say.

It highlighted how adopting these apps is the norm for a young person.

When everyone else has a smartphone and is using social media (including your parents and grandparents), why would you question using them?

I couldn’t forget the year 8 girl’s words. While I appreciated her candidness, it left me slightly disturbed.

At the same time, it increased my motivation to resist Big Tech. I started searching for role models: people actively resisting Big tech and this hyperconnected, fast-paced way of life.

One community kept popping up in my research: the Amish.

Lessons from the Amish

The Amish are often portrayed as being technologically impaired. A classic example is Weird Al Yankovic’s music video Amish Paradise (a parody of Coolio’s mega-hit Gangsta’s Paradise).

In this video, Weird Al sings:

I never wear buttons but I got a cool hat
And my homies agree I really look good in black, fool
If you come to visit, you’ll be bored to tears
We haven’t even paid the phone bill in 300 years
But we ain’t really quaint, so please don’t point and stare
We’re just technologically impaired

There’s no phone, no lights, no motorcar
Not a single luxury
Like Robinson Crusoe
It’s as primitive as can be

While the Amish still mainly travel by horse and buggy and shun many modern technologies, such as televisions, radios, and cars, they are not ‘technologically impaired’ as Weird Al makes out.

When it comes to cultivating healthy digital habits, there is a lot we can learn from the Amish.

The Amish have a set of strategies that guide the adoption and use of different technologies. These strategies have allowed them to avoid being pawns for the goals of Big Tech companies, which make massive profits by seizing people’s attention.

I recently read a fascinating book called Virtually Amish, written by Dr Lindsay Ems. For her PhD research, Dr Ems spoke to Amish people about their relationship to modern technology (e.g., smartphones).

She argues that the Amish take control of their tech tools and thrive. Through adopting similar practices, we can thrive, too.

Below, I share how you can thrive by emulating Amish practices and beliefs around technology:

1. Become a technoselective

The Amish are not technophobes. They are ‘technoloselectives’.

They carefully consider the tech tools they’ll adopt and their functionality, tweaking them to help them achieve their goals.

The Amish don’t mindlessly purchase the latest gadgets and gizmos. Instead, they think about their values and goals and how the technology could cause unintended harm to themselves and the wider Amish community.

What are your goals?
Do your tech tools help you achieve them, or do they distract you from them?

2. Be guided by your values

The Amish are guided by their values (i.e., the things that are most important to them). Their values underpin everything they do.

So, what exactly do Amish people value?

• Community
• Connections with others
• Living a simple and slow-paced life
• Living a spiritually rich life
• Being self-sufficient

The Amish use these values to guide their adoption of technology.

An example of this can be seen with the arrival of the home telephone (not smartphone). Dr Ems shares how the Amish decided to ban the telephone from being inside the family home.

This ban came about after careful consideration and reflection on their values. The Amish value connections with family, friends, and the community. They don’t want to be the kind of person who interrupts a conversation by answering a telephone call. For this reason, telephones are located outside Amish family homes or nearby.

What are the things that are most important to you?
How does technology impact on those things?
Does it enrich those things or diminish them?

3. Understand technology isn’t neutral

The Amish understand that technology can cause harm. Subsequently, they intentionally delay adopting new technology until they see its impact on others.

Does it destroy family life? Does it wreak havoc on their ability to pay attention and distract them from their spiritual life?

If so, the technology threatens their culture and religion, and for these reasons, it should be avoided.

Before adopting a piece of technology, the Amish need to be clear about two things:

1) The functionality of the technology (what it can do)
2) The potential social impacts of the technology

Once they deeply understand these things, it is then decided whether the technology is adopted or not.

It may come as no surprise that Amish people view the smartphone as an incredibly dangerous innovation. Many Amish communities have bans on this device.

How do you feel after spending time on social media?
Have you seen things posted on social media that weren’t true or were exaggerated?

4. Put the technology on trial

When an Amish person wants to use a new technology, that technology will go through a formal decision-making process.

The community (in particular, the leaders) will consider the future with this technology. They’ll try to imagine how the technology could change their way of life.

Questions the Amish reflect on include:

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of the technology?
• What might come with it that we might not anticipate?
• Could someone get addicted to it?
• Is it a need or a want?
• Can the technology be restrained?

In her book Virtually Amish, Dr Ems provides the example of an Amish business owner asking the community leaders if he could have permission to use a label maker for his business.

After careful consideration, the leaders ruled label makers could be allowed for the following reasons:

• They are not addictive
• They can’t be used for recreational purposes (e.g., playing games or entertainment)

Think of a new technology (device or app) you want to adopt. Could it become addictive?

5. What matters is how you use it

Many Amish people believe the issue is not whether you use a smartphone or social media but how you use it. It’s important that the Amish remain in control of their use of tech and place limits on it.

It’s also important that the technology is not visible (i.e., you don’t pull your smartphone out in Church or during a conversation). Being discrete in the way one uses technology shows respect for Amish values.

How do you use the tech in your life?
Are you in control of your use?

6. Reflect on who you become when you use the technology

Amish people think about not just how they use the technology but what kind of person they become when they use it.

This point resonated with me deeply. I can’t say I’ve always liked who I become when I use certain technology.

A few years ago, I babysat my friends’ children when my friends went out for a kid-free meal. I look back and cringe when I think about how the experience unfolded.

Before going to my friend’s place to start babysitting, I got into a heated text discussion with some people in a group chat. Things were said that upset me.

For most of the night, I was on my phone, texting back and forth, not present with these young children. At one point, the little boy tugged on my arm to get my attention. “Aunty Jane, come play!” he said.

What can I say? I felt terrible. This certainly was not my finest moment. I had become the kind of caregiver I am usually quick to judge: distracted and disengaged.

I vowed to avoid trying to resolve issues by text and leave my phone at home next time to be fully present with the kids.

When you use social media, what sort of person do you become?

7. Adopt sticky tech tools

The Amish take modern tech tools and modify them to help them achieve their goals.

The plain mobile phone is an example of this. Amish people have created a mobile phone that can only make calls. It doesn’t have a camera, games, access to the Internet, or the ability to send text messages.

Similarly, the plain computer allows Amish to make spreadsheets, do word processing, and construct simple drawings. This allows them to complete tasks without being distracted by other things.

In other words, the Amish create what David Kadavy (author of Mind Management, Not Time Management) would refer to as sticky tools. A sticky tool allows you to stay focused on a task without getting distracted.

What sticky tools could you consider adopting (e.g., a basic flip phone and Internet blocker app)?

8. Create, don’t consume

The Amish take pride in growing their own food, raising barns, baking their own bread, tinkering with robotics, inventing, and making their own clothes. They are not big consumers, but they embrace a simple lifestyle and encourage human creativity.

In the modern non-Amish world, many of us are doing the polar opposite of this. We have fallen into the trap of consuming content mindlessly online (e.g., watching people bake bread instead of baking our own bread).

Don’t get me wrong—the Internet is an excellent learning tool to help us build our skills. I have turned to YouTube for many instructional videos on how to make and fix things. But doing this requires discipline because it is all too easy to get derailed by other distracting videos.

The bottom line is this: the more time we spend online, the more ads we are likely exposed to and the more our consumptive desires are stirred up. Is it any wonder so many people feel so dissatisfied with their lives?

Instead of mindlessly consuming, what can you create today?

9. Embrace inconvenience

The Amish embrace tech with inbuilt friction. In fact, inconvenience is considered a virtue.

Dr Ems shares that many Amish technologies intentionally contain ‘speed bumps’ and ‘friction’. The reason for this friction is to prevent Amish people from wasting time on the device.

I’ve found this is one of the positives associated with using a ‘basic phone’.

Last year, I experimented with using a basic flip phone with limited functionality (I could only make calls and send texts). Texting on this phone was so painfully slow that it made me want to avoid getting into long text discussions with people. It was easier to pick up the phone and call people.

Using a smartphone to text your friends may be easier than making a phone call, but as the Amish strongly believe, easier is not always better.

How can you build friction into your tech use?
Can you embrace analog alternatives to decrease your screen time?

To sum up

How much control do you have over your time, energy, and attention? As Chris Bailey writes in his book How to Calm Your Mind, “On the Internet, our intentions very quickly slip from our grasp.”

If you want to thrive online and offline, consider adopting some of the tech habits of the Amish. By limiting their tech use, the Amish have been able to remain mentally free and protect their way of life.

If more of us adopted Amish tech practices (e.g., being intentional with our tech use and placing limits on it), we’d most likely feel calmer and less anxious. We’d also spend more time engaged in activities that bring us joy and are aligned with what we value.