Unplugged Nights _ Scroll with Purpose

The Mind Matters Podcast, hosted by Bokinia Colbert, focuses on self-discovery and mental resilience. The podcast offers strategic insights and advice to help listeners cope and thrive in life. The topic of managing our digital lives is explored in a two-part episode. The first segment, "Unplug Nights," tells the story of Aiden, a software engineer who was addicted to his devices and suffered from sleep issues and declining mental well-being. Aiden decided to disconnect from his devices before bedtime and engage in calming activities instead. He experienced positive changes in his sleep, energy levels, focus, and overall mental state. The second part, "Scroll with Purpose," discusses how Emily used social media more intentionally. The episode provides tips and activities to encourage disconnecting from devices before bed, such as establishing a pre-bedtime routine, using a physical alarm clock, setting a digital curfew, practicing mindfulness or meditation, journaling, listening to so Welcome to the Mind Matters Podcast. I'm Bokinia Colbert, your guide on this journey of self-discovery and mental resilience and the author of the companion book My Healthy Noggin, which is available on Amazon. In each episode, we delve into the complexities of life, unpacking the stressors and strains that wear on us every day. They tend to wear us down. And I provide you with strategic insights to not just cope but thrive. Here, we confront challenges head-on, offering tested strategies and heartfelt advice to illuminate your path to mental wellness. Join us as we explore transformative approaches to foster a healthier, more vibrant you. Hello, everyone, and welcome back. I'm thrilled by the incredible response to our first two episodes. Your engagement and feedback have truly uplifted my spirits. You're as passionate as I am about learning new strategies for a healthier, more balanced life. Today, we're diving into a two-part episode about managing our digital lives. In the first segment, Unplug Nights, we'll explore how we can reclaim our rest and balance, starting with Aiden's story of finding tranquility away from the glow of the devices. Then, in the second part, Scroll with Purpose. We'll follow Emily's journey to use her social media more intentionally. Remember, you're in control from the top of your noggin down. You are your own best cheerleader, and I'm right here with you, cheering along with you. Our My Healthy Noggin community is a supportive family, and together, together, we encourage each other every single day. Let's celebrate our achievements and keep setting those ambitions, those ambitious goals, beginning today with the story of Aiden, reclaiming rest and balance. Let's do it, guys. Aiden was a 24-year-old software engineer living in a bustling city. Like many people his age, Aiden's evenings were often spent glued to his devices, scrolling through social media, watching videos, and responding to work emails late into the night. This habit gradually became a routine, as habits do, both positive and negative. And he found himself staying up later and later each night. Despite being physically tired, Aiden struggled to fall asleep and would wake up feeling exhausted, which affected his work performance and overall mood. The turning point came when Aiden started experiencing chronic headaches and irritability. His energy levels were at an all-time low, and he noticed that his once-sharp focus was diminishing. A visit to his doctor revealed that his sleepless nights and constant screen exposure were contributing to his declining well-being. The doctor suggested that Aiden try disconnecting from his devices at least an hour before bedtime and engaging in calming activities instead. Reluctantly, Aiden decided to give it a try. He began by setting a firm no-screens rule after 9 p.m. At first, it was challenging. His hands itched to reach for his phone, and he felt anxious about missing out on updates. However, he replaced scrolling habits with activities like reading a physical book, practicing deep breathing exercises, and even journaling about his day. Gradually, he noticed the shift. Within a few weeks, Aiden began to fall asleep faster and wake up feeling more refreshed. His headaches subsided, and he no longer felt like he was dragging himself through the day. He also noticed a change in his mental state. His mind was clearer, and he was less reactive to stress. The quality of his work improved, and his interactions with his friends and colleagues became more meaningful as he was fully present, both mentally and emotionally. By embracing the practice of disconnecting from his devices before bed, Aiden reclaimed his nights and, in turn, his days. He learned that prioritizing rest and mental wellness over the temporary satisfaction of endless scrolling not only improved his physical health but also allowed him to reconnect with himself and those around him more authentically. Guys, here are 10 activities and suggestions to help encourage disconnecting from your devices at night. To those who gave me this suggestion, I hear you. I listen when you talk, and I am happy to deliver this. 1. Create a relaxing pre-bedtime routine. Establish a calming routine that you follow every night, such as taking a warm bath, reading a physical book again, or practicing deep breathing exercises. This signals to your brain that it's time to wind down. 2. Use a physical alarm clock. Replace your phone with a physical alarm clock. This eliminates the need to have your phone by your bedside, reducing the temptation to scroll before bed. 3. Set a digital curfew. Implement a digital curfew where all devices are turned off at least 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime. Use this time to relax and prepare for sleep. 4. Engage in mindfulness or meditation. Practice mindfulness or meditation before bed to calm your mind. Apps like Headspace or Calm have offline features, or you can try techniques that don't require a device, such as deep breathing or guided imagery. Guys, so let's pause right here for a second. I use Headspace and Calm myself. I love those apps. Absolutely. It teaches how to meditate. It teaches how to be mindful in the moment. It allows you to slowly release the stress of the day, bringing calm to your spirit so that you can rest so that your mind and your body can relax together. So definitely check out Headspace and Calm. Again, I use them both. I love them both. But this is the suggestion. Don't use the 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime to do that. This is an activity you can do during the day while you're scrolling. Head over to Headspace. Head over to Calm. Learn some techniques, some exercises that you can use during this downtime at night. I think you will really benefit from it. I know. I love it. So, moving on to number five. Journal your thoughts. Spend a few minutes writing in a journal before bed. And I also suggest that even if you don't have a journal, because sometimes words kind of prevent us from moving forward. Sometimes I don't have a journal. I Grab a piece of paper. Write on the back of an envelope. Anything. Take a few minutes to write before bed. Reflect on your day. Jot down things you're grateful for. Or write about any thoughts or worries to clear your mind. You'll hear me say this a lot. I do this a lot to get it out of my head. Whatever is lying heavy on me, weighing heavy on me, whatever is taking my thoughts, I think that it is either good or bad. If it's taking up too much time, I write it down, and I come back to it. So I suggest that you learn to do that too. It actually frees up the mind to start thinking about other things without constantly rethinking the same thoughts. Once you write it down, it's done. Okay, moving on to number six. Listen to soothing music or nature sounds. Play calming music or nature sounds on a device that doesn't emit blue light. None of your screens. Instead, use a small speaker or radio. But not your phone. Your goal is to step away from the phone. So if you have a pocket radio, yeah, they still sell those. I actually have one around here for emergencies. But if you need that, get yourself a little small speaker or radio that you can listen to music to help you to relax. This can help relax your mind without the stimulation of the screens. Number seven, practice gentle yoga or stretching. Engage in a gentle yoga or stretching routine to release tension from your body and promote relaxation before bed. Focus on slow, deep breaths and mindful movements. We're not trying to exercise for the day right now. No, no, no. This right here is the gentle stretching to release all of the tension from your body and help promote relaxation for sleep. Number eight, read a physical book or a magazine. Put something in your room. Put something on your nightstand that you can just read at night. Swap out your device for a physical book or magazine. Reading something light and enjoyable can help ease your mind and prepare you for sleep. The reason that we're saying light and enjoyable is that, remember, the whole goal right now is to relax the mind. This is not the time to read your greatest crime story because your mind starts to work on solving problems. This is not the time to read something that makes you think more. No, this is the time to read something that makes you smile as you relax and that helps you remember the good parts of the day. Something like that is really good. That's why you say magazines as well. Something that's lighthearted and can help you relax. Number nine, prepare for the next day. Spend a few minutes planning and organizing for the next day. This could include sitting out your clothes, preparing your lunch, or making a to-do list. It can help reduce any anxiety about the upcoming day. Sometimes if you are not organized, the lack of organization adds stress to our minds. So we already know how unorganized we are, so we start to dread and stress the next morning. So a great way, again, to conquer that, spend 10 minutes at night just getting everything together. Make sure that your morning is as smooth as it can be because you prepared for it the night before. Number 10: I like this one, guys. Especially if you have trouble really breaking away, number 10 is to create a device-free bedroom environment. Make your bedroom a device-free zone by charging your phones and other electronics outside the room. Instead, fill the space with relaxing elements like soft lighting, comfortable bedding, and soothing scents like lavender. Your bedroom becomes your oasis, the place where you want to put everything away and relax. So, these activities can help you create a more peaceful, device-free bedtime routine, promoting better sleep and overall mental wellness. Now, let's move quickly. I want to keep going to this informative episode's second half. The second half is called Scroll with Purpose. Now, how can I say this in this section? This section is about Sarah, but Sarah has an even bigger concern than Aiden did, it appears, with her phone. So, she wants to scroll with purpose. Okay, you guys with me? Let's keep it moving. Sarah was a young woman in her late 30s working a stable but unfulfilling job. Every evening after work, she found herself caught in that endless cycle of mindlessly scrolling through social media. She spent hours looking at other people's lives, envying their achievements, and wondering why she wasn't making progress toward her own dreams. She had always wanted to start her own jewelry business but felt stuck in her routine, unable to find the time or the motivation to get started. One night, after realizing that she had spent three hours scrolling through photos of people running businesses similar to the one she dreamed of, she had an epiphany. Sarah realized that she was wasting valuable time that could be used to build her own brand instead of passively consuming content. Determined to make a change, Sarah decided to set clear intentions for her social media use. She didn't stop using social media. She just decided to set clear intentions for the time that she was on social media. She created a list of business-related topics to research, such as branding, marketing strategies, and customer engagement. Instead of scrolling aimlessly, she started following accounts that offered valuable business advice and inspiration. She used social media as a tool to learn and grow. I have to say that again. She used social media as a tool to learn and grow rather than as a distraction. You go, Sarah. Sarah also set specific limits on her social media time. She allocated 30 minutes each day to scrolling with intention. She did not stop scrolling altogether. She just set aside 30 minutes each day to scroll with the intention of learning how to, again, learn and grow. Focusing on gathering knowledge and inspiration for her business. The rest of her evening was spent putting what she learned into practice. Sketching designs, sourcing materials, and creating a website. Within a few months, Sarah had not only launched her jewelry business but also built a growing online presence. By transforming her approach to social media, she turned what was once a time-wasting habit into a purposeful activity that propelled her toward her goals. Her story is a powerful reminder that with the right mindset and intentional use of time, anyone can turn their dreams into reality. Yes, yes, yes. That's what I'm talking about. Guys, here are 15 ways to stop mindlessly scrolling on social media and start scrolling with intention. Number one, set a time limit. Use apps or phone settings to limit your daily social media usage. This helps you become aware of how much time you spend and encourages you to be more intentional during the time you do spend on it. Number two, create a purpose before logging in. What do I mean by that? Decide why you're logging in before you open the app. Why am I logging in today? Whether it's to connect with friends, find inspiration, or stay updated on specific topics, having a purpose will guide your actions. Number three, follow accounts that add value. Curate your feed by following accounts that inspire you, educate you, or bring you joy. What you're going to need to do now, though, is unfollow or mute accounts that don't contribute positively to your life. There are people that follow us, and we follow them, that might be family and friends. That doesn't mean that we still like everything that they say if it's coming off as negative in our positive environment. So it's okay to mute those accounts, even if you can't unfollow them. But if it's someone that you're just following or following you that you do not know, but their language, their message is always negative, uh-uh, cut that off. Unfollow. This is a positive environment. Number four, practice mindful scrolling. Pay attention to your emotions as you scroll. Again, leaning back into the last number three, are you feeling inspired or drained by what's in your feed while you're scrolling? If it's the latter, you're feeling drained; consider logging off right then. Don't keep feeding that into your brain. Getting up and walking away from something draining your mind at the moment is okay. You have permission, and you're permitting yourself to say, hey, I don't even want to read that. I don't even want to be a part of that. I don't even know what they're talking about, but I don't even want to read anymore to find out. Nope, this is a positive environment. I'm going to keep it that way. Number five, turn off notifications. Reduce distractions by turning off non-essential notifications. This will help you avoid being lured back into the apps mindlessly. Those notifications can actually just kind of blow your phone up. As many of us know, you could be anywhere at work. You could be out with friends. You could be with your family. You could be watching TV. And all of these apps that we have joined will send us reminders to look at them. Notification is, look at me, look at me. Hey, look at me, look at me. You have to know when and what notifications are not essential. Those that cause distractions that being that little beep, cause you to look or wonder what you're being notified of. So go into your apps and turn off those non-essential notifications. Number six, engage more, scroll less. I'll say that again. Engage more, but scroll less. Instead of scrolling, try engaging more with the content you find meaningful. Comment more on things that you like. Share more about the things that you like or think are funny or that someone will be interested in. Or start a conversation yourself. That cuts out how much scrolling you're doing because you're engaged, either in the comments, the sharing, or the conversations. That's a really good one. Number seven is the use of social media for learning. Follow accounts that provide educational content on topics you're passionate about. This way, your scrolling time becomes an opportunity to learn something new. So, guys, education does not always just mean textbook education. If you want to know why you snore, if you want to know why you might be bored, if you want to know why you might be feeling really, really low right now, but you have no idea what it could be, the content is right there. Use that time to find out more about you. Maybe you want to start an exercise routine. Maybe you want to start a new business like Sarah. Use that time, use your social media time for learning something that makes you a better person. Number eight, set specific times for social media. Allocate specific times of the day for social media use. Rather than scrolling whenever you have free time, this helps you stay focused during the day, during the rest of the day. So it might be during your lunch hour. Hey, during lunch, I will scroll social media for 15 minutes while eating my food. I'm not doing anything else but eating. Or you might say, this is my downtime during lunch. I've been working all this time. I want to sit with myself and my thoughts and see if I've received any messages from friends or family that I can respond to rather than just scrolling through social media. How can I allocate that time to be more beneficial? Number nine, reflect on what you've learned. After spending time on social media, take a moment to reflect on what you've learned or how you've benefited from it. This helps reinforce intentional use. So don't just go and read about it. Take the time to do something about it. Take the time to journal about it. Take the time to see what it would take to move that thought forward. So, reflect on what you've learned. And it really is going to reinforce your intentional use. While I was intentionally using social media at this time, I discovered this. This helped me to want to do this. Be intentional. Number 10: be selective about what you share. Before posting or sharing, ask yourself if it aligns with your values and the message you want to convey to the world. This practice encourages more thoughtful engagement. This is a big one because a lot of times, we don't really think; some people don't really think about how that message or that post is going to affect other people. Especially people they may know. That message you're sending might hit really close to home to someone that you know. And maybe you weren't trying to throw shade on them. Maybe you just thought it was an interesting post. But you have to be mindful because that sends a message that that is how you feel. And if you're throwing shade at me and I'm thinking that that's how you feel about something I've shared with you or something that I know you know about me, I'm really careful now of what I share with you. So, be sure to be more thoughtful in what you post. Who will be affected by this? And do you know if this aligns with my values? Is this who I am all the time? Because something might come out really funky. But maybe that's not how you feel all the time. It's just that when you read it, it is deep. We might have to keep some of those things to ourselves or post somewhere else where people don't know you. But don't do that to the people who know you and who have shared with you. And it appears that you are striking out or trying to send a message to them. If you know me, you'll know that I took about seven years. A seven year break. Before I came back full to social media. Five years in, I started my store and I used social media very sparingly to notify people of my new store. But mostly I did it outside of social media. Because I really was determined to use that time away from social media to achieve my goals without being constantly worried about who was judging, who was watching, and what it meant. Sometimes, you just have things that you want to get done, and you don't need the distractions of social media. You need to go get it done. You need to go accomplish those goals that you have set for yourself. So schedule regular breaks from social media, whether a day off each week or a full detox for a set period. Use this time to reconnect with the offline world. Instead of sending people a message on social media sometimes, pick up the phone and call them. Instead of saying happy birthday, stop by if they're in the same city with you and say happy birthday. Reconnect with the offline world. Everybody's not on social media. Especially some of our, I mean I would say some of our seniors, but seniors are on but they're not on the way that we are. And they're old school like me. There is nothing wrong with picking up the phone. There is nothing wrong with giving somebody an actual hug where your arms reach out to them, and they reach out to you. That's the offline world. It's cute when we can send those little emojis with hugs and kisses. I love you, but nothing beats the real thing. Nothing. Number 12: keep your phone out of reach. When you're working or spending time with loved ones, keep your phone out of reach to avoid the temptation of mindless scrolling. It really does not have to be right in your hand. And I had an incident that happened to me just last month, and I am not big enough to keep my phone on me all the time. As a matter of fact, my phone and I have gotten to this place where we keep a healthy distance. But I have been, I was using GPS a lot and I was trying to use my phone and I couldn't get my little holder in the car to hold my phone. So I was holding my phone as I used the GPS to try to get around the city. I also got a reminder from my insurance company because I have this little device in my car that monitors my driving to lower my insurance rate. Guys, those are great to have, too. Good driving does pay off. But that reminder told me how many times or instances they recorded my phone in my hand for that month. And it was nine times. We can get so comfortable with it that we don't even realize we're holding it. But accidents—and it is proven that on the road, there are more accidents because of devices—the devices in our car, the distractions that come from them, and holding them cause these accidents on the road. So keep your phone out of reach. Number 13: Use social media for goal setting. Use your account to track and share progress on personal goals. This creates a positive loop where your social media activities align with your aspirations. I love that. You can use it to track the progress of what you're trying to do. Hey, what am I trying to do? How does this fit into that? I love it. Number 14, reflect on your social media habits. Please look over how social media fits into your life. Are your habits serving your well-being? If you're on social media half of the day, if you're on social media every hour, if you're on social media at work, in the car, in the bed, in the bathroom, in the kitchen while you're cooking, while you're with the kids, while you're with your maid, while you're at the movies, while you're at the restaurant, you are on your phone too much. Are your habits serving your well-being? Are you being present in the moment? If not, adjust them accordingly. You are in control of you. That phone does not control you. And if it does, you can change that. Lastly, number 15 engages in offline hobbies, as I mentioned earlier. Cultivate hobbies that don't involve screens. Reading and exercising, cooking, or spending time in nature can all be fulfilling alternatives to social media. Guys, implementing these strategies can help transform social media from a mindless habit into a purposeful activity that adds value to your day. I hope the stories of Aiden and Sarah have touched you today. I sincerely hope that you find something in this episode that enlightens you and inspires you to join us again and spread the word. Sharing is truly caring. So please, if you have been moved by what you've heard, share this podcast and my healthy noggin book with anyone who could use a dose of positivity. And remember to spread the word on social media, too, since you're already there. Let's work together to make the world a brighter place for everyone. I love you guys. Guys, thank you for tuning in to the Mind Matters Podcast. Remember, every challenge is an opportunity for growth; you're not alone on this journey. Continue to nurture your mind, embrace change, and apply the practical tips we've discussed today. Remember to subscribe for your weekly dose of empowerment and visit our website to join our community and access more resources. Until next time, I'm Bokinia Colbert, reminding you that your mental wellness is the bedrock of the vast landscape of your life. Take care, stay engaged, and keep your mind sharp. Here's to a healthier, happier you. I love you guys. I look forward to seeing you next time. Transcribed by https://otter.ai Edited by https://otter.ai Transcribed by https://otter.ai Transcribed by https://otter.ai