Digital Declutter and Dopamine Detox

Escaping the Dopaminferno!

By Matt Gwyther and Neal Taylor

This is an eBook about technology and dopamine. It is also about addiction and meaning.

It’s about how our behaviour is influenced by dopamine; it’s about how our dopamine levels are influenced by technology; and it’s about what we can do about it with the ultimate aim of a leading a life aligned with our own purpose, a life undistracted by the dopamine inducing technologies that surround our daily lives.

There’s an increasing amount of information available about this topic. But where to begin? A lot of the existing material overlooks the psychological and spiritual side of this endeavour. So we have decided to make this our starting point. We have distilled and synthesized everything that we have learned so far here. But there is more to learn. Come and join us on this journey.

Take a look at the table of contents below!

What are we aiming for with the Digital detox?

Transcending the forces that pull us away from meaningful pursuits.

The Community

You will also have the option to join a dedicated community space for regular updates and the space to find support and ask questions!

The value for you

• Our collective research and experiences condensed into 90 mins of reading.
• The reading experience should be enjoyable, thought-provoking and enlightening.
• You should understand more about the link between addiction, technology, anxiety & dopamine.
• You should find opportunities to reflect on your own relationship with technology and consider doing something about that relationship, especially if the technology isn’t bringing you closer to a happier and more fulfilling life.
• You should try out some principles or even create your own.
• Gain the confidence, guidance and understanding to perform your own dopamine detox.
• You will feel motivated to share this with a friend and try it together, like we did.
• You will feel encouraged to share your stories and experiences with us. What works for you? What didn’t work? We would like to hear from you and we will respond!
• Join the community and share your stories and experiences

eBook table of contents

Part I – LET'S BEGIN

Foreword

Our intentions with this book

Is there such a thing as a Dopamine Detox?

Confrontation

Our story and the prompt

Part II – DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

Distraction – a natural distraction

Distraction from a reality that cannot compete

The insidious re-wiring of the brain by tech companies

The effects of dopamine. Why do we want more?

Digital Escapism – What are we running away from?

An Underlying Anxiety – confronting a constant dis-ease

Addiction and Dopamine

Part III – TAKE CONTROL

How bad is it? What can we do? Interventions based on usage

Now what? Forming a new Baseline

Why a detox and declutter?

7 Dopamine Detox Principles

Our experiments so far

Sticking to principles

A spiritual approach to abstention, fasting & detoxing

Relapse and transformation

Intention and intentionality

Bonus: Technology, anxiety, bullshit jobs and meaning

Part IV – NOW YOU

Now you!

What to Expect in the Dopamine Detox Month

About us

Further links and references

About us

Matt Gwyther is a Cognitive Neuroscience researcher at Anglia Ruskin University and part-time Manager at Cambridge University Press & Assessment. He is exploring ideas around consciousness, the self, psychedelics, meditation, dreaming, virtual reality, artifical intelligence, technology, work, society, addiction and mental health. He lives in Cambridge, UK.

Neal Taylor is a certified agile coach and a qualified teacher. He has helped build educational apps and platforms and now works as a consultant. He writes regularly about his interests in technology, languages, antifragility and travel. He hosts the Personal Antifragility community.After living in five different countries, he resides in Cambridge, UK.

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Creative Ripplty

Together Matt Gwyther, Jeremy Vey and Neal Taylor are working together as a collective with the aim of supporting and challenging people to make a more beautiful and creative world.

The work into Dopamine Detox contributes to this aim by escaping the addictive habits and negative time pressures of current technology, so that we are freer to follow our meanginful pursuits and pull ourselves closer to our goal.