Combatting modern addiction with Alex Olshonsky
How do we safeguard ourselves from social media?
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Alex Olshonsky knows a thing or two about addiction. He’s the founder of Natura Care, a non-profit addiction programing harnessing psychedelics, and has recently launched a course focused on modern addictions (e.g. social media, food, work, pills) called Life Not Wasted. As the author of his blog Deep Fix Alex has been open about his journey with addiction, and how he helps folks through it.
We talk about modern addiction, and especially what folks can do to lessen their dependence on social media.
Defining modern addictions
Johnny: What modern addictions do you pay the most attention to?
Alex: I think the one that feels the most obvious these days is our dependency on digital media and screens. That is the one that I feel is the most nefarious, elusive, and most ubiquitous, where pretty much everyone I know has some detrimental relationship with technology. It's rare for me to meet people who just have a positive relationship with technology. So that's one that I pay a lot of attention to.
But beyond that, I think it's important that people pay attention to just wildly, potently engineered cannabis. I don't think a lot of people even realize - these extracts and vapes - what they're actually consuming is a plant medicine that's now being abused.
And then there are the pharmaceuticals, which is another sinister, very elusive mix where we have a lot of folks taking Adderall, Xanax, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety meds.
Johnny: How do you see those issues manifesting in addiction right now?
Alex: Well, they're super secretive. I hear about it because I work with a lot of high functioning leaders and folks who aren't so high functioning who have really gnarly dependencies on these things. And no one's talking about it. And it's not quite cool in the way that it is to own other mental health malaises on social media, so you don't really hear about it publicly. But I meet a lot of people who have serious dependencies on Xanax, sleeping pills, multi-year Adderall and Vyvanse use under the table without a prescription.
Targets for reducing social media use
Johnny: When you're working with somebody who's trying to reduce their dependence on social media, what do you ask them to track and what targets do you have, if any?
Alex: I do this in my course. I do it with individuals that I work with. And I try to do it with friends and family, too, because I think everyone needs to do it. The screen time function within Apple is great. It really shows you how often you're using it. One of the first things that I think I ask people to do is to look at their weekly report and look at the daily average total and then your pickups.
Have you checked yours, your pickups?
Johnny: I did after I listened to your last interview. It was 103.
Alex: Okay, that's not bad. You want to get it lower, but it's really not bad. You run into so many objections with people who are like, well, I use my phone for work and Google Maps. The total screen time can be quite skewed based on life functions. Even mine is sometimes. When we had our baby, I was tracking contractions, and my screen time was higher.
The pickups, I think, is a more important metric in some sense, because it shows you how often that compulsion is happening. If you're picking up your phone 200 - 300 times a day, to text or to use social media or whatever it is you're doing, that's a lot of times to be doing something like that.
And a lot of people will think that they're probably at 50. And it's 300 plus. That's really high. And that's crazy common. It’s very normal for the millennial or Gen Zer to be at 150 to 200. Once you start getting below 150, it indicates to me that someone has a more conscious relationship with technology, which is still crazy because that's fucking high.
Then once you get to 60 and below – someone who's got it locked in and they're dialed. Good weeks, I'm at 60. In fact, I think that most people who are doing things in the digital world, it's very hard to be below that.
Now, that doesn't include computers, right? And so you have got to be really honest with yourself.
Now, in terms of screen time numbers for the phone, below two hours is good. Really, you'd want to be below an hour or less - below 30 minutes even. That's really good.
I'm curious, what was yours? I would guess maybe 2.5 to 4.
Johnny: I was a little over 3.
Alex: Yeah, that's pretty normal. What's crazy is that it's pretty normal to be 6+. And then you’ve got these Gen Zers who are in that 7 - 8+ a day. Jonathan Haidt’s book talks a lot about this.
And in my practice now one of the first things I ask is, “what is your screen time?” I think that it needs to become part of a model of care going forward. That's another one of my beliefs that I think in a few years from now, it will be commonplace for psychologists or doctors to ask “what's your screen time?”
Strategies for reducing social media use
Johnny: What strategies do you suggest for reducing screen time?
Alex
So the first thing is the tracking itself helps because it's just an awareness issue. You start noticing when you get that compulsory reach for the phone.
Then when it comes to tactics, you can use the features for app limits. Personally, I find that it doesn't help people that much. It can be a great reminder, but a lot of people will just go past it, and there's a real easy way to shoot past it.The other thing to do is to turn your phone into a really minimalist design: hiding a lot of apps except for the key ones, and being in permanent do not disturb mode.
And the other thing that's a little bit more counterintuitive that I recommend that folks do is get or use a separate device for personal scrolling.
I hate to ask people to buy more technology, but for instance, what that could look like is you having your laptop for your work and really treating that as a sacred place for work. You have your phone, which is for essential communication, navigation, et cetera. And then maybe an iPad where that's your browsing, your fun time, your Netflix, your social media. And that I found in my personal experience helps me a lot. It is really helpful for people to have that separation.If someone wants to continue to use social media, a main recommendation that I give for them is to have a set time window. It's only after they've done their most important work for the day.
Another best practice and something I try to get everyone to do is to not immediately check the phone first thing upon waking. It doesn't matter what you do, but you have to do anything for yourself: make coffee, go for a walk, meditate. Ideally, go as long as possible before you check your phone.
Folks can find Alex at:
His newsletter + podcast Deep Fix
His new course on living a fulfilling life amidst modern addiction at Life Not Wasted
The non-profit he co-founded Natura Care Programs
His somatic therapy and coaching practice
Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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