By Zavia Pittman

Staff Writer

If you grew up going to church, you are probably familiar with fasting. Many of the world’s prevalent religions implement fasting as a part of their religious practice. Usually, fasting involves abstaining from food or water to focus on and grow in your faith. To that end, I often see people partaking in a fast when they are at their lowest point.

Like many religious conventions, fasting has made its way to the secular world and is touted for its numerous health benefits. However, fasting in the 21st century often involves more than not eating or drinking. Instead of being closer to the divine, most modern-day fasts are about being more productive and relinquishing social media’s chains on our psyche. 

Most folks would admit that using social media less would likely help with their mental health, and trends like the dopamine detox are most appealing to us poor souls.

Hi, I’m folks, by the way…

The name comes from the brain’s feel-good chemical (dopamine) and abstaining from the behaviors we too easily turn to for an easy, temporary fix. I decided to start a dopamine detox because I had been feeling dissociated from myself for weeks. My thoughts and feelings weren’t my own but from the content I consumed. In addition to losing my sense of self, I felt my ability to think critically was fading. Not to mention, I could not write anything that I felt was my own.

More people suffer from this feeling than we may think. It makes sense that you can lose sight of your perspective when you consume so much of other people’s lives and opinions. And just like you need to set boundaries with people, sometimes you need to set a boundary with the content you consume.

Usually, a dopamine detox involves ridding yourself of things that provide instant gratification. This category includes social media, instant messaging services, and the internet. However, it’s similar to religious fasts in the fact that it also recommends abstaining from other external pleasures like alcohol and even music. 

I recommend tailoring your fast to things that you struggle with the most. For some people, that could be alcohol, but for others, it could simply be social media. Purists would have you believe that doing so lessens the detox’s benefits, but I think it allows you to make the most of it. It should be a little uncomfortable and not too easy.

Because my main issues revolved around social media and YouTube, they were the main platforms I avoided. I also avoided listening to music and watching movies or TV series, which was one of the hardest parts of the detox process. Thus, reading became my sole source of entertainment (which was an adjustment that prompted a few impromptu micro-naps). Regardless, after a few battles with sleep, I eventually grew to love my new routine. 

I chose to read books on philosophy and religion because I believed they would help me re-establish my values and beliefs. The time I usually spent scrolling on social media was now for reflecting. I was able to put things into perspective and reconnect with myself. And despite it being a secular fast, I felt like I grew a little in my faith, which is a bonus if you’re religious or spiritual.

I suggest replacing your typical entertainment with reading something that you like, or that relates to your situation. If you’re into true crime documentaries, there are plenty of fascinating nonfiction or creative nonfiction tales to read instead. During the detox, reading was a much more soothing experience than watching content all the time.

Watching content can feel like sticking a syringe of information directly into your brain, while reading is more like a slow IV drip.

My detox fast only lasted a few days, but it helped immensely. I am not usually into restricting myself more to feel better, but an occasional break from the norm rarely makes things worse.