\u201c[I\u2019d be] checking my emails … constantly, even though there\u2019s nothing that I\u2019m expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with things he considered \u201cmore productive\u201d, he fell into the same addiction pattern.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could read the Guardian website or the BBC website for half an hour, and then if I ask myself 15 minutes later, what the key takeaways of any of those stories were, I wouldn\u2019t be able to.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was replicating the same activity, scrolling and consuming content without engaging with it, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just as unproductive as me spending half an hour on Facebook.\u201d<\/p>\n
Redford turned to Real Worlders, a start-up founded by Whanganui\u2019s Ellen Young that is developing \u201creal-world\u201d solutions to digital distraction. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not anti-tech. <\/p>\n
It promotes intentional use of technology where people pick their own boundaries and Real Worlders helps them stick to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got frustrated with the problem being talked about all the time and no one ever giving anyone a holistic solution,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n
New Zealand behavioural neuroscientist and speaker Kathryn Berkett said digital distraction was “definitley changing the brain”.<\/p>\n
Young began Real Worlders last year after noticing the toll digital distraction was taking on herself and her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI noticed [I was] zoning out from my kids and that being normalised for them,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
The long-term impact it would have on society concerned her and she became determined to find a \u201crealistic\u201d solution. <\/p>\n
New Zealand behavioural neuroscientist and speaker Kathryn Berkett said two major things happen during screen use.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne is that most activity on a screen activates us into the stress response,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo when we talk about being slightly frustrated or slightly nervous or slightly anxious, we\u2019ve got a bit of a tension in our body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berkett said this activated a fight-or-flight response. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we stay in that state for a long period of time, it can be … detrimental to our mental health and our physical health.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second thing is spikes in the body\u2019s dopamine levels.<\/p>\n
Dopamine is the reward chemical in the brain responsible for feelings of pleasure, motivation, mood, attention, memory and important body functions like immune system regulation and sleep.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost device use is made to bring on unpredictable, instant dopamine hits,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur brain becomes used to having instant, powerful dopamine hits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Activities that create \u201cmore subtle dopamine\u201d, like going for a walk or spending time with friends, then become \u201cdull\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely changing the brain,\u201d Berkett said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to talk about it. We have to be honest about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Global studies have increasingly linked the effects of screen addiction to the stark increases in mental health problems globally in the past decade, especially among younger generations.<\/p>\n
Adolescents who spent more than four hours daily on screens were almost three times as likely to have depression symptoms, and more than twice as likely to show anxiety symptoms than those who spent fewer than four hours on screens, over a two-week period, according to a study published by the United States\u2019 Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. <\/p>\n
New Zealanders reporting high or very high psychological distress \u2013 including anxiety, depression, or emotional fatigue \u2013 rose by 316.7% for males and 313.2% for females between 2011 and 2025, according to the Ministry of Health New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Ages 15 to 24 had the highest rate, more than double that of the groups aged 34 and older.<\/p>\n
Young wanted to develop a solution that didn\u2019t rely on self-control. <\/p>\n