Burnout is on the Rise: Why Our "Always-On" Culture is Draining Us
Why we turn to doom scrolling and why it doesn't help
In an “always on” culture full of back to back meetings and continuous notifications the digital noise is louder than ever. Whether it’s social media, sensationalistic news feeds, or endless prompting from the latest AI agent it feels like the stream of information never stops.
But we weren’t built to be on all the time, or to know what’s going on in every corner of the world at all hours of the day and this constant stream of expectations and responsibilities takes its toll on us. A long day full of stressful situations, multi-tasking and no time to recover (could I maybe get a bathroom break at least between meetings) leads to burnout. For many of us this is now amplified by the work-life blur where our kitchen tables (or maybe our couches) are our offices and those physical boundaries that used to tell our brains to switch off are now gone. Are you emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted? Do you wonder why everything is irritating and you have so much to do but you just can’t seem to get yourself to do them? Do you find yourself doom scrolling through news stories, social media, reddit, or cat videos on Youtube?
Scrolling is easy, it’s convenient, and it makes you feel better…doesn’t it? What if I told you that your doom scrolling (why else would the word doom be in there) is actually bad for your mental and physical health? What if the habits we engage in every day are actually making our stress and our burnout even worse? And what if you already had the answer to make yourself feel better and you just didn’t know it?
The Invisible Cost of the Digital "Losing Game."
Nature loves balance, it’s part of our ecosystem and it’s a part of all of the systems that make up the human body, including our emotions and our energy. Human beings are not perpetual motion machines, they are not designed to always go go go, they require rest. But when we think about rest and balance that doesn’t just mean physical energy or mental energy, it also means the systems that regulate us.
Digital technology has improved our lives in numerous ways, we wouldn’t be where we are today without it. But at the core of the technology we use every day is an obvious reality that we tend to ignore, it’s there to make money. Facebook doesn’t offer you a free service out of a kind heart, they do it to make money, and they do that by keeping you coming back more and more and showing you ads (that someone paid them to show you) to get you to buy things. So what, right? Well, what if there is an unseen consequence of this?
These systems are built to exploit our natural tendency to seek out novelty, this isn’t about rational decisions it’s about catering to the biological needs we can’t control. These needs are controlled by what is called the limbic system, a primitive region of the brain that releases hormones in response to cues. The most commonly known hormone here is dopamine, the motivation chemical that tells you “something good (or new)” is about to happen, go do this thing( it’s all a bit more complicated than this but we aren’t writing a novel here)… in this case; pick up your phone and check the news, or Facebook.
Dopamine is good, it’s one of the things that has allowed us as human beings to survive for thousands of years. But nature is all about balance, and if we felt good all the time we wouldn’t be motivated to seek out new things so when dopamine is released shortly after the body releases cortisol (the stress hormone) to bring us back to homeostasis (the body’s natural state of balance). In primitive times this worked well, dopamine was scarce and balance was easily maintained. In a digital world where our primitive brain is overloaded with it (foraging for information is basically the same as foraging for food as far as our brain is concerned) we begin to build up cortisol.
Cortisol is lowered when we produce happiness hormones, such as oxytocin and serotonin which are released as rewards for certain behaviors (like social validation, physical touch, and eating). But what happens when we go “hunting” and we don’t find what we are looking for? The internet is largely built on the concept of a Variable Ratio Reinforcement Schedule (VRRS); dopamine spikes higher if your rewards are inconsistent (like a slot machine). You don’t read every post, you don’t open every news article, you are looking for the payout, the one that grabs your attention. Over time, cortisol levels increase due to this phenomenon and our stress gets worse, not better.
Winning the Game: Breaking the Burnout Loop.
Okay, so now you have a highly stressful day followed by an evening of doom scrolling where you feel better in the moment, but come out feeling even more stressed than before. Adding to the stress is the biological cost of the blue light from your phone, suppressing melatonin production and depriving you of critical sleep you need to recover. You should just delete Facebook, right? Maybe just get rid of your phone… I think we all know neither of those things are going to work, so what can you do?
The options are endless; you just have to find something you already enjoy that releases oxytocin or serotonin (I guarantee you have some) that don’t involve your digital devices. These chemicals have a direct impact on the reduction of cortisol levels, which will leave you feeling less stressed. Some examples below (this is by no means an exhaustive list):
Go for a walk (preferably in nature, without your phone)
Enjoy a meal with friends (again, without your phones)
Play a board game with your partner
Meditate
Read a book
Soak in the hot tub (my partner’s favorite)
This isn’t about a 'digital detox' where you throw your phone in a lake. It’s about Digital Wellness; the intentional practice of making our technology serve us, rather than the other way around. It’s about not being a slave to your notifications, your devices, and your bad habits.
Reflect: This week pay attention to your inclinations after a stressful day. What are your impulses telling you to do? How do you feel when you pick up your phone to disconnect?
Rise: Take a deep breath when you reach for your phone and think about whether what you are about to do is serving you; try to do something else instead (go for that walk). If this is difficult, there is a great app called one sec (Google Play Link) that can introduce a pause before you open an app (the free version allows this for a single app) providing friction and giving you time to think before you act.
Questions or comments? Share your thoughts below or reach out to schedule a discovery call and see if Digital Wellness coaching can help.
