Nobody takes it seriously because they feel completely helpless to do anything about it
Cell phone addiction is an absolute thermonuke to the brain and nobody 'takes it seriously' because it is not clear that there is any solution in a world where the revealed preference of everyone across the globe, regardless of income, race, age, any factor whatsoever, would rather be on their phone than do *anything* else. Deciding "I use this too much" and meaningfully altering one's behaviour doesn't seem to have much success for any of the very small minority of people with the sentience or self-reflection to realize how bad it is. Most people seem to think of it as an unproductive habit at most, rather than an addiction. Any attempt to speak seriously about this is met with derision, accusations of pretentiousness. There is no real solution to it. The future of human cognition fifty years down the line is horrifying if you stop and think about it for even a moment.
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I won’t see a single frame of my own videos for a year that get posted to 300k+ people
So how do I film?
+ Camera sits on a tripod with colored alignment marks for screen-free setup
+ I hit record and say the title out loud
+ I use a special keyword to delete
Then I pull the box with no screen
It names every clip from what I said, files it, and I get a receipt to confirm
Press one button and it all goes to my editor
Editor then edits and posts for me
I never see a frame
So how do I film?
+ Camera sits on a tripod with colored alignment marks for screen-free setup
+ I hit record and say the title out loud
+ I use a special keyword to delete
Then I pull the box with no screen
It names every clip from what I said, files it, and I get a receipt to confirm
Press one button and it all goes to my editor
Editor then edits and posts for me
I never see a frame
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16 days until I’m off the screens for a year
Sending this sample to the lab to check melatonin and cortisol
PhD-level intelligence and labs are so cheap now, we’re going to have a new scientific renaissance
The future is bright
Sending this sample to the lab to check melatonin and cortisol
PhD-level intelligence and labs are so cheap now, we’re going to have a new scientific renaissance
The future is bright
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Just had my blood drawn before I spend a year without screens — with @function (partner)
Doctors expect brain scans and cognitive tests to change a lot
But whether hormones like testosterone will change a lot, there's some disagreement
All the data will be public: monthly 0+ biomarkers, brain scans, sleep data, etc.
It starts in 17 days
Doctors expect brain scans and cognitive tests to change a lot
But whether hormones like testosterone will change a lot, there's some disagreement
All the data will be public: monthly 0+ biomarkers, brain scans, sleep data, etc.
It starts in 17 days
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My job today = spit in four tubes
It’s for cortisol and melatonin: morning, noon, evening and night
These two hormones work in opposite directions to regulate your wakefulness and sleep
What you want to see:
• Morning = cortisol higher, melatonin low
• Noon = cortisol w
• Evening = cortisol low, melatonin rising
• Night = cortisol lowest, melatonin high
A healthy curve is a descending cortisol slope that hands the baton to rising melatonin so you feel alert by day and sleepy at night
Blue light from screens is a classic way to interrupt that evening melatonin rise and disrupt your sleep
I’ll publish how these curves change over a year without screens (down from ~10h screentime per day)
I go off screens in 18 days
It’s for cortisol and melatonin: morning, noon, evening and night
These two hormones work in opposite directions to regulate your wakefulness and sleep
What you want to see:
• Morning = cortisol higher, melatonin low
• Noon = cortisol w
• Evening = cortisol low, melatonin rising
• Night = cortisol lowest, melatonin high
A healthy curve is a descending cortisol slope that hands the baton to rising melatonin so you feel alert by day and sleepy at night
Blue light from screens is a classic way to interrupt that evening melatonin rise and disrupt your sleep
I’ll publish how these curves change over a year without screens (down from ~10h screentime per day)
I go off screens in 18 days
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19 days until I quit screens for a year - finally
Every month my blood gets drawn to see what changes:
+ testosterone
+ cortisol
+ vitamin D
+ and a lot more
Two findings I keep coming back to:
+ 4 hours on a glowing e-reader before bed cut melatonin 55% and pushed it 1.5 hours later (12 adults, Brigham and Women's)
+ 1 week of 5-hour nights cut daytime testosterone 10-15% (10 young men, U Chicago)
Nobody has shown screens lower testosterone, but the sleep link seems obvious
Maybe this is part of the fertility crisis
The data gets uploaded to the dashboard on my site
First draw is Thursday
Sent from my screenless phone
Every month my blood gets drawn to see what changes:
+ testosterone
+ cortisol
+ vitamin D
+ and a lot more
Two findings I keep coming back to:
+ 4 hours on a glowing e-reader before bed cut melatonin 55% and pushed it 1.5 hours later (12 adults, Brigham and Women's)
+ 1 week of 5-hour nights cut daytime testosterone 10-15% (10 young men, U Chicago)
Nobody has shown screens lower testosterone, but the sleep link seems obvious
Maybe this is part of the fertility crisis
The data gets uploaded to the dashboard on my site
First draw is Thursday
Sent from my screenless phone
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Rich used to mean you didn't have to work with your hands
Soon it will mean you don't have to look at a screen
Soon it will mean you don't have to look at a screen
Sitting, typing, scrolling and martyring oneself for money are about to lose status. The new status games will reward what can't be automated or faked: a body and mind in peak ability.
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I couldn't live without this box during the screenless year
Every day, it gives me:
+ Bank balances
+ Weather report
+ Birthdays & calendar Items
I can also pop in an SD card from my screenless recording setup and it goes to my editor
Just 29 days to go, and a screenless phone is my only phone
Every day, it gives me:
+ Bank balances
+ Weather report
+ Birthdays & calendar Items
I can also pop in an SD card from my screenless recording setup and it goes to my editor
Just 29 days to go, and a screenless phone is my only phone
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The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated
The most measured year without screens starts on November 1st
And October is baseline month...
+ 100+ blood markers from @function (Partner)
+ Sleep and activity tracking from @ouraring
+ Multiple brain scans (fMRI, MRI, exam
+ And more
Already did memory, IQ, attention, etc. earlier this year
What's going to happen? Who knows.
The most measured year without screens starts on November 1st
And October is baseline month...
+ 100+ blood markers from @function (Partner)
+ Sleep and activity tracking from @ouraring
+ Multiple brain scans (fMRI, MRI, exam
+ And more
Already did memory, IQ, attention, etc. earlier this year
What's going to happen? Who knows.
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David · Year Unplugged retweeted
We all know something is wrong
People are buying flip phones, deleting social media, putting screen time locks on themselves like they're childproofing their own lives
We're going to look back at this era and ask what the hell we were doing
People are buying flip phones, deleting social media, putting screen time locks on themselves like they're childproofing their own lives
We're going to look back at this era and ask what the hell we were doing
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David · Year Unplugged retweeted
The new Huberman Lab episode is out: Peptides: The Science, Uses & Safety | Dr. @AbudBakri
0:00 Abud Bakri
3:33 What are Peptides?, Receptors
6:26 BPC-157, Discovery, Animal Proteins
11:19 BPC-157, Animal Data, Regeneration
12:27 Sponsors: Eight Sleep & Lingo
14:51 BPC-157, Regeneragical Effects
19:27 Adverse Events, Clinical Trials & Legality of BPC-157
29:41 GLPs & Compounding Pharmacy; Peptides & Gray Market
35:25 Manufacturing, Compounding Pharmacies, Gray Market, Black Market
41:32 Peptides & Tumor Growth?; Angiogenesis
45:17 Sponsor: AG1
47:01 Pharmaceutical Patents, Clinical Trials for BPC-157, Potential Outcomes
54:19 BPC-157 Healing, Patient Experiences
1:01:22 Physician Counsel, FDA Legality, Malpractice
1:07:25 Pinealon, Epithalon, Discovery; Sleep & Cognitive Performance, Risks
1:18:17 Sponsor: Function
1:19:55 Pineal Age Deterioration, Epithalon, Eye Health
1:29:38 Thymus, Age Shrinkage; Thymosin Alpha-1, Immune Function
1:38:13 TB-500; Pet Health; Thymic Peptide Doses, Thymulin, Zinc
1:49:13 Sponsor: LMNT
1:50:33 GHK-Cu (Copper GHK), Collagen
1:55:32 Illness Recovery, Thymic Score, Tool: Blood Test & Immune Cell Counts
2:04:01 Growth Hormone Secretagogues, Age Decline, Cancer Risk, Insulin
2:15:36 GHK-Cu, Topical Cream, Red Light Therapy
2:20:25 GLPs, Discovery, Physical & Cognitive Long-Term Effects, Fertility
2:33:53 Retatrutide; Drug Patents & Nomenclature
2:39:03 Peptides: Women Reproductive Disorders; TBI, Neurologic Effect; Safe Sources
2:45:34 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow, Reviews & Feedback, Sponsors, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter
Includes paid partnerships.
0:00 Abud Bakri
3:33 What are Peptides?, Receptors
6:26 BPC-157, Discovery, Animal Proteins
11:19 BPC-157, Animal Data, Regeneration
12:27 Sponsors: Eight Sleep & Lingo
14:51 BPC-157, Regeneragical Effects
19:27 Adverse Events, Clinical Trials & Legality of BPC-157
29:41 GLPs & Compounding Pharmacy; Peptides & Gray Market
35:25 Manufacturing, Compounding Pharmacies, Gray Market, Black Market
41:32 Peptides & Tumor Growth?; Angiogenesis
45:17 Sponsor: AG1
47:01 Pharmaceutical Patents, Clinical Trials for BPC-157, Potential Outcomes
54:19 BPC-157 Healing, Patient Experiences
1:01:22 Physician Counsel, FDA Legality, Malpractice
1:07:25 Pinealon, Epithalon, Discovery; Sleep & Cognitive Performance, Risks
1:18:17 Sponsor: Function
1:19:55 Pineal Age Deterioration, Epithalon, Eye Health
1:29:38 Thymus, Age Shrinkage; Thymosin Alpha-1, Immune Function
1:38:13 TB-500; Pet Health; Thymic Peptide Doses, Thymulin, Zinc
1:49:13 Sponsor: LMNT
1:50:33 GHK-Cu (Copper GHK), Collagen
1:55:32 Illness Recovery, Thymic Score, Tool: Blood Test & Immune Cell Counts
2:04:01 Growth Hormone Secretagogues, Age Decline, Cancer Risk, Insulin
2:15:36 GHK-Cu, Topical Cream, Red Light Therapy
2:20:25 GLPs, Discovery, Physical & Cognitive Long-Term Effects, Fertility
2:33:53 Retatrutide; Drug Patents & Nomenclature
2:39:03 Peptides: Women Reproductive Disorders; TBI, Neurologic Effect; Safe Sources
2:45:34 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow, Reviews & Feedback, Sponsors, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter
Includes paid partnerships.
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Pendulum swing from online to offline is going to be MASSIVE. If you don’t feel the momentum, I’m sorry I don’t have time to explain.
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David · Year Unplugged retweeted
I am one of the most pro-technology people you will find on any sort of spirituality-adjacent corner of twitter, but I do genuinely believe that we are in a terrible middle-place, where we are almost at tools and interfaces which will elevate our experience of the world rather than detract from it - but we are not quite there.
As it stands, 20 seconds of present silence in a forest is probably time better spent than 10 hours on any mainstream social media platform. This is really bad! We shouldn't be allowing ourselves to be hijacked by these things!
Catallaxy does *not* necessitate horrible addictions, and the existence of a thing doesn't necessitate our enablement of it. We can literally just choose to build better communications tools. I am actively working on it. While we wait, though, perhaps consider deleting any platform which suggests "short form video" as a valuable way to spend your time.
As it stands, 20 seconds of present silence in a forest is probably time better spent than 10 hours on any mainstream social media platform. This is really bad! We shouldn't be allowing ourselves to be hijacked by these things!
Catallaxy does *not* necessitate horrible addictions, and the existence of a thing doesn't necessitate our enablement of it. We can literally just choose to build better communications tools. I am actively working on it. While we wait, though, perhaps consider deleting any platform which suggests "short form video" as a valuable way to spend your time.
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Wake up
The average kid gets 33x more screen time per week than Snapchat’s founder allows his own kids
The average kid gets 33x more screen time per week than Snapchat’s founder allows his own kids
Parents ditch kids' phones as screen-free childhood movement spreads across U.S. axios.com/2026/05/15/scr…
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You know things have gone way too far when the literal father of the iPod is saying this
“The future of technology shouldn’t just be more engagement. It should help us be more human.”
Banger
“The future of technology shouldn’t just be more engagement. It should help us be more human.”
Banger
Spotted in the NYC subway. “Zero screen time.” An iPod Shuffle ad in 2026.
When we built the iPod, the goal was the technology disappeared and you could have your music wherever you were. 1,000 songs in your pocket.
Now we’re living through a moment where people are actively connect from the infinite feed, algos, and constant notifications. That doesn’t mean technology is bad. It means the best technology understands when to step back.
Not every problem needs another screen, another menu, or another layer of complexity. Constraints create freedom (read: @DavidEpstein new book Inside the Box). And often removing features creates a better product than adding them.
The future of technology shouldn’t just be more engagement. It should help us be more human.
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