I Tried Intermittent Fasting for Technology - Does it Really Work?

In this video, we'll explore the concept of 'intermittent fasting' applied to our digital lives—an approach aimed at promoting mindful and balanced usage of technology.

In an era where our connection to technology is constant, the need for establishing healthier habits becomes increasingly vital. We'll delve into the idea of 'intermittent fasting' for technology, a strategy that involves conscious periods of disconnection to promote mental well-being and a more balanced lifestyle.

Dr. K’s Guide to Mental Health explores Anxiety, Depression, ADHD, and Meditation

▼ Timestamps ▼
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01:50- How do we reintegrate technology?
05:10 - Dr. K tries intermittent fasting for technology
07:10 - Understand how many hours we have in a week
08:50 - Where does our time go?
10:00 - Restricting technology to 8 hours a day
11:45 - Working without technology
16:20 - The efficiency that comes after fasting technology
18:27 - How to make this happen for you
20:45 - What you can do to help with boredom
22:13 - Caveats of intermittent fasting for technology
23:50 - Things Dr. K struggled with
24:33 - How do I use technology in a healthy way?
26:20 - The solution for having no time

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DISCLAIMER

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All guests of Healthy Gamer are informed of the public, non-medical nature of the content and have expressly agreed to share their story.

#healthygamergg #technology #technologyaddict

[ShazyShaze]

I've been doing "boredom training, " as I call it. Whenever I'm bored and feel like whipping out my phone, I stop myself and just kind of sit in silence for a bit. It's certainly helped a bit, though I think I'm gonna give this tech fasting thing a go as well.

[Samuel_Perez]

The production quality in your videos has skyrocketed Dr. K!

[moshtradamus]

I always allow myself to "veg out" by telling myself I earned it through hard work; that I need to "decompress". This video got me thinking that my definition of "decompressing" may be self-sabotage or trying to reframe the negative aspects of zoning out by giving it a healthy definition. Really eye opening.

[joebailey]

My favorite thing about this is how it encourages you to be intentional about your technology use

[TheWiseFoxSpirit]

I've been trying to do that also. Try to prevent social media mostly until 5-6 pm and limit the use to 40-50 minutes for the evening. The best thing that happened is I'm not constantly thinking about random stuff during the day that I saw on social media or in a video and jumping into small rabbit hole.

[Raphael_lite]

Here's a few timestamps and notes I took for myself:

1:50 The challenge of reintegrating technology
4:19 Intermittent Fasting for Technology (Dr K's experiment: 8 hour tech window, 10 am - 6 pm)
7:10 Weekly hours breakdown (30 + hours of free time, often spent on mindless screen use)

11:45 Working without technology (organize your time and priorities on paper to promote focus and mindfulness)
14:18 Day of work with IFT (print things out to start work earlier, focused work to make the most of your tech window)
16:44 Result: free time gained by working more efficiently

18:38 First principle: plan your day (how to spend your limited screen time)
19:35 Second principle: change your relationship to boredom (welcome boredom and stop fighting it, remember the time tradeoff)
22:18 Caveats (set specific rules and exceptions, customize your IF to fit your responsabilities)
24:28 Summary

[samiurkhan]

A warning on setting time limits: time limits end up becoming a wall that people tend to just try to jump over. This is especially poignant for people who are alone/isolated. As an alternative to time limits, I would re-emphasize your point at the 13 minute mark that we need to purposefully approach technology to benefit a clear set of healthy goals.

I also had an issue with too much technology. Because of WFH I would habitually turn on the computer for email and then start wasting time. I realized that I was on autopilot instead of using things near me that would explicitly benefit me. I tried fasting on computers too but it ended up not working because I don't think I, in my head, bought into it. When the time limit approached, I wouldn't respect the limit. It felt like an unnecessary wall so I would just...jump over it? I realized there that adding a wall/limit wasn't the way to go. Instead, I needed to not even approach the wall in the first place.

So I took a step back and asked: where do I need to go? and how do I get there? I set goals for where I wanted to be in the future (better engineer and cook) and would only use something if it explicitly benefited me (in other words, I would be the pilot/captain of my ship instead of autopiloting). I realized information is a diet and I committed to only consume the information that would improve my health and life. For engineering, I would only use the tools that would help me there (including a computer if I needed to write something). I didn't put any time limit because we need to avoid having a wall (and sometimes, 8 hrs isnt enough to build some programs/models). For cooking, I would only use a computer if I needed to search for something (like a recipe on Google). For video games, I would only play video games as a way to decompress and connect with friends instead of going on autopilot (and seeing many hours of the day go by).

[DalCecilRuno]

The issue comes when you are a person with a disability and you rely on tech to do most things, like reading, writing, working… I’m blind and tablet dependent. So I started tracking my time and being more intentional about my use of social media. For real, writing stuff on physical paper and reading physical books is something I can’t do. So, I’m developing more discipline and using tech for my work, not tech using me for nothing.

[XYNTEN]

I felt like Dr. K forgot for a bit that most of people don't make their own hours at work, and even if you do nothing you sort of tied to your place, possibly having to pretend to work cause looking non-busy will get you loaded with more work for no personal benefit.

[dawidow]

Doctor K has literally changed my life thank you so much Dr K

[echillykahlil]

This video makes me so happy bro, you sound so incredibly excited! It really makes me smile. In my research, intermittent fasting is actually the healthiest fasting method, and I hadn't even thought of using it for tech. I'm gonna do this, my mishap these last 6 months has been a lack of a schedule because I don't have a place for my laptop to sit open to guide me, so I think this might challenge me to solve the problem differently. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying your time outside and getting some walks in, thanks a lot man

[soniaesquivel]

felt super proud of myself when I realized Dr K was making a video about something I had been practicing for over 2 years now 😌 I preach this to everyone and now I am sending this video to everyone as supporting evidence

[robertwinslade]

As someone definitely addicted to my phone I have found this really helps! I semi regularly enforce tech fasting by deliberately not bringing any chargers for my devices whenever I go on holiday; one charge of the device to last the entire trip; longest trip I was able to sustain this for was a month.

[ellierigby]

Nice to see the jump in production, but also kinda miss the more off the cuff feeling of the straight from twitch videos. I found the q+a sessions live with viewers so helpful.

[jahinkolin]

i loved the short vertical vlog - WE NEED MORE OF STUFF LIKE THAT!!!

[Caedmon-gyum]

Thank you for this piece of advice. As a 23 year old man I find time consistently slipping away from me without feeling like I'm getting anything accomplished, I will absolutely try this.

[lovebaltazar]

I can't stress enough how important these technology videos are, I hope they get archived for future generations

[AUGUSTINEMINH]

The video quality has slowly improved over the years: more natural and calm background, higher resolution camera, high quality mic, and now better lighting and color grading. You have done a great job!

[jarrit_os]

I really appreciate his insistence on thinking about it instead of applying the same hard fast rule for everyone. I work in the trades and already spend plenty of time away from a screen but I could definitely work on managing my time better when I am home or on my days off.

[kylespevak]

I used to do the hour of the generous sea in the morning thing as a way to decompress before having to do what I had to do but I found that it actually created more stress. What I like to do now is pretty much work immediately after I get out of bed. I find that I can get hours of work done before my brain fully wakes up so time goes a lot quicker and then I end up having the rest of the day to use my more active brain power towards activities and things that interest me