At some point, not sure when exactly happened. I realized that my desire to absorb a tsunami of information doesn’t really contribute to healthy brain activity. It was the opposite. The more content I was trying to cramp in my already weary mind. The more my thinking got paralyzed.
The daily habits we hold are often a gut-wrenching ordeal for our health, certainly. But for our brains, too.
Our so-called unconscious actions are not only the primary cause that leads to adding abnormal weight to our bodies. But they also influence the way we think.
After all, the size and capacity of the human brain is limited.
Why do we then take every opportunity present to bathe in the unlimited waters? The limitless online world.
Instead of pausing. We prefer more.
And that’s just part of the problem.
In this article. We’re discussing the 7 worst habits for your brain.
The daily activities we engage in that have a negative impact on our cognition and therefore sabotage the way we think.
What Type of Habits Damage Your Brain?
Well-known habits that lead to devastating outcomes are:
- Sleepwalking to the fridge and devouring a chocolate cake pudding leads to poor health.
- Uncontrollable desire to walk around the never-ending aisles of online products leads to poor wealth.
- Urge triggered by a tag team of notifications to click on every clickable element on your phone leads to poor mental health.
But as cringy advertisers usually say, “Hey, there is MORE!”
The daily activities that are draining our mental batteries. Draining our retirement money. And filling our bodies with junk, are not the only ones that accompany us toward the cliff of self-hurt.
There are also daily habits that work in the background. They often go unnoticed by your “this sucks and it should be avoided” radar, which leads to devastating effects on your brain health.
Or more precisely, there are activities that look unharmful but are quite damaging to our most precious organ – the brain.
If we take the liberty of categorizing them. The habits that are considered worst for the brain fall into, actually, only one category: our relationship and use of technology – you will see why below.
To return to the original question: What type of habits damage your brain?
The answer is this:
Our modern life habits and more prominently our technology habits are the true destructors or brain cells that negatively influence our cognitive health.
What Habits Drain Your Energy?
Amidst the rapid rise of things you own that give you access to the infinitive world of information – your phone, your tablet, your laptop, your car dashboard, your smart TV, and now even a smartwatch that’s just a glimpse away. You have to ask yourself at some point. Who is leading?
Is it supposedly you? The person who we assume is the person in the control room of your body. Or you give it away. You entirely surrender the control of your existence to the gadgets that you presumably bought to aid you in your quest to conquer the natural limits of your body.
New technologies give access to massive data sets. Unlimited number of ways to have fun. And yet, we are not entirely satisfied.
And even more importantly. We are not in full control of what to look at.
Raise a hand if your intention to check something “for just 2 minutes” led you deep into the online dark labyrinth. No, just because someone mentioned the word decoration reminded you that you should buy a new lamp is not an excuse to throw yourself in the ocean of things. Also, you lose points if you are “reading” an article on your laptop while listening to a podcast and while also scrolling through social media posts on your phone.
It’s no wonder we feel overwhelmed. Mentally crushed after staring at a screen.
Consuming large amounts of soggy saturated fat are well known that hurt us.
But consuming large quantities of “online stuff” is not doing us a favor, either. We think we are better informed. But we are mentally exhausted.
So, the seven worst habits for your brain you’ll see below have a lot to do with how we use technology.
Hopefully, after reading this. I’ll convince you that not buying a smartwatch. Leaving your phone for a while. Reading a book instead of scrolling on your phone every possible minute. Are all better alternative activities to your desire to “just checking this additional thing”.
The 7 Worst Habits For Your Brain:
1. Urge to Check Stuff That Leads To Information Overload
I’m practically outsourcing my thinking and remembering stuff to Google. Since I have – you, too – access to the world’s information by just pressing a button. I no longer have to remember the year my country was founded and which exact khan was the founder. Not that I have to. But hey, these facts are part of my DNA.
I can just type on my phone without even trying to type correct words and phrases – the autocorrect will do that. Then, hit get and receive my information on a silver platter.
Type. Click. Boom. You are the smartness person in the room.
But being able to Google stuff is both a blessing and a neurological curse.
We interact with our phones in a completely different way than with things that have limitations.
The most recent example I have to offer you – you probably noticed it too if you are a parent. Is how my kid – and kids in general, from what I’ve noticed – interacts with a smart device.
It rarely happens, but when I give my son my phone. He is never satisfied. Not because there are few things he can do with the device. But because there are plenty. He knows there is more. That there is something potentially better than what he’s watching right now. So, he never remains present on a YouTube video for more than 15 seconds. It’s like I’m doing an experiment indoors and bearing the consequences.
He starts a video about stuff he’s interested in. But since there are other recommendations. I think, his mind goes something like this: “Hey, this video that just appeared is probably better than the one you are watching right now, you dummy. Go click the button and watch the other video before daddy takes this portal to entertainment heaven away…”
But the next video leads to the next, which leads to the next. Finally, he’s in worst condition than before he got the phone.
It’s not only that we are assaulted with facts, rumors, and all other types of persuasiveness online pulling us in different directions. It is, we, knowing that there is something potentially better than what we’re doing/reading right now. We’re in a constant FOMO state. Never focusing on one thing. Simply hurrying to move to the next.
How To Overcome This Bad Habit?
Two main things:
- Clearly define what you want: Before unlocking your phone and teleporting to the crowded online world. State exactly what you want to do. Having a clearly defined goal will prevent you from randomly checking everything that comes your way. For example, if you want to find the location of a new restaurant. Go online and find it. Then exit. Dismiss every distraction trying to pull you deeper into the rabbit hole.
- Choose things with limitations: Reading a physical book is quite a different experience from reading on an electronic device. Oftentimes, when reading on my phone and the title becomes a bit weary. A bit confusing. My mind immediately wants to jump to something else. After all, it’s an option. I just have to press a button. Conversely, if I’m holding a book and my phone is too far. I have to stick with my book. There is no option for me to distract myself. So, I concentrate. It turns out that fewer options lead to a better experience. There is a whole book about this phenomenon: The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz. When I’m reading a physical book my mind wants to understand and make progress. When I’m reading on my device my mind focuses on what else I can read.
2. Negative Thinking
The second habit that preconditions the brain toward a state of destruction is our tendency to register negative stimuli more readily.
Hey there, sorry to interrupt…
Since you’ve come this far, it seems that you are passionate about pursuing depth over distraction. I am too! And while what I’m about to say next probably won’t quite excite you, I have to say it…
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- Marchant, Natalie L. and Howard, Robert J. ‘Cognitive Debt and Alzheimer’s Disease’. 1 Jan. 2015 : 755 – 770. On the web: https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad141515
- Miller, Earl K., Multitasking: Why Your Brain Can’t Do It and What You Should Do About It. On the web: https://radius.mit.edu/programs/multitasking-why-your-brain-cant-do-it-and-what-you-should-do-about-it
- CDC, Early release of selected estimates based on data from the 2018 National Health Interview Survey, data tables for figures 7.1, 7.5. On the web: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/releases/released201905.htm#7a
- Mischel NA, Llewellyn-Smith IJ, Mueller PJ. Physical (in)activity-dependent structural plasticity in bulbospinal catecholaminergic neurons of rat rostral ventrolateral medulla. J Comp Neurol. On the web: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24114875/
- American Psychological Association, The American workforce faces compounding pressure. On the web: https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/work-well-being/compounding-pressure-2021
- Lawless MH, Harrison KA, Grandits GA, Eberly LE, Allen SS. Perceived stress and smoking-related behaviors and symptomatology in male and female smokers. Addict Behav. On the web: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4558262/
