Somewhere along the way, we forgot how to sit with our thoughts. Not just silence- but real thoughts. Ones with edges, weight and conclusions. Now the moment something feels slow or unexciting, our hands scroll and refresh. Not even a thirty-minute TV show can hold most of our attention without the simultaneous pull of Instagram.
We are overstimulated, under reflective, and starving for meaning. Over the last few months, I started noticing just how reflexive my social media addiction had become- the way my thumb would return to Tik Tok twelve seconds after closing it. Looking for what? Dopamine? Novelty? Escape? That’s when I realized, I hadn’t just lost my attention span. I had lost my brain to the Internet.
We’ve lost the ability to sit with thought- our own, or anyone else’s- because we live inside a dopamine machine that trains us to crave quick hits of stimulation instead of deep satisfaction. And because the way we begin our day- grabbing our phones first thing, letting thousands of voices, opinions and blue light flood our brains, we set the tone for how we seek dopamine for the rest of the day. We live in loops of wanting, instead of states of being. Maybe because were scared to just be? Scared to hear our own thoughts?
As we move into 2026 and new goals feel top of mind, I remembered something both uncomfortable and hopeful: attention can be reclaimed. It always goes where we choose. A hard pill to swallow, because this means the internet didn’t take my brain- I gave it away. But, it also means I can take it back.
And the reason I want it back is simple: I want to change my life. I want to become the person I set out to be every January 1st. As perfectly said in 101 Essays That’ll Change The Way You Think- the fastest way to change your life, means changing how you think- and to change how you think, you have to change what you consume. With an attention span of three seconds, I can tell you i’m not learning anything all that meaningful.
Most of us live the same daily loop: wake up, work, cook, maybe see a friend, maybe get a workout in- and whatever time is left gets handed to “self care” or rotting. I am sick of rotting unintentionally. I am sick of post doom scroll guilt. I am sick of not learning or evolving.
So, this month, I tried replacing the chase. This is everything I chose instead of doomscrolling- the inputs that began to change how I think, learn and grow.
Physically reading: Just Kids by Patti Smith- her love letter to NYC, to authentic creation, and to her relationship with photographer and artist Robert Mapplethorpe. If you are looking for creative inspiration- start here.
Audibly reading: Tom Lake by Ann Patchet, performed by Meryl Steep. A warm story about a mother recounting a long- ago summer romance with a future famous actor to her daughters. A fun story that makes you think about the lives we imagine vs the lives we choose. I love audiobooks for moments when my hands are busy but my mind is free- cleaning, walking, cooking.
Substack: It quickly became my favorite form of social media- but instead of feeling doom, comparison and noise after scrolling, I feel inspired, motivated, and informed. I’ll continue to repost some of my latest reads here.
Pinterest: My visual thinking space- for outfit inspiration, home design, and mood boards for my life, work and future.
Journaling: Specifically scripting and Morning Pages from The Artist’s Way. Scripting is the practice of writing your desired future in the present tense, training your brain to expect and move toward the life you want. Morning pages are three handwritten, stream-of-consciousness pages written first thing in the morning to clear mental noise, access creativity, and reconnect you to your inner voice before the world can influence your thoughts.
No phone walks
Building my journal ecosystem (a whole separate post coming)
Listening to Dr. Arthur Brooks’ lecture on The Art and Science of Happiness and how phones train us out of complex thinking- and therefore out of lasting happiness. This speech is what set me down the path of getting off my phone in the morning and breaking the doom scroll cycle.
To be Magnetic Program: A manifestation and self-reprogramming program created by Lacy Phillips that’s based on changing your subconscious beliefs- not just your mindset- through techniques like deep imaginings, neural re-patterning, and parts work, so you’re no longer manifesting from fear, lack, or old trauma, but from self-worth and alignment.
The way you change your life is not by changing your circumstances, it’s by changing how you think. And the way you change how you think, is by changing what you allow to shape your attention. We like to believe happiness is something we find. But it is something we train- quietly, daily and on purpose.
loved it, thank you :)
Claire, love your take and recommendations. Thanks.