All of us struggle with the gift/curse of smartphones.  They allow us to connect with friends and loved ones and have, at our fingertips, the totality of the worlds knowledge.  They also have, algorithmically, addicted us to the most banal of connections, inflamed news headlines, influencers, ads for products we will never buy and, of course, pet videos. This addiction is powerful and has changed the way our brains work.  We all feel it, but also feel powerless to change our relationship with the phone.

This has particular resonance for us since many of our clients are children, all of whom have grown up in the digital age.  Phones are a part of their lives in ways we never could have envisioned.  Their mental health challenges are well documented, is there a connection?

Documentary filmmaker Andrew Feinstein contacted us with an idea for an experiment, he wanted us to measure how his brain changed after 30 days without his phone!

I must admit that I had little hope that a mere month without a phone would have a big impact on brain performance.  I told him as much but agreed to be part of his experiment.

We did a baseline assessment of his brain with a qEEG, a cognitive test and a test of variable attention, three ways of evaluating how he was doing, and got good, measurable data.  We did all three again after 30 days to see what, if anything, had changed. 

Not only did his data change but he experienced shifts in how he felt, his perspectives, on what was important in his life. It was a fascinating journey for him and we are so happy to have been a part of it. 

Parents, consider the impact on your child’s, still developing, brain.

Click the link below to watch what happened and please share it with anyone you think could benefit from his experience.

How 30 Days of NO PHONE Changed My Brain