#133: Digital Addiction: Why It Hurts You & How to Beat It
Pending! Stay tuned.
Pending! Stay tuned.
Technology certainly has benefits, but there are dangers as well. Sadly, our misuse of technology is causing us to be more depressed, more anxious, less happy, and less healthy than ever before.
Perhaps worst of all, it destroys our ability to heal, grow, and build healthy relationships. In this episode, we dive into that with my guest, Andrew Laubacher, plus:
Alarming data on how misusing tech is hurting us, especially young people
How to build an intentional relationship with technology
A novel yet simple solution to help you find freedom from digital addiction
Coming Soon: 30-Day Tech Detox Challenge via Hallow
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TRANSCRIPT
Transcript produced by artificial intelligence. Please pardon any errors!
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Joey: [00:00:00] How big is this problem?
Andrew: There was a study that just came out actually that surveyed teenagers and around 75 percent of them shared that they wish TOK never existed. I don't know anyone so far I've spoken to that's like, Hey, I want to be spending more time on my phone. Founders of Google and Instagram, Facebook, they don't give these products to their children.
Joey: What would you say to someone like that? Who's like, man, like I can't even consider giving up my smartphone. Like I live on the thing and I get, I'm so productive on it.
Andrew: When we talk about. Being moderate with our devices. It's like nurses going to high schools, telling students to moderate ecstasy. It's just, it's just not possible.
Joey: Welcome to the restored podcast. I'm Joey Panarelli. If you come from a divorce or broken family, this show is for you. We help you heal your brokenness, navigate the challenges and build healthy relationships so you can break that cycle. And build a better life. My guest today is Andrew Laubacher. Andrew is the executive director of Humanality, a movement, helping people overcome digital addiction and reclaim their humanity with degrees in theology and philosophy and a decade of experience as a [00:01:00] touring musician, he offers a unique global perspective on human connection as a national board certified health and wellness coach and personal trainer.
Andrew blends his expertise and wellbeing with Humanality's mission for humanity. Promoting balance technology use his innovative approach, empowers people to reconnect with authentic human experiences in the digital age. I'm really excited to have Andrew on the show. As you guys know, technology certainly has benefits, but there are dangers as well.
Sadly, our misuse of technology is causing us to be more depressed, more anxious. Less happy, less healthy than ever before. And perhaps worst of all, it's really destroying our ability to heal, grow, and build healthy relationships. And so in this episode, Andrew and I dive into that. Uh, he, we talk about the alarming data on how misusing tech is hurting us, especially young people, how tech addiction is perhaps the biggest barrier to achieving great hard things.
How to build an intentional relationship with technology is some awesome advice on that. And finally, he offers a novel yet simple solution to help you find freedom from. Digital [00:02:00] addiction. So if you have a smartphone or you watch screens, maybe more than you'd like, this episode is for you. Quick note. I apologize for the background noise due to a canceled flight.
Andrew actually had to speak with us from the Denver airport in the Delta airlines lounge. But I'm really glad that he did. Here's our chat. Welcome to show, man. So good to have you here.
Andrew: Hey, honored to be here. Thanks so much.
Joey: I'm going to talk about your apostolate, the work that you're doing. I, you know, it was checking out your website, obviously, and definitely impressed by what you're doing and just how well researched it is.
And just how, um, big of a problem this is. It's such a huge issue that we're all facing. And so I'm really excited to dive into the conversation where people aren't aware. Um, what problem are you guys trying to solve exactly?
Andrew: Yeah. So humanality exists to help people discover freedom through an intentional relationship with technology.
So. We are really helping people be more fully human and especially in regards to our phones and devices and TVs and tablets and, you know, the addiction regarding our phones and social media and gaming and, you know, pornography. We're, we're [00:03:00] addressing that problem, which is like the elephant in the room, you know, but the elephant's really in our pockets.
And it's affecting all of us in many different ways, but at this point in our society, we're really helping people get their lives back and get their time back.
Joey: So good. It's amazing. I know we'll get into this a little bit, but I've heard stories of people when they actually take a break from technology, they, yeah, like what comes of it.
So we'll get into that in a little bit. But I wanted to ask you the kind of maybe obvious question of why do you care about this? Like, you're a talented guy. You could be doing a lot of things. Like, why this?
Andrew: Yeah. At least in my own experience, I am a millennial, so I had half of my life, you know, without a phone and then kind of half my life with the phone and all the social media platforms.
And yeah, I got a, I got a smartphone in college 2010 and got on every, you know, social media platform. I mean, I was on my space and AOL and some messaging and, you know, all the early kind of things like that. You know, I had the razor dude and I thought it was like the coolest. Kid ever, but you know, as all these different platforms came out, I began to experience the addiction to all of [00:04:00] myself.
So just the comparison, the waste of time, the lust, and that just began to get just progressively worse in my life. I've been a musician pretty much most of my life. That's been my career the last 10 years. So playing music at, you know, conferences and retreats and had a band that traveled around the world playing music.
I was playing the game, you know, sharing all the. Places and people and flights and cool trips and I just noticed my own addiction to feeling good Getting more likes and yeah by 2018. I say I was addicted to all the platforms snapchat Instagram Facebook Twitter YouTube and I personally was just getting tired of the struggle with lust and Comparison and waste of time and just feeling lesser like I should be in this different place Place at this stage of my life, you know or all my friends getting married off, you know and finding their person and I'm not so anyway 2018 I decided to delete all my social media and go to a flip phone and my record label and Management at the time was like that's a [00:05:00] horrible idea You know, like how are you gonna get gigs and events and I was like, dude, this stuff just is not making me happy And I deleted all of it, and that year, God took me all over the world, North America, all over Canada, South America, Europe, Jerusalem, all without social media, all with a flip phone, and it was just this moment of real freedom, like my relationships improved, I got my time back, my purity improved.
I was beginning to experience like surprises about things, you know, like about stuff happening in friends lives. They're like, Oh my gosh, I found out they had a baby, you know, and I didn't know. And, uh, we'll get to do this thing called like catching up with people, you know, like in person, you know? So, so anyway, that's, that's kind of where this all started for me.
Um, and I just noticed even while I was on the road, playing music, you know. In front of all these people, I saw the mental health epidemic unfolding before my eyes, and I began to be very passionate about healing. I've always been fascinated with [00:06:00] healing, pretty much since I was 21. Um, so for me, I wanted to help people.
And I just felt like music wasn't enough. Like when I was on stage playing, like I wanted more. And so I started studying nutrition and health and wellness and longevity and mental health and started to find You know, and this intersection with technology, I just began to see more and more. We're getting sicker and sicker as a society, almost, you know, on every on every front.
And I wanted to help people heal. And I noticed that technology was really affecting us in many different ways. So there's a lot more to the story, but that's kind of how I got interested in these topics. And to me, it really comes down to healing. How can I help, you know, people heal? I
Joey: love that. One of the things I love about your mission is that It gets to the root of so many other problems.
And I think that for so long in our culture, we've just been treating symptoms. And now you're, especially with this, like that's what we try to do here as well. You're going to the root. Talk about that.
Andrew: Yeah. Let me hit you first with just a little bit of the data. I'm kind of a [00:07:00] nerd. Um, so I'm going to hit you with the slew of stuff.
This is going to be a little overwhelming, but it's going to get to, this is obviously describing maybe the symptomology and then I can kind of share some Um, you know, changes we're looking to present to the world. Uh, children aged eight to 12 in the United States spend an average of four to six hours a day watching or using screens while teens spend up to nine hours a day on screens.
This is common sense media. That was 2019. So that number is actually even higher. Um, excessive screen time is associated with a 30 percent higher risk of anxiety, depression in adults. A study of 4, 520 adolescents found that those who spent more than seven hours a day on screens were twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression and anxiety as those who use screens for an hour a day.
A 2021 study found that 210 million people worldwide suffer from social media addiction. Research shows that limiting social media to 30 minutes a day can lead to significant improvement in well being. I mean, there's an incredible amount of [00:08:00] information on, on gaming. Right now, in regards to pornography, 28, 258 users are watching pornography every second.
A study found that 64 percent of young adults aged 13 to 24 actively seek out pornography weekly or more. Um, and here's kind of a synthesis analysis. A study of 2, 587 adults found that problematic internet use, including social media, gaming, and pornography was associated with poor mental health, increased suicidal ideation, and decreased physical activity.
So, that's just some of the data. Obviously, this book by Jonathan Haidt called The Anxious Generation has really been blowing up lately. You know, since the last 10 years, anxiety and depression have skyrocketed amongst teen girls and boys. 10 to 14 year old girls have experienced a quadrupling in, uh, self harm, directly correlating to this moment when the smartphone came out and the front facing screen.
So these are a lot of different problems, right? I don't think the technology piece is the answer to all of them. I'd say it's a [00:09:00] huge contributing factor, and all the data is pointing to that the more you're on these things, the worse mental health outcomes you experience. So our idea is, Hey, how can we help people get more human interaction, more face to face in person interaction, get outside, get sunlight, get moving and actually do this thing together, right?
Here's the bread and butter of humanality. This is a movement. So it's people doing this together right now. We're at, you know, six universities, over 300 students that are essentially giving up their smartphones and taking on dumb phones to be a part of this movement. And when you realize there's people that want to do this together, that's the game changer.
Um, there was a study that just came out and actually that surveyed teenagers and around 75 percent of them shared that they wish Instagram and tech talk never existed. So we're actually giving young people the opportunity to opt out of this social contagion of. This need to belong via social media platforms and allowing them to reintegrate their friendships, their purity, [00:10:00] get their time back.
And it's already been incredible. We're only in our second year as an organization, but the testimonies coming in are just amazing.
Joey: Wow, man. So good. And how big is this problem? Would you say like, obviously all those. Stats show the seriousness of it and mind blowing, honestly. We'll, we'll make sure to link all that in the show notes, but my goodness.
Um, how big is this problem?
Andrew: I mean, it's definitely universal. So there's 2 billion people on the planet that have smartphones. I don't know anyone so far. I've spoken to that's like, Hey, I want to be spending more time on my phone. I also have never heard anyone after they scroll Instagram for like four hours, be like, wow, my life is incredible.
Everything is so great in the world. And I'm just so looking forward to this day. You know, I mean, I just, those aren't the things that people experience. And we have to understand that these different tech You know, gurus, different founders of Google and Instagram, Facebook, they don't give these products to their children.
So Steve jobs was interviewed in a 2010 interview. I was asked, how are your kids enjoying the new iPad? [00:11:00] He said, we don't give it to them. We limit their technology. And here's the also funny part. All these guys are Schmidt from Google. Mark Zuckerberg, Kevin Tok, all these guys went to Waldorf schools, which are zero to low technology schools.
So, and that's where they send their kids as well. So, you kind of know something's off when the guys creating these products aren't giving it to their children. And they themselves created these products from a place of growing up without them. So, we're really helping people. One, understand that these platforms are addictive.
It's actually behavioral addiction. Um, and we don't use that word flippantly, right? It's actually, uh, dopaminergic neurological wiring that's happening. And they've essentially exploited the human brain in such a way that we constantly feel that pull, right? The average American is checking their device, just looking about 352 times a day, that's almost every two minutes and 45 seconds.
Uh, some other numbers are even worse. Um, so [00:12:00] there's a reason you can't stop checking, right? Two major mechanisms they're using social approval and intermittent positive feedback. So a lot of these companies went to the slot machines of Las Vegas and actually, you know, looked at how they utilized intermittent positive feedback to create You know, greater dopamine responses to keep you coming back for more.
So that's your Instagram, your Facebook, your, you know, Snapchat, Tik TOK, but then even just the idea of communication, I mean, pretty much everyone constantly is checking email, text, phone calls. I mean, there's never a point where it disconnected. So. Once we help create boundaries once we help educate people on how these technologies are addictive and actually this is their attention you kind of build up this rebellious anger of like you know what when i don't like being used.
And i don't like my time being monetized for money i mean really your engagement and attention into these platforms is what's being monetized are not free at they're not free actually [00:13:00] cost you a lot. If your screen time here's, here's my thing. My screen time was average five hours and 30 minutes with no social media.
I was just looking at the weather channel app, you know what I mean? Just to distract myself, you know what I mean? And my Delta app, just see how many points I had five and a half hours times, seven days a week, you know, times 365 days a year times the next 20 years. It came up to, you know, over four and a half years of my life are going to be spent on the screen.
Now, if your average American is on a screen seven to nine hours a day, I mean, we're talking over ten years of your life, you're going to look back, and it's going to be spent on the screen. And I remember looking at that number, and just not wanting to entertain that reality. I wanted to choose a different path.
And That's really what we're inviting people into a new way of living while utilizing the good of technology. So we're not anti smartphone, we're not anti technology, I'm speaking to you on a computer in the Delta Club in Wi Fi, you know. But we have to understand that this didn't just happen, like this, this [00:14:00] wasn't just by chance, this is, this is by design.
And, um, there's many different physiological, social, emotional, spiritual implications that, um, humanality is really addressing as a whole.
Joey: So good. So much I want to comment on, but one of the things you made me think of is in one of our past episodes we had Dr. John Bishop on and he, um, was talking about how there's really three, um, somewhat recent revolutions that have really, in some ways, damaged the human person.
There's been some good things that have come out of them, but they've damaged the human person. They've hurt our ability to love and hurt like families and. And he talked about obviously industrial revolution, how that kind of took, you know, men and some women away from their families and away from like a farming lifestyle.
Then from there came the sexual revolution, of course, which had so many devastating effects on love, on marriage, you know, relationships, all that. And then finally, the one he pointed to, which I don't think is talked about enough. That's why I like the work that you're doing is the digital revolution. How that's like just upended so much of our culture and cause so many problems.
And so I love that you guys are talking about this. [00:15:00] I also, I was thinking about how you said that, you know, all these guys who've created these platforms and who are very successful businessmen are not, you know, doing the things that they're trying to get us to do. It's fascinating. I remember hearing from James Clear, the author of atomic habits.
He was in one of his like emails. I get this, he was talking about how, you know, a lot of people have their best ideas in the shower. And he's like, for a lot of people, that's the only time they're away from their screen. So it's like, it's amazing what your brain can do and how like productive you can be when you're away from it.
And the final thing I was going to say is I remember, um, studying in Austria, you know, going to Franciscan university, going over to Austria. And for anyone who's not familiar, we have this awesome study abroad program. where we go for like, you know, semester three, four months. And we're literally there on this, like in the foothills of the Alps and at this old Carthusian monastery that's been converted into a hotel.
And it's just like 180 of us. And, um, now it's a little bit different, but back in the day, we didn't have any smartphones. And it was like, you maybe had it done for maybe, and that was it. And so obviously we're using our laptops and computers to get schoolwork done. But then when we would [00:16:00] travel, we had nothing.
And it was so, so freeing. Like some of the most peaceful, happiest times in my life were there. And then my time in Italy. And so, yeah, I, I've tasted it and it's so good. And I think like so many people feel that, uh, this is just the way our culture is. And we can't really overcome it. What would you say to someone like that?
Who's like, man, like I can't even consider giving up my smartphone. Like I live on the thing and I get, I'm so productive on it. Like, what would you say to that objection?
Andrew: Yeah, so many things. But, um, I was just thinking briefly, Cal Newport in his book, digital minimalism says that we weren't wired to be constantly wired.
Like there's just not how we were designed. Um, and just, To your point about the shower, like we don't really have any space away from these platforms, uh, and it is affecting our capacity to think, to reflect, to be creative. Actually, boredom is one of the most incredible places that you can begin to be creative.
And I think there's a creativity crisis in our culture right now. [00:17:00] So yeah, to the people that are so addicted, most people are willing to admit they're totally addicted. So I've haven't met anyone. That's like, you know what? My smartphone is so amazing. It's doing everything. I don't actually struggle with being on it at all.
I have perfect control of it. I mean, I actually haven't spoken to one person that's ever said that. If that is the case, and, you know, maybe they're, you know, convinced that, uh, this is the only way forward, I would just say, you know, really ask the question, like, is this the best way you could, you know, spend your time because while there is incredible, like apps like Lyft, like a random person can come pick you up and take it, like, that's an incredible technology.
Um, I know most people aren't just using, you know, the phones for these incredible tools. Uh, they're also getting caught up, you know, scrolling on. On YouTube and Instagram and Facebook and Snapchat and Twitter. So again, it's very difficult because the, the tool, the phone has been so mixed with incredible tools.
Most of our society now doesn't even have menus at a restaurant, [00:18:00] right? You have to use a QR code where we're actually, it's getting very difficult to live without these platforms. So here's the only difference. It's very difficult to talk about the moderation conversation again, because this tool is largely addictive.
So. Abigail Schreier says, you know, and speaking of this moderation thing, this is what I just, I hear a lot of like, well, just be moderate with your technology, you know, she says that when we talk about being moderate with our devices, it's like nurses going to high schools, telling students to moderate ecstasy.
It's just, it's just not possible. You know, you'd never give an alcoholic a beer and tell them to moderate it. The issue is. Is that we have these addictive things in our pockets in our hands at all times. It's literally an appendage now That we can't live without so it's not like you can really fully detox from the thing because you just need it at all times so yeah for most people I think the answer to the You know, productivity.
I don't, I don't think I can get off this thing. I mean, I would one just say, yes, it is incredibly productive. Um, but [00:19:00] maybe are there places with your relationship with your device and social media that you're finding are unhealthy or toxic? And I guarantee you, every person is going to say yes. So we're here to help.
How do we help get those toxic places with our relationship with our devices out and kind of get back to a more healthy place? And to be honest, I don't know. At this point with how toxic social media platforms are, if there is a healthy place. Now that's a hot take.
Joey: If you feel broken, understanding why is the first step to healing.
Our free mini course called Why You Feel Broken features five short videos by a trauma therapist answering key questions such as, what is trauma? How does it affect your body, your mind, your emotions, and your relationships? It'll help you diagnose what's wrong so you can begin to heal and build. a better life.
Get the free mini course at restored ministry. com slash broken, or just click the link in the show notes. Yeah, that totally makes sense. And I remember when we were in Indianapolis, when I met you for the first time, you showed me your dumb phone. I was the wise [00:20:00] phone or light phone. And, um, and it was kind of impressive actually how like, New looking they are, they're not the phones from the nineties or early 2000.
So I was impressed with that. But the few things I would throw out there, in addition to everything you just said, would be, you know, doubling down on what you said, if someone said, you know, saying that their phone makes them so productive and their life so easy and everything like that, which I think there's a lot of truth to it.
Um, but at what costs you said that really well, then the other thing is, is it the only way, like you said, you can do a lot of this stuff on your computer. And then what if, you know, you could actually be more productive. Without your phone, which I think, you know, you, you quoted, uh, Cal Newport and I forget the name of his new book, but it's, I think it's slow, slow productivity.
It's like that, that idea that, you know, anything great that you can produce in your life is going to come through a lot of like focused, deliberate work that, you know, doesn't involve distractions, maybe some healthy breaks,
Andrew: but
Joey: it's like, good luck. If your attention span is worse than a goldfish, like you're not going to be able to build anything great in your life.
And it's going to, there's going to be a [00:21:00] lot of other struggles that come from that.
Andrew: Yeah, no, I mean, it's kind of the whole funny thing I've been discovering that even when I deleted all my social media, I mean, I really actually felt withdrawal symptoms that first week and two weeks, like actually anxious, feeling left out the FOMO, the whole, the whole thing, you know, which again, they know, this is how we feel.
This is why young people can't get out of this. Um, they feel stuck, you know, cause all their friends are on it and when they get off of it alone or their parents are forcing them. Yeah, they feel very alone. Um, but yeah, county reports book is incredible because he goes through a list of, uh, you know, inventors, creators, businessmen, I mean, really anything worth building just takes like 20 plus years, you know, and right now this is what I'm calling the instification of everything.
So I think again, our habits and our day to day. Um, decisions really do impact our thinking and behavior. So in regards to our Instagram and Facebook and Tik TOK, like watching influencers and watching them share [00:22:00] every meal and everything they think and everything they do and every time they go to the bathroom and whatever, like.
This is warping our view of reality. Um, So the idea is, okay, I can get rich and famous instantly and go viral. Uh, this is what, like the number one thing young people want to be is an influencer. Like, that's very alarming to me. Um, because that isn't real life and it's mostly people projecting false illusions, you know, and this is like the part of the difficulty is like a lot of people are, you know, desiring to do so many good things.
You know, via the internet, via these different, you know, websites. Um, I think it's just missing the mark in so far as that you have to become obsessed with how many people are following you, you know, everything's about a reaction video to what this person said, we're, we're losing actually authentic friendships.
We're losing actually real in person communication. Uh, Dr. Cardoris talks about this in his book, digital madness. And Nicholas Carr talks about in his book, um, the shallows, how we're actually [00:23:00] losing our capacity for what's called spectrum or critical thinking. So these platforms are actually making us dumber, like our IQ is going down, but actually one of the main indicators of success.
In many different realms is actually creativity, and I would say our creativity is actually going along down along with that with our IQ. So my point being to really do anything fulfilling, uh, we're in a meaning crisis. We're in a loneliness epidemic. Uh, the surgeon general has shared. We're in a loneliness epidemic.
The surgeon general has shared that, you know, we need to have warning labels on our social media platforms.
Joey: Wow.
Andrew: Um, because this stuff is making us. Sick and really anything worth doing in life, I believe takes a really long time and it's slow and it's painful. Like even just building this organization, you know, it's like, this is an incredible undertaking that is not instant.
And it's probably going to take the next 40 years to really unpack for the world. What I want to unpack for the world. Um, And along with that, um, I think it's pretty [00:24:00] clear that at this point in time, the experiments gone horribly wrong. So, you know, 10 years ago, we didn't have this data, right? But now we do.
And it's like, well, what do we do moving forward? I don't think the influencer model, you know, creating a culture of consumption and obsession with self is healthy. And we're really interested in helping humans flourish. I'd say humanity is more of a wellness movement. Yeah. We actually don't even call ourselves a ministry.
We're actually just a movement for humans. So it doesn't matter if you're religious or where you land on the political spectrum, everyone is asking the question, how do I be more human? 90 percent of our time is now spent indoors with 10 percent of that time being outside. A hundred years ago, that was completely the opposite.
You know, we're not getting enough sunlight. We're not getting enough movement. Uh, we're eating highly ultra processed food. 60 percent of the American diet is ultra processed food. Almost 70 percent of our society is, you know, overweight or obese. These are a multiplicity of issues coming together that within our calling them villages at our universities, because [00:25:00] it's this idea of how do you get back to your local village?
Again, we were talking about that omnipresence idea. I can't really do much about all the wars around the world, but I can go help that person down the street that just like needs someone to say hello and maybe needs food. Or I can call that friend, you know, that I know is struggling and instead of just liking their picture, I actually, I think I could call them and actually check in and see how they're doing, you know.
There's people like literal neighbors next door. That need a hello, that need a hi. Like I've lived in a lot of different places and I'm sad to say I've barely known my neighbors. So with globalization, with all of its benefits and amazing attributes, again, it's making us lonelier than ever and unhappier than ever before.
And so really the things we're proposing in the club, which we can get into maybe our, uh, solutions that we're proposing are actually to help people heal physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally. I mean, it's the whole person and it's, and it's literally applicable to every human. Um, so that's, what's so exciting about.[00:26:00]
Um, our work and i'm also a national board certified health and wellness coach. So i'm very passionate about behavior change. I love you quoted the, uh, atomic habits. Um, but i'm very interested in virtue and i'm very interested in those questions, you know, like what does it mean to be happy? What does it mean to live a life worth living?
So anyway, those are some of the things I'm, I'm interested in.
Joey: So good, man. I love that. Yeah. Let's get into the solution. Um, for you, I'm just curious if you'd add anything about like young people who come from broken families in particular. I know we've talked a lot about kind of where technology leads us when it comes to like anxiety, depression, tension, span, all those different things that we talked about.
What do you think is driving at least for these young people from broken families, their use of technology as an escape?
Andrew: Yes, there is a 20 percent increase in low income communities on all platforms and all gaming platforms. So yeah, single mom, three kids. I mean, the, you know, the phone and tech is, is a pacifier, you know, and it's hard to blame these.
You know, families that are having to, you know, [00:27:00] to do this, but man, I mean, I pretty much lived my life in airports and it is wild when you walk around how many young, young kids are just glued to a screen, you know, and there's an incredible amount of data showing that this is affecting their, their hardware, right?
Their, their brains, their communication skills, their emotional recognition skills. So it definitely is affecting younger populations, especially low income families. Uh, More and it's a problem. I mean, it's actually creating these bigger disparities because the more wasted time they experience on these devices, the less they're engaging reality, the less they're building skill sets, the less they're, you know, able to engage in their schoolwork and actually finish, you know, homework and projects.
So it's a real issue. And the whole idea that, you know, every kid needs technology in a phone or iPad, you know, to be successful in this day and age, it's a complete lie. I mean, Jonathan Hyde's been talking about this. Yeah, again, Dr. Cardares, Anna Lemke, her book, Dopamination. I mean, there's a slew of PhDs, MDs, [00:28:00] um, that are sounding the alarm that, you know, the idea that every kid needs to have an iPad with full access to the internet is going to help them succeed.
It's actually the complete opposite.
Joey: No, it's a real problem. And that's why the work you're doing is so important. Uh, what are you guys offering? What's the solution to this whole mess we're in?
Andrew: Yes, this is the good news part. So I'm excited about this because it gets, it's dark, dude. I mean, it's even worse than what we just talked about sadly with, you know, how children are getting exploited, you know, the sex trafficking, pornography.
Um, it's really, really bad. And so our solution is pretty radical. And I think Jonathan Heights book is great, but I don't think it goes far enough. And, um, I think he's just a little too soft. To be honest, so our, you know, proposition right now to college students, which we realize we're late, right? We realize that at that point, you know, we need to go further upstream to really help, you know, young people heal.
But at the university level, these kids can make the decision. They get to decide. To give it their smartphone, take on a dumb phone. And we've just found that, you know, students are doing this together, are [00:29:00] so excited to opt out of the matrix, you know? So, uh, you join a humanity village at one of our six locations, you can get a light phone or a wise phone.
You go through a 30 day detox that we have together. Um, which again is going diving into all the data, little challenges throughout. And then during, during the year, every month we have, you know, a meeting where we've synthesized multidisciplinary fields on technology and mental health, spiritual health, physical health.
Um, so we're unpacking all the data of what is doing to us, our attention spans, our social connections, our dating life, our, you know, everything. Right. So once a month they meet, they dive into the data and then we're giving them like phone free experiences. So they're going on phone free hikes and having phone free bonfire nights.
And creating new games just without their phones. Like, uh, one of our groups at Aave just had a cookout night and they just literally went and cooked food and grilled meat without their phones. It sounds hilarious how simple this is, but it's like, uh, [00:30:00] there was one group I was talking to, you know, that was sharing like some young guys, you know, they're going through this detox and they're like, we literally don't know what to do.
So. Young people actually don't know what to do when they aren't engaging in some of these technologies. So we have a slew of challenges that students take on and they get to choose their mode. Okay, so this is like the humanality modes. You join the club, you can be in human mode. Rebel mode or savage mode so human mode you go grayscale you keep your smartphone you take off all addictive apps you just have maybe podcast maps banking very basic.
Rebel mode you go to a light phone or a wise phone you can still have some of your social media platforms on your computer. But again, just that little bit of friction from it not being in your pocket is just going to decrease your chances to just endlessly scroll on it. Um, then you've got super rebel mode, which is just a light phone, wise phone, no social media accounts, um, and everything is done on your computer.
And then savage mode is [00:31:00] just choosing one device. I mean, we had some students that did this, they went no cell phone and just used a computer laptop, you know, which sounds so wild now, but it's funny. Like that's how most people lived for millions of years. Yeah, like this is actually more human and these students are thriving.
So you pick a mode and then you have a monthly phone challenge and a monthly wellness challenge with the community. So for example, monthly phone challenge, no phone at meals. Say you look at the phone three hours at each of those meals, right? You add that up by the end of the year, it's close to 70 something days.
So if you just don't look at your phone at three meals every day, you get 71 days of your life back. So last year, just with all the, you know, the events that students did in their clubs, they got about an average of 144 hours back from their lives, just. And so, yeah, at the end of the year, you know, we bring in a speaker each semester as well to speak on the topic.
And then at the end of the year, the Humanality Club throws a concert for the whole [00:32:00] school with the cost of admission being your phone. So you just act to experience music without a screen. So students are, I mean, they're literally having like transformative experiences. Experiences so you have to realize like this generation now grew up on the smartphone.
So they're learning how to interact. They're learning how to flirt and go on a date. And I mean literally like learning how to ask people out in person. You know, they're learning how to do new things. Like there's a guy in our club that was addicted to YouTube got off YouTube and he realized and I want to emphasize this point in a moment.
He realized that he had the desire to learn to sing and play guitar. And now he's like playing events and learn how to sing. And like, that's exactly what I love. I really believe humanity is going to help people get their time back. Their lives back. We're going to have the newest, best artists, authors, physicians, lawyers, teachers.
They're going to come out of these clubs, um, looking very different from their generation. Because [00:33:00] they're going to be more human and being more fully human, they're going to be happier. And we also have some fun like sauna challenges and cold plunge challenges and circadian challenges where you have to watch the sunrise and sunset and not let the screen be the first thing your eyes see, but actual morning sunlight.
So we're incorporating a lot of wellness principles too. And yeah, right now we're, you know, in six universities, we have a waiting list of high schools and we're just kind of about to take off. We're just kind of in this process of Preparation, you know, kind of period here, gathering all the data and getting ready to, to blast out the world.
The funny thing is you probably don't know this is happening because we're not on any social media platforms. So that's part of the gift of podcast and I actually love podcasts. Long form podcasts are amazing. Um, I myself was addicted to podcasts as well. So I had to actually find that balance as well of like I was listening to too much good information.
I would say i'm a recovering addict of information. So in my car rides, it was filled with [00:34:00] podcast and my workouts is filled with podcasts and my flights is filled with pocket. I'd say even good things, all good things. Um, so I've even had to found my own new methods moving forward to not be constantly consuming information.
And miss out on information and that's been extremely healing for myself. But anyway, that's a little bit of what is happening in the clubs. Um, and students are responding in an incredible way.
Joey: So good. I'm sure there's so many benefits. Um, what are kind of the biggest benefits you've seen? And if someone wants to jump into this, what's the first step?
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Andrew: Yeah, so if you're at one of our six schools, if you're at, um, Christendom Ave, Maria Franciscan University, university of Dallas, Benedictine, or tac, you can join a club there if you want.
Start a club at your university. You can be totally secular this again. This is not a religious political thing Anyone can start a humanality village at your university So if you want to do that just reach out to us from our website Humanality org and we'll help you start a club, but really If you just find a few people that want to do this together, that's, that's really all it takes you would be amazed.
I mean, average year one of humanity villages starting was 40 plus students. Like we're all in, you know, um, we've had as much as 60 students in one of our villages around the country. So really, if you're at one of those universities, Join, [00:36:00] and if you want to start one at your own university, there's nothing stopping you.
There's no startup fees. You essentially create the club and you fundraise. Each club fundraise for what they want to experience, whether they want to fund the phones, Humanity merch, the speaker, the concert at the end of the year, other phone free activities. You got, you know, they get to fundraise and they create the experiences they want.
So that's a great place to start. And then I'd say for the general population, um, we're going to have some resources for them as well, probably in the next couple of months. But the best thing you can do right now is probably go through our 30 day digital detox with HALO. Uh, which everyone always is like, Oh, that's an app.
What do you do it? You know, and my answer again is we are not opposed to technology. HALO is not trying to addict you through social approval and intermittent positive feedback. We are happy with our partnership with them and in the coming weeks, we're going to have a 30 day digital detox, uh, you can go through with hallow.
So I'd point people there and that's going to walk you through all the data, [00:37:00] all the hacks, all the ways to move forward. And I, and I mean, I know people say this about a lot of other things, but this is so particularly true to this movement. I literally believe this is going to change your life because your life comes down to time and attention.
And right now our time and attention is being sucked into the abyss. When you get your time and attention back, it's going to change your life, you know, and here's the thing, my life hasn't gotten any easier once I've gotten off of these technologies. My life is still difficult in many ways, but I think my capacity to be resilient and have incredible friendships, have a prayer life, exercise, sleep, the average American is losing 30 minutes of sleep per night.
That's largely due to the invention of the light bulb, but also social media and our devices. I mean, life doesn't just get easier all of a sudden because I got off of Instagram, but it does actually become incredibly more fulfilling. So I just want to invite people. I know this is scary. This is terrifying for most humans to think about not being on these platforms.[00:38:00]
And even if you get amazing information, because there are incredible pieces of information, all these platforms. The detriment along with it, I think outweighs the good. And even if you just take a break, maybe this isn't what you have to do the rest of your life. Go on a 30 day detox. Maybe go to a light phone for a year.
Like what's one year of your life going to look like if you just went to life and like do a scientific experiment and just see what happens if you want to go back to your smartphone later and go back to all your social media platforms, do it, but just give it a chance. Like, don't look at the news, which I know is really difficult during this time in our society, but imagine just not going on the news for 30 days.
Here's what I found that was super interesting when I didn't go on the news for 30 days. The world kept happening, like reality didn't like just explode into oblivion, you know, like life kept happening, you know, and I knew what was happening in my environment and my village and I was happier for it. So, um, I hope that [00:39:00] encourages people.
There's a huge fear aspect to this of missing out, not having real connections, being lonelier. I've experienced the complete opposite and most people will too. You really have to take that leap of faith, but find someone to deal with. And two major predictors of actually long term sustained behavior change is your environment and accountability and the humanity club.
You get both your environment is now a group of people. That are opting out of this norm of being on these platforms and you have accountability. So maybe go through this 30 day detox with hollow, you know, with your family, with your coworkers, with your friends, we're also going to have stuff available for anyone soon, but yeah, that would be my encouragement moving forward is.
Take a leap of faith, like just do a scientific experiment and see what happens.
Joey: So good, man. Thank you so much for being here. I, I just love the work you're doing and I'm excited to promote it to our audience. I, um, yes, when you were speaking, just all I could think of is like, this is such a barrier to doing, building marriage, building, like, Date, like whatever this stands is such a huge barrier.
So I love the work [00:40:00] you're doing. I love how simple it is. And I love how yeah, novel too. I think it's simple and novel at the same time, which is a hard thing to pull off. So well done, man, really appreciate you and the work you're doing, your wealth of information too. This has been awesome. Again, everyone, I invite you to check out humanality.
org. We'll link to that in the show notes and yeah, just want to give you final last word, like what final encouragement or advice would you offer to everyone listening, especially if they feel maybe a bit. Heavy or the weight of what we've spoken about and even discourage any just kind of spoke to that but any final words of wisdom
Andrew: yeah i'd say don't be afraid to heal and i really think what these technologies have done to us we have to be willing to enter into a healing process and that's painful and i'll never forget i was playing an event with my band in west point.
This navy seal ranger dude, whatever, you know, eight kids been to war three times was driving me my band at the airport and he just said something I'll never forget. He said, if you seek comfort, you will deprive yourself of self knowledge. So I'd say one of the things that these devices have done to us, which is really sad, is that we're, we're escaping [00:41:00] our embodied reality and self to see someone else's.
And I would just encourage people that you're worth getting to know. Like get to know yourself in a place of solitude and discover what silence does to you. It's incredibly difficult to get to know yourself and love yourself and your neighbor and God. But I would encourage you to go on that healing journey.
And instead of escaping our emotions and our difficulties, um, to face them. And it's easier said than done. But, uh, the healing process is so worth it. And Dr. Bob Schuetz says that, you know, hurt people hurt people. Heal people heal people and i want to be part of seeing humanity heal i think we need a healing movement i think humanity is it so i just want to encourage people to not be afraid to heal and make some difficult decisions with our relationship with tech.
And you're going to experience healing, and it's going to be amazing.
Joey: That wraps up this episode. If this podcast has helped you, feel free to subscribe or follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or [00:42:00] wherever you listen to podcasts. Not only is that the best way to not miss future episodes, but the more subscribers we have, the more the apps will show our show to people who are looking for help, and it only takes a few seconds.
If you've already done that, feel free to review or rate the show. That also helps us reach other people, and we appreciate that feedback. And in closing, always remember, you are not doomed to repeat your family's dysfunction. You can break that cycle and build a better life, and we're here to help. And keep in mind the words of C.
S. Lewis who said, You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.
