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I didn’t realize how bad MY PHONE ADDICTION had gotten until I left it all behind.
I mean, I had an idea… but until I was forced to quit cold turkey, I didn’t realize how much of a constant being “plugged in” was.
Every day at home, my phone was glued to my hand. I told myself I was “staying informed” or “running my business,” but the truth? I was addicted. Addicted to scrolling, to searching, to falling down rabbit holes on ChatGPT, Google, and Pinterest. Addicted to the endless stream of news stories and politics that left me anxious, angry, and hopeless — but for some reason I just couldn’t look away.
It felt like watching a car accident. You hate what you see, your stomach twists with every new image, but you can’t stop staring. That was me with my phone. Every scroll left me emptier, every headline made my chest tighter, every hour stolen felt like I was slipping further away from my real life.
And then, we went camping.
A Week With No Service
I grew up camping. And in the 90’s and 2000’s, “unplugging” wasn’t as drastic of a concept. It was just fun. But as I got older and social media and texting became more and more normal, and life kept moving faster and faster, the opportunity and the desire to go off grid all but disappeared.
Some of my best memories from childhood come from camping and being outdoors… bike riding, exploring, campfires… and recently, the itch to give my own kids those experiences has grown stronger. So my husband and I decided to go camping.
So we packed up our family (and of course I obsessed about lists and gear for weeks…) and drove up north to a cabin an hour away from cell reception.
And for the first time in years, I had no cell service, no wifi, and no constant stream of stimulation. It was just us — the lake, the trees, and silence (and some bats 😅).
I expected to feel restless, maybe even panicked without my phone. Instead, something beautiful happened. My anxiety softened. My ADHD hyperfixations quieted. The stubborn eczema that had developed on my face cleared. I laughed more. My brain felt calmer than it had in ages.
I noticed something else too. At home, when a thought pops into my head, I can feel the gears start turning. Normally, that’s when I reach for ChatGPT, Google, or Pinterest. One little idea can send me spiralling down a rabbit hole for hours (sometimes days) until I’ve squeezed every drop of dopamine out of the obsession.
But without my phone, I couldn’t feed it. I was forced to just… sit there with my thoughts and ideas. And guess what? They faded away. I didn’t get sucked in. For the first time, I realized that not every thought needs to be chased, not every idea deserves hours of research. Some things are better left to drift away.
And perhaps best of all… my boys got me. All of me. Not the version of me sitting on the couch, scrolling, snapping at them to “go play.” They got a mom who was present. A mom who was in the water, exploring, laughing, and looking them in the eye instead of at a glowing screen. The change in them was as real as the change in me.
What I Learned About ADHD, Anxiety, and Dopamine
Here’s the truth: what I thought was “phone addiction” was actually my ADHD dopamine cycle.
ADHD brains crave novelty and stimulation. Every notification, every new article, every scroll is a dopamine hit. But dopamine doesn’t stay high, it crashes. That crash feels like withdrawal: restlessness, irritability, and overwhelm. So you reach for the phone again. And the cycle spins faster and faster until you’re living in constant anxiety, always chasing relief but never finding it.
That week off-grid broke the cycle. No scrolling. No notifications. No car-crash headlines. My nervous system finally had space to breathe.
How I’m Bringing That Peace Home
I know I can’t go back to life as usual. Camping made me long for something simpler… and I don’t want to lose that. So here’s what I’m committed to changing:
- Deleting apps from my phone so I can’t doom scroll “just for a minute.”
- Social media only on my laptop, where I log in intentionally, not impulsively.
- Airplane mode resets: at night, and often during the day, because just setting my phone down isn’t enough.
- Apps like WhatsApp instead of logging into social media to check DMs.
- Old school living: paperback books instead of endless browsing, downloaded music instead of streaming, unplugging before bed and not turning my phone back on until later the next day.
It feels like going back 15 years, but in the best way… back to when life was slower, quieter, and more present.
Business, But On My Terms
I longed to delete social media from my phone, but I still worried about how I would run my Arbonne business without it. It is still very important to me, but I just knew that if I kept trying to manage my social media and just “exercise more self control” I would end up in the same situation… doom scrolling, playing the comparison game, reaching for my phone 200 times a day.
So, after some thought, I still plan to run my Arbonne business, but differently now.
- Work intentionally from my MacBook, not glued to my phone.
- Use WhatsApp for real conversations instead of Instagram DMs.
- Schedule content through programs like Click Social and Tailwind that drive traffic to my blog.
- Use Meta Business Suite, the free tool that combines Instagram and Facebook messages, notification, and even content posting (this one has been a total game changer… read more about it here!)
My business still grows, but it no longer hijacks my peace. Which means everything to me.
After all, network marketing businesses like Arbonne have been successful for the last 45 years, long before social media. I didn’t need to quit. I just needed to be creative.
Why This Matters for Moms Like Me
For women with ADHD and anxiety, especially moms, the dopamine trap of scrolling is devastating. It steals us from our kids, our homes, and our peace of mind. It convinces us we’re connected when we’re actually more disconnected than ever.
I don’t want to live in that fog anymore. I don’t want my boys to remember me with a phone in my hand and half my attention elsewhere. I want them to remember me laughing, exploring, and being there… really there.
Unplugging showed me what’s possible. And now, I’m choosing to build a life that feels like unplugging — even when I’m at home.
Bryana Venos is a Canadian writer, blogger, and content creator – but most of all, a stay at home mom of two boys and the main voice behind Let’s Glow. She writes about motherhood, wellness, and simple, nourishing recipes, sharing her real journey with faith, mental health and post-partum struggles. Her focus is on gut health, daily rhythms and intentional living. Her goal is to support other women and mothers in creating lives and homes that they “glow” in — from the inside out. This blog reflects her personal experiences and is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not to be taken as medical advice. The content on this site was created by Bryana Venos and was not written, reviewed or approved by any third party sellers or brands featured on this site.
