^{_{Part two of Glitched Out: A 7-part Mini – Series Rebellion against digital decay}} browse the full series here.

You didn’t get hit by a truck.
You didn’t run a marathon.
You didn’t even do anything “bad.”

But somehow, you woke up feeling like your soul got microwaved on low for 6 hours.

Welcome to the doomscroll hangover — the invisible comedown from marinating your brain in digital static.

We joke about being addicted to our phones, but this isn’t funny. This is anxiety in drag. This is depression with a filter. You didn’t fuck up — you just consumed way more than your nervous system was designed to handle.

You can’t sleep. You feel like shit for no reason. You’re irritable, empty, overstimulated, undernourished, and somehow bored and overwhelmed at the same damn time.

What the Hell Is Happening to Your Brain?

Every scroll is a digital scratch-off ticket. You don’t know what’s coming — joy? rage? a dead dog video? a hot stranger? a political disaster? — but you keep swiping because your brain’s chasing dopamine. And dopamine is a needy bitch.

• Dopamine spikes + crashes: The highs hit quick. The crash comes harder.
• Cortisol cocktail: Ragebait headlines, tragedy porn, and viral chaos jack your stress hormones.
• Mental fragmentation: You’re not distracted. You’re rewired. Your attention span has been chopped up and sold back to you through ads.

“The algorithm doesn’t show you what’s healthy. It shows you what keeps you locked in.” — Chase Hughes, NCI

This shit isn’t random. The scroll isn’t passive. It’s designed to pull your strings. And the longer you stay, the less of yourself you get to keep.

Nervous System Overdraft

You didn’t fight a bear. But your body thinks you did. And it’s pissed.

• Racing heart, clenched jaw, shallow breathing
• That weird tired-but-wired feeling
• The slow drip of dread for no logical reason

Welcome to your doomscroll hangover: a trauma response to 4 hours of “just checking Instagram.”

The Invisible Workload of Consuming Everything

It’s not the time you spent. It’s the weight you carried.

You witnessed breakups, violence, climate collapse, celebrity drama, medical advice, a war, a trend, 3 deaths, and 12 hot takes — before you even finished your cereal.

That’s not harmless. That’s a mental mugging.

You didn’t mean to carry it all. You just didn’t close the door fast enough. And now your body is flooded with shit it never asked for.

And Then You Blame Yourself

You feel heavy. Sad. Anxious. Numb. So what do you do?

You open the phone again. Because maybe this scroll will fix it.

But it never does.

Because it was never about entertainment. It was a trap disguised as a coping mechanism.

How to Detox Without Becoming a Hermit

This isn’t about quitting the internet. It’s about reclaiming your f*cking mind.

Start small. Start honest.

Try This:

• Delete one app for 24 hours. Watch how your fingers still reach for it like a ghost limb.
• Put your phone in another room when you sleep. Or hell, just 10 feet away.
• Replace one scroll session with any form of output: writing, screaming into a pillow, dancing, painting with ketchup. I don’t care. Just do something instead of absorbing.

Journal Prompts:

• When do I feel like absolute shit after scrolling?
• Who profits off my mental chaos?
• What did I used to love doing before my phone became my personality?

Your Hangover Toolkit:

• Water. No, seriously. Hydrate.
• Movement. Not for fitness. For flushing cortisol.
• Music. Not curated playlists — your music.
• Rage journal. Cry journal. Any-fucking-thing journal.
• Silence. Real silence. Let your thoughts get loud.

“The scroll never satisfies. It only scratches. And the itch comes back worse.”

You don’t need a digital detox retreat. You need truth. You need boundaries. You need your brain back.

You’re not lazy. You’re glitching from a system that’s engineered to keep you sedated and overstimulated at once. Like trying to sleep on a rollercoaster with flashing lights.

Unplugging isn’t weakness. It’s protest.

This is your mind. Your energy. Your f*cking timeline.

Take it back before it scrolls you out of your own life.

You don’t owe the algorithm your sanity. You don’t owe the feed your focus.

Breathe. Unfollow. Log off.
Re-enter the world like a damn human again.

You don’t have to earn rest.
You don’t have to apologize for leaving.

Welcome back. Let’s burn the rulebook that said your worth was tied to how much you consume.

Signed,
Your brain (who’s been begging for this shit for years)

🔥 This is part of Glitched Out: A 7-Part Rebellion Against Digital Decay —
If you woke up feeling empty after a night of nothing but reels, this one’s for you.
→ Start from the beginning: The Scroll That Stole My Mood
→ Next up: Chaos for Clicks: The Dark Side of Viral Trends

🎯 Want to stop the spiral? Grab my Nervous System Reset Rituals — a free guide with real tools. Subscribe here.