Are your first thoughts of the day actually yours?

What happens when you stop giving your phone your best hours? What if the most luxurious thing you can give your brain isn't another wellness ritual, but a little less input?

My screen time used to be extreme. On some days, I was spending close to eight hours on my phone. Work was obviously a part of it, but not all of it. There was always something to check, read, answer or scroll through, often until the very last minutes before I went to sleep.

Now, I'm becoming slightly addicted to the opposite.

I read a book every morning and every night instead of scrolling, and something unexpected has happened. The first thoughts I have in the morning are mine.

Before I've seen someone else's holiday, body, breakfast, opinion, business, outfit or life, my mind gets to wander on its own. Sometimes I remember what I dreamt about because I haven't immediately replaced that strange half-awake state with hundreds of pieces of information. 

And it feels incredibly good.

What your phone is actually doing to your attention

The problem isn't simply that screens are inherently bad for your brain. It's what many of us do on them.

Social media gives your brain an almost endless stream of novelty. Scroll, new face. Scroll, new story. Message. Notification. Email. Video. Your attention continually gets redirected towards the possibility that the next thing might be interesting.

For women with demanding life and jobs, this can become particularly exhausting. You might spend your entire working day answering emails, moving between meetings, Slack, messages and deadlines, only to lie down at night and give your brain another hour of stimulation.

Research consistently associates greater screen and smartphone use with poorer sleep. A recent meta-analysis covering more than half a million people found that each additional hour of daily screen time was associated with shorter sleep and later bedtimes. Problematic smartphone use has also been linked with poorer sleep and everyday difficulties involving working memory and inhibitory control.

And sleep matters enormously for memory. If scrolling steals sleep, you're not only tired the following morning. You're also taking time away from processes your brain uses to consolidate what you've learned and experienced.

The memory question

Recent research in children adds another interesting perspective. A longitudinal study following more than 500 children found associations between greater screen exposure during certain developmental periods and weaker working memory and later academic performance.

Adults aren't developing in the same way, and the evidence doesn't suggest that your Instagram habit is simply destroying your memory. But it does raise a more interesting question: What isn't your brain doing while you're scrolling?

You're not reading twenty pages of one continuous story. You're not letting your thoughts wander. You're not staring out of the window. You're not remembering your dream. You're rarely bored.

And regular, old boredom might be something worth getting back.

The pleasure of uninterrupted attention

I've started to appreciate what happens when my attention isn't constantly being redirected. Reading in the morning and before bed gives my mind time to stay with one thing, rather than moving between other people's thoughts, images and opinions.

It isn't really about reading instead of scrolling. It's about rediscovering the pleasure of uninterrupted attention, and giving your own thoughts enough space to become interesting again.

Start by protecting the edges of your day

Charge your phone away from the bed. Buy an alarm clock. Read ten pages before you look at a screen in the morning and ten before you sleep. Take your coffee without your phone. Leave it behind when you go for a short walk.

The goal isn't to remove technology from your life. It's to rediscover your ability to enjoy something that doesn't constantly ask for your attention.

Because after enough time away from the screen, something shifts. Reading becomes pleasurable again. Silence stops feeling empty. Your own thoughts become interesting.

And eventually, not checking your phone can become its own kind of reward.