0:00 [Music] I'm about to turn my phone on for the first time in 30 days but first let me take you back to the beginning this is me 30 days ago putting my phone in a lock box about to go get my brain scanned yes this is what my phone addiction has come to and I'm not the only one in 2007 a new addictive drug came out and it took the World by storm today apple is going to reinvent the phone and the world hasn't been the same smartphones the source of a new Mental Health crisis the most pervasive addiction could be changing your brain the whole generation is more anxious more depressed it's not designed to help us it's just designed to keep us hooked you see we all have 24 hours in today and once you allocate time for the
0:45 things you need to do you're left with a couple hours to spend how you want now the average person spends 4 hours a day on their phone so once you feed the machine we're not left with much life at [Music] all but what if I could get all of that time back how would it change my life would I become more productive would I be happier I want to find out so for the next 30 days my phone will be locked in this box with a timer that will only open after the challenge is over trust me I've tried it won't open come on I also removed all mobile apps from my computer and logged out of any social media making my laptop only usable for work and to really see the impact of this experiment I got my brain scanned before and after and the results were no
1:31 I have never seen results like this to be honest with I've been doing this for 15 years never seen anything like this period And So It Begins good morning it's uh day one and we have no phone which means no notifications no music to listen to while I shower why do you me and uh not really sure what to do one of the big goals of this challenge is to build one of those IDE morning routines where you wake up super early meditate go for a walk journal and have coffee all before 8:00 a.m. but my phone was my alarm clock so my morning routine pretty much looked like this oh so yeah not off to a great start
2:19 but now it was time to get my initial brain scan so I picked up my friend Juan to join me and we ran into our first real challenge without a phone this is for you you map quested this a off a map quest go north go east and we're going to get lost all right let's do it we'll figure it out I'm already lost okay now what have we gone 5.9 Mi this is it 63 okay go go go go go go go cuz if we miss this m doesn't attap you turn left right I turn left turn right onto Riverside that might be it yes yes yes yes this is exhilarating oh what is that it well now we're at 115 and this is 116 just use the map I thought we weren't using our phone no no glove compartment are you serious right see this isn't that bad I found where we are left turn
3:06 you're on green we're going to die be careful be careful be careful be careful I'm using my phone no no no no no phones come on come on we can get there we can get there that wasn't shut up what I'll move right back we arrived at balance brain where I met Jon and terara who would be administering my scan which consisted of an attention test cognitive function tests like how well I can remember patterns and a qeg brain map where 19 electrodes would monitor my brain and determine where I have too much or too little brain activity I would get the results of this part in a week but the results from the first two tests were ready instantly and okay not so horrible seemed better but not so horrible
3:52 accuracy is where you got killed sustained attention so keeping your attention on the task at hand is really the struggle you you're in the one percentile oh that's bad that's bad if you were giving me like AB c d this is probably this is a d you're in the first percent one percentile you're way down that but that's your challenge pre and post will see I have my doubts we're going to see giant improvements in any of this in 30 days you can't go less than 1% I don't think no that's I can't wait to see how this unfolds this is really going to be fun how was that for you literally feel feel so drained I'm like uh my brain was so distracted I felt like I like I was literally taking these quizzes and like my brain was just all over the place so
4:39 oh crazy I'm hoping that that gets better and I keep checking for my goddamn phone cuz I keep thinking I left it behind aside from my clear focus and attention issues there's a deeper reason why I wanted to do this experiment I did not sleep well at all I'm so used to having my phone at night to help me wind down by watching Instagram reals or YouTube and without it my brain was just running constantly about all of the stuff I have to do everything I'm stressed about normally I take pretty good care of myself but as 2024 started I realized I was spending more and more time on my phone which was causing me to fall behind in work it was affecting my relationships my health and if I'm being
5:25 honest it's because it felt easier to be on my phone than in my real life uh long day and even though I didn't have my phone I still felt distracted and like I couldn't focus this experiment is proving to be harder than I expected but then it happened by day five I started to feel different I felt clear like I had cracked the no phone code just the piece of my morning routine that was until John brought me back to Earth with my brain scan results so let's see what your brand looks like now to simplify the complex science behind these results here's what you need to know yellow means not enough activity while blue means too much the goal is to have green which is your brain's Ideal Balance
6:11 point this representation of blue over here and green over here your brain is ruminating over all the possible things that could happen add like focus and attention challenges depression this is a challenge for you clearly social anxiety walk into a room with large number of people how overwhelming is that for you the anxiety agitation or a brain that will not get quiet or rest does that sound about right yeah depression anxiety sleep problems migraines you can on the list these are all communication problems inside your scull I have no idea what's going to change after a month without a phone I'll be fascinated to see if there's any quantifiable difference here wow okay clearly there's a lot going on in my brain and John just really put that out there for everyone to see but I've been feeling a lot
6:58 better you know I've been building this morning routine I feel like I have more clarity without my phone now and I feel like if I just keep focusing on that it'll fix at least some of these things I don't know how it'll fix social anxiety but the other ones it will definitely help to some extent so for the second week I decided to step it up a little bit I'm at my dad's house for the week going to start the day off with a nice little morning cold [Music] plunge now is usually when I I spend a lot of time on my phone but we're going to try to stay focused if I don't wake up tomorrow morning by 6:00 a.m. I got to give you 20 bucks that works for me you owe me 20
7:44 [Music] bucks tomorrow it's [Music] 100 I just got back from my dad's house really productive week but I'm exhausted I feel like all of the time I got back I filled with some part of the routine or work there's got to be a better way there's nothing easy about overcoming an addiction drugs alcohol gambling phones from brain perspective they're all the same thing there's something else I need to fulfill me and it will find something it will find work aolis midle by and go to the gym a few years ago I gave up drinking and similarly I threw myself
8:30 into work and more projects which at the time was a good distraction but I ended up losing touch with friends and when work was over it always felt like something was missing so now you're into a pain point of I'm feeling isolated and what the answer to it is to go out and get connected travel day these guys got to wait for me while I print my ticket I don't currently have a cell phone so you are the greatest thank you you so much how are you [Music]
9:16 sir flight I will wind conditions nor the season do not like planes oh this is your we made it to Costa Rica now it's time to have some fun yeah I got really sick on the travel in and the first few days were rough I'm struggling to enjoy myself when I wasn't in bed I spent most of the time working to give you some context I'm in Costa Rica for a hybrid vacation and work trip so I'm here with a bunch of other creatives and Founders who I don't know super well and being sick worrying how that would affect this video being in
10:01 this environment and having no phone to contact anyone left me feeling the worst I felt this entire experience I don't know I feel like I need help so I decided to ask the two people I was closest with for help and I had no idea what I was getting myself into so what is it really that you want to touch in on without the phone I think I just wanted to be happy and I think I'm realizing that like I don't really know what that means for me you removed the distraction but it's like what are you being distracted from I don't know I think the like first feeling when I'm in big groups at some point I just feel like I don't belong the last time I remember like feeling like okay I'm happy was like when I was just drinking and getting up what events led to
10:48 the drinking I was kind of the nerd kid I was bullied and then when I kind of grew up a little bit I stopped looking like a chubbier kid all of a sudden I was in you didn't believe you still thought you were the other kid or something yeah always so what did the drinking do for you it just took me out of my head when an alcoholic takes alcohol away that's not the problem alcohol is the way they're coping with the problem so I think you're uncovering the root source of whatever it is my theory is that the phone is just another form of drinking for you what taking the phone away has done is actually taking you back to those parties like What's Happening Here is the same thing was happening at that party suddenly you're around a bunch of people and you're like but who am I
11:34 among these people you default to these you're the smart one you know I know the Drone well I know to edit you're falling back on some of the same things but those things weren't enough if they were enough you wouldn't have started drinking you know you are enough right I feel like you don't believe it fully down here yet you know I'm no therapist I'm therapized you know and what you're talking about is deep deep trauma and you have to give it weight and you have to accept that I love you that sea loves you my girlfriend loves you the problem isn't that I'm unlovable it's that I can't love myself and no one can give you the feeling of self-love of enoughness besides you it's a daily practice and it doesn't fill up for good it's literally draining every day in a weird way you're in the best place right
12:20 now you're being that vulnerable kid right now and you get to redefine what it means to be Andrew [Applause] I think the guys were right in a lot of ways when I feel good this experience is easy but when I feel like I don't belong when I feel left out when any of these negative feelings start to come up I don't know what to do with them you know I'm starting to realize that I have some things that I need to work on and it's hard for me to love myself the rest of the Costa Rica trip felt like something out of a movie being vulnerable and and recognizing it's okay to feel the way I do changed everything it allowed me to connect more with people to feel more
13:05 comfortable with myself and to just truly enjoy this [Music] experience finally the day I have been waiting for it's time to get my brain scanned again after 30 days what I realized is this journey wasn't really about the phone whenever you use something to escape to distract it isn't about the distraction it's about what you're distracting from so yeah in a way I needed to give up the phone in order to see what was really beneath the surface and now Begins the real journey to work through what I found to continue to be vulnerable to keep enjoying my life and to love myself this story was so much deeper than I expected this is
13:52 it here we go this is your pre this is your post that's extraordinary wow those are the best results I've ever seen all the way across the board speed of response consistency sustained attention and impulse control absolutely fabulous here's your pre see it's bright yellow it went nice and balanced that tells me that your brain is is being more present it's a little more rested excess anxiety has reduced even here there is an addictive aspect that will cause this and then they came out nice and green and balanced as well these results are remarkable three very potent pieces of quantitative measurement that show dramatic change in 30 days it's like the phone itself that thing that experience
14:38 you were having with it was a draw bringing your performance down that I I would think the post is probably who Andrew really is all right might as well get this over with [Music] right yeah
