Reclaiming Attention: Ayurveda’s Approach to Cleansing from Digital Overload
In between writing this blog, I find myself scrolling on social media. I share this because it is a modern problem most of us face: doom scrolling, distracting ourselves with cheap dopamine hits, searching for connection through waves of sound and light.
Contrast this to my weekend camping, watching the full moon rise over the east mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park. My partner and I were mesmerized with this celestial orb of reflected light in the sky for hours. It reminds me that we are wired to watch fire, tend to a camp fire, which for millennia was the source of transformative power to cook food, radiate warmth, and shed light. There is a naturalness in being absorbed in the stillness of the night and flicker of the flame.
In the modern times, our ancient fire has been replaced with light bulbs, ovens, and screens for nourishment, warmth, and connection. Technology brings us incredible benefits; we need not deny that. Yet how do we stay in balance when our phones and media are designed to grab our attention and steal our energy?
Full Moon Gazing
Right Rhythm in a World of Excess
Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of living in wisdom, teaches us to take in life in right action, right timing, and right quantity, unique for each of us.
We will explore together how to live in the right rhythm with ourselves and nature in modern times and technologies. The rhythms of nature, day and night, season to season, are mirrored in our own bodies and minds. Yet modern life often pulls us away from these natural cycles. One of the strongest pulls comes from the tiny devices in our hands: our phones.
A recent study revealed that excessive smartphone use can affect us far beyond distraction. From eye strain and poor sleep to mood disturbances and physical discomfort, overuse disrupts both body and mind. Ayurveda reminds us that these signals are not random, they are invitations to realign, to return to practices that honor our energy, senses, and seasonal rhythms.
In this article, we’ll explore what science is uncovering about the effects of high cell phone usage, and how Ayurvedic wisdom can guide us back into balance through daily and seasonal rituals.
Endless scrolling
What Science Reveals
Researchers examined the physical and psychological health impacts of high cell phone usage among university students. It compared high cell phone users (HCPU) with low cell phone users (LCPU). [1]
Key Findings:
Physical Effects
Experience musculoskeletal pain: HCPU reported significantly more neck and back pain.
Suffer from eye strain: Higher rates of headaches and visual discomfort.
Gain weight: Associated with sedentary lifestyle and prolonged sitting.
Experience sleep disturbances: Blue light exposure and late-night use disrupted rest.
Mental & Emotional Effects
Experience depression and mood disturbances: HCPU showed higher levels of stress, anxiety, and low mood.
Suffer reduced self-perception: Heavy use negatively affected personality traits and self-image.
Struggle with attention difficulties: Overuse contributed to poor concentration and decreased productivity.
In conclusion, excessive smartphone use negatively impacts both body and mind, contributing to physical pain, eye problems, weight gain, sleep disruption, depression, and mood changes. Limiting use and practicing mindful habits can protect health and well-being.
Transforming What We Take In
Let’s begin by examining a central concept in Ayurveda: Agni, digestive fire present on every layer of the self: physical, emotional, mental, and consciousness. Each day, we take in food, drink, air, sounds, smells, pollution, news, information, media, images, conversations, and the emotions of others. Every input must be digested.
When we have too much input and we can not keep up with digestion of information, food, news, etc, it creates a sticky toxin substance in the body called ama.
Let’s first look at ama on the physically level, we need to be able to have the right digestive fire (not too hot, not too irregular or not too slow) to be able to digest (breakdown the food on bioavailable level), absorb (the nourishment) and finally assimilate the nutrients into our system to properly function or eliminated through the waste channels.
This is a similar process on the mental/emotional level. All of the information, stories, emotions we take in, needs to be processed and go through a similar process of digestion, absorption and assimilation. If we do not have a properly functioning agni on the emotional and mental level, it can lead to emotional/mental ama. You could experience this as brain fog, overwhelm, drop out, nervous system dysregulation, anxiety, depression, fatigue, inability to concentrate.
You can strengthen our mental/emotional agni to experience a wider capacity to experience emotions, understand information and focus on task.
Tips to Support Mental/Emotional Agni
Go to bed by 10 pm and get consistent sleep. During sleep, the mind processes the day through dreams.
Infuse your mind with the sacred before bed. What you take in right before bed performs your dream state. Try meditating, reading a sacred text, listening to calming music.
Move your body daily. Physical movement stimulates rasa dhatu (the lymphatic system), helping to release stuck emotions.
Practice nasya (medicated nose oil). Using proper technique and medicated oils can support the cleaning of stuck emotions in the mind. Read here more.
Do pranayama. Specific pranayamas can help move stuckness on a more subtle level as well as bring in Panra, fresh vital lifeforce. Try Anuloma Viloma Prananyama.
Take a media detox. Limit daily screen time, and once a month, take a full day away from phones and screens. By reducing how much input you take in, the more you tune in to your own knowing.
Applying Ayurveda to Technology Use
How can we apply the knowledge of Ayurveda to support a healthy relationship with your phone and other screens?
Right Amount
Limit your usage. Notice how many hours you spend on screens outside of work and aim to reduce it.
Distinguish between essential and addictive use. Technology can connect, support, and inspire—but also distract and numb. Set clear boundaries for work and social time.
Create tech-free zones. Keep sacred spaces screen-free, declare phone-free mealtimes, and schedule a monthly tech sabbath.
Right Timing
Start your morning tech-free. Do your morning routine before turning on your phone, setting a grounded tone for the day.
Wind down tech use in the evening. Put your phone away as the sun sets, aiming for at least one hour before bed.
Charge your phone outside the bedroom. Use airplane mode and keep screens away from your sleep space.
Right Action
Replace scrolling with seeing. Witness the magic of nature—moon bathing, star-gazing, bird watching, or sky gazing.
Understand why you reach for your phone. Ask: is it for connection, inspiration, escape, boredom or loneliness? Notice why you are reaching for your phone. Is there another activity that could be a replacement? If you are feeling lonely, can you connect with someone in person? If you are needing inspiration, make art or journal. If you need to decompress, try dancing, taking a walk, or a bath.
Returning to Balance
Our modern fire glows not only in screens, but also in the hearth of our bodies and the stillness of the natural world. Ayurveda invites us to return to right rhythm—with ourselves, with nature, and even with technology. By tending our Agni, setting boundaries with devices, and aligning with the cycles of day and season, we reclaim the balance that sustains health and wholeness.
Author Caitlin McIntosh
[1] Sultan H. Alzahrani and Ahmad A. Alanzi, “Impact of High Cell Phone Usage on Physical and Psychological Health of University Students,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 16 (2022): 9975, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169975.
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October 3-6, 2025
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