Reaching 2 AM After Saying “Just 5 More Minutes”
“Today was really long and exhausting. I just need to lie down and let my brain rest for a bit.”
Dragging a heavy body to bed and mindlessly opening YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels is an experience most people have likely had at least once. The original plan was to clear the mind for exactly five minutes before sleeping, but before you know it, that chilling moment arrives when the clock at the top of the screen has passed 2 AM.
Eyes are already dry and closing, and the whole body feels incredibly heavy. Yet, the thumb shows little sign of stopping its movement across the screen. People tend to keep swiping up to the next video, or sometimes they endlessly wander in search of depressing and provocative news articles just to see what is happening in the world.
It is a night spent unable to take your eyes off this small glowing box despite dreading the alarm that will ring early the next morning. Regret usually sets in by the following morning, but the same behavior often repeats itself once night falls again.
This familiar late-night scene likely does not happen simply because we are exceptionally lazy or severely lacking in willpower compared to others.
The Brain’s Secret Attraction to Depressing News (Negativity Bias)
To understand why we are drawn more deeply into anger-inducing and provocative news rather than positive and comforting stories, it can be helpful to look into a very old habit of the brain. The act of obsessively scrolling through depressing and negative information is commonly referred to as “doomscrolling.”
Psychology often explains the core cause of this phenomenon through a concept known as “negativity bias.” As humanity evolved over a long period, our brains were designed to respond a bit more sensitively to threatening and negative information for survival.
In past wild environments, responding immediately to the rustling sound of a predator potentially hiding in the bushes was much more advantageous for survival than remembering a peacefully blooming flower. Positive information certainly makes us feel good. However, because negative information can be directly linked to survival, the brain naturally tends to pay more attention to the latter.
Ultimately, nervously clicking on provocative news articles every night can be seen as less of a bad personal habit and more as the result of the brain’s primal survival instinct working in overdrive within a digital environment to detect and prepare for potential dangers. (Reference: American Psychological Association (APA))
The Fast and Exhausting “Endless Dopamine Loop” Created by Short-Form Content
When short and intense videos lasting around 15 seconds are added to this mix, our brains can easily end up in a state similar to running on a non-stop hamster wheel. Every time the smartphone screen is swiped up, the newly provided visual stimulation strongly triggers the brain’s reward center.
At this point, the familiar neurotransmitter called dopamine is released in a rush to offer a brief sense of pleasure. However, this pleasure is highly volatile and tends to evaporate relatively quickly. Because dopamine acts more like a hormone that creates “expectation” rather than pleasure itself, the brain feels a sense of lingering dissatisfaction and begins to crave even newer and more stimulating content than before.
While endlessly swiping to the next video, the body might look like it is resting comfortably. Meanwhile, the brain’s neural circuits are actually pouring out a lot of energy and are often placed in a state of overload.
In this infinite loop of constantly consuming dopamine, much like pouring water into a bottomless jug, it becomes difficult for our brains to take a deep rest. As a result, people might face lethargy and a heavy “dopamine fatigue,” making it feel as though they haven’t rested at all even after lying down all weekend. (Reference: Harvard Medical School)
Letting Go of Sharp Self-Criticism for Not Being Able to Stop
Have you ever started your day waking up with heavy eyes, harshly blaming yourself by asking why you lack so much self-control? Fortunately, it is perfectly fine to withdraw that sharp, critical gaze directed at yourself now.
The algorithms inside the smartphones we hold every day are highly advanced products meticulously designed by some of the smartest engineers in the world, backed by massive capital. They form a giant system built by precisely calculating human psychological vulnerabilities and dopamine release cycles just to keep our eyes glued to the screen for even a moment longer.
Going up against such an elaborate system with pure willpower alone, especially as an individual whose energy is depleted after a hard day’s work, might be an unreasonable fight from the start.
Rather than blaming yourself and falling into a swamp of stress, it can be helpful to adopt a flexible attitude that objectively separates you from the situation. You might want to think that it is not because you are particularly weak, but rather because the device was designed that way from the beginning. Lightly setting down the emotional burden that tears you down can become the gentle first step out of this exhausting loop.
Creating “Small Friction” in Daily Life to Wash Away Brain Fatigue
Taking extreme approaches like deciding to completely stay away from smartphones starting today or deleting all social media apps will likely end in failure and a yo-yo effect within a few days. Instead of relying on willpower, you might want to try planting very small physical friction points in your daily routine to help your brain naturally step out of autopilot mode.
For example, a minor environmental change like plugging your charger in near the bedroom door or on the living room table instead of right next to your bed can make quite a big difference. The minor inconvenience of having to walk out of your warm blankets just to check your phone screen can act as an excellent speed bump that stops unconscious doomscrolling.
Setting your phone screen to grayscale mode for just 10 minutes before falling asleep can also be a useful micro-step in calming the brain’s hyperaroused state. A dull screen devoid of flashy colors reduces visual stimulation to the brain, which tends to gently encourage the body to slowly prepare for rest.
It is perfectly fine not to be overly disappointed if you do not regain perfect control all at once. For tonight, simply having a generous mindset of gifting a quiet rest to your brain that has relentlessly poured out energy will be enough.
By merely tossing a single, very trivial point of friction into your daily routine, you can gradually and solidly reclaim the quiet nighttime hours that were lost.
