Dopamine detox is the internet's favourite reset: delete the apps, sit with boredom, reclaim attention. It trends every few months because the promise is clean.
Clinicians keep warning that extreme detox myths outrun the evidence. What actually helps most people is smaller: fewer feeds during deep work, not a permanent exile from modern life.
The failure mode is privacy. You declare a three-day detox in your notes app, open Instagram on hour six, and nobody ever knew the streak existed.
A focus group turns the rule into a daily check-in. Phone away for three Pomodoros. Yes or no. Five to eight witnesses. That is a detox you can keep without the mythology.
Pick one distraction rule for today and check in — do not announce a week-long detox only to yourself.