Your Brain on Tech: How to Protect Cognitive Health in a Screen-Obsessed World
You can’t live long and well if your brain is burned out. Why screen time may be the silent saboteur of cognitive longevity - and what to do about it.
This week, I’m breaking from my usual posts on longevity protocols and the latest products, services, studies and solutions for longevity and instead diving into a deeply needed conversation around the role that technology plays on brain health.
And this theme isn’t just for adults. In a just-published JAMA report, researchers found that child addiction to (and not necessarily time spent on) technology can lead to a two to three times increased probability of thoughts of suicide or to harm themselves (this study was also covered here by The New York Times).
In short, this is a conversation we should be having with ourselves and our families.
The average adult checks their phone over 200 times a day. That’s about once every 5 minutes of waking life. Worse, we spend 5 hours per day on our phones, which equates to two and a half months each year.
We quite literally live, work and “relax” on screens - and our brains are quietly paying the price.
I’ve spent years researching cognitive health for Longevity Today, interviewing experts, testing tools and turning my own routines into experiments. And one thing has become clear:
Longevity isn’t just about how long we live - it’s about how long our brains stay online. After all, a high quality life isn’t achievable without a healthy brain and a happy mind.
Yet tech - while essential - is quietly disrupting the very neural pathways that make us who we are.
The Hidden Cost of Constant Connectivity
Recent studies are sounding the alarm:
Screen exposure shrinks gray matter in key brain regions tied to memory and emotional regulation
Digital multitasking lowers working memory, leading to faster cognitive fatigue
Notifications hijack dopamine - rewiring our reward centers for distraction, not depth. Case in point - how often do you feel the impulse to pick up your phone? 43% of us admit feeling addicted to our phones.
Even short-term exposure to blue light and device-based stimulation before bed has been shown to reduce deep sleep - the exact stage where memory consolidation and neuro-repair occur.
Tech-Induced Dopamine Dysregulation
Every social media like or notification triggers a small release of dopamine, the brain’s reward chemical. While this system evolved to reinforce behaviors essential for survival, tech platforms have learned to hijack our dopamine loops, creating addictive feedback cycles. Over time, this constant stimulation can lead to desensitization -meaning we require more input for the same reward. This shift may impair motivation, attention span and long-term goal orientation, all of which are foundational to a healthy, cognitively resilient brain.
Structural Brain Changes in Chronic Screen Users
Emerging research using brain imaging has found structural differences in heavy screen users, particularly in children and adolescents. Areas associated with executive function and emotional regulation, like the anterior cingulate cortex, may show reduced gray matter density. While more longitudinal studies are needed, this raises red flags for how habitual screen exposure may reshape the brain over decades - not just in how we think, but also in how we feel and relate to others.
But It’s Not All Doom and Gloom
Tech isn’t the enemy. It’s how we relate to it that matters.
What we need is a tech-conscious brain longevity protocol - something I’ve started to integrate into my own daily rhythm. Much like we incorporate proper fitness, nutrition, sleep, medicine, supplements and social relationships into our daily routines, so too do we need to make conscious decisions about the role that technology plays in our daily activities.
For me, here's what’s made the biggest difference:
1. Time-Restricted Tech
Just like time-restricted eating can help reset metabolic health, time-restricted tech helps reset your attention span.
→ I set “deep work” hours from 8:30am–11:30 am and 2–4 pm with no phone or browser tabs allowed. Tip: Not comfortable turning off or hiding your phone? Instead, put your phone in “Work Mode” and consider setting a daily schedule in which your phone automatically enters Work Mode during pre-set hours.
2. Stacking Health Habits
Combine your regular health habits with tech-free time. Spending time in the sauna? Unwinding with a friend or loved one? Leave your phone behind.
→ Swimming has always been therapeutic for me and leaves me feeling physically and mentally refreshed. It’s my version of yoga. I never bring my phone to the pool deck and it always boggles my mind when I see someone swim a lap, check their phone, swim another lap, check their phone - rinse, wash, repeat.
3. Digital Fasting Days
One screen-free evening per week. No laptop. No phone. No TV. Just books, walks, board games or reflection.
→ It’s like hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del on your nervous system. Tip: don’t be like this family:
4. Brain Rewilding
Daily exposure to nature - 20 minutes minimum. Greenspace exposure increases hippocampal volume and improves cognitive flexibility.
→ My routine: early morning walk, no earbuds, just ambient sound. Bonus: want to stack daily exposure to nature, tech-free time and social relationships? Go for a walk with a friend.
5. Sleep Tech Limits
Screens off 60 minutes before bed. I make an exception for my Kindle and haven’t had any issues falling asleep after enjoying a good book.
→ Result: deeper sleep, sharper mornings.
Longevity Is Mental Fitness, Not Just Physical
Longevity conversations often focus on diet, fasting and VO₂ max - and rightly so.
But the real unlock is this: your brain is your lifespan.
Every screen interaction is either training your mind to focus - or fragment. And in an age where distraction is the default, clarity becomes a superpower.
We don’t need to reject technology. But we do need to retrain our relationship with it.
Because your ability to stay sharp, curious, creative and emotionally attuned at 70, 80, or 90 will be shaped by the digital decisions you’re making right now.
👉 If you’re exploring your own path to longevity, I’m building custom wellness protocols (featuring favorite products, services and personalized nutrition and fitness plans) for a limited number of people. Drop me a reply if that sounds like a fit. 📩