Scroll. Refresh. Repeat.

We all do it. We lose hours we don’t remember, chasing the next hit of novelty on our screens. We say “just five minutes” and suddenly two hours are gone. And when it’s over, we don’t feel recharged, just drained.

As someone who has built a life around discipline and structure, who has won Female Athlete of the Year at King’s twice, won medals for the university on the national stage in badminton and excelled in school, I didn’t think I’d fall into this trap. My days are filled with training, studying, coaching, volunteering and socializing. I thrive on strict routines and goal-setting.

But the truth is that I have very much found myself quietly losing a match to something invisible: a dopamine addiction.

Speaking to friends, family and colleagues, I realized that I wasn’t alone. We’re all in the same boat of being stuck behind our screens.

I realized the extent of this issue in a pharmacology class I took last year. As we discussed substance addictions — compulsive behaviours driven by chemical rewards, where people continue seeking a substance despite its negative consequences — it struck me how closely compulsive screen use parallels those same behaviours. According to brain imaging and behavioral studies, the consequences also line up: reduced grey matter, impaired self-control and a warped sense of time. We’re not holding a bottle or syringe, but our phones are doing a frighteningly similar job.

Screen addiction has completely skewed our perception of time. Think about it: a two-hour lecture might feel like it lasts forever — but two hours of scrolling? Gone in an instant. A spare 20 minutes could be enough to finish off a quick task; but instead, we burn it watching TikToks and Instagram Reels we won’t even remember later. Our sense of time has become warped, our attention spans shortened.

The problem isn’t just the time that we waste, but the silence that we have lost. We can’t walk to class without music, cook without a podcast, or sit on a bus without watching a YouTube video. We flood every spare moment with stimulation. But the brain needs boredom. That’s when creativity sparks — when your mind has the space to wander and you can actually think.

So, what do we do?

Ditch screen time limits. We all know that these don’t work.

Use Opal or other lockout apps. Physically block access to media when you need to focus.

Delete Instagram from your phone. If you must, check it on your laptop. (Scrolling on a laptop is clunky and unappealing — a win in itself.)

Go retro. A flip phone may sound like a joke, but it’s a tempting solution at this point.

This summer, I made a promise to myself. I don’t want to look back on my 20s and regret wasting them behind a glowing rectangle. I want to spend my 20s learning, reading, training, laughing with friends and family, exploring the world — living, instead of watching everyone else live through my screen.

Since the start of September, I’ve been trying to practice what I preach. I use Opal to block distracting apps during certain hours and only check Instagram and TikTok at set times of the day. It still helps me stay connected — I like seeing what friends are up to and what is happening in the world — but it feels a lot more intentional now.

That is not to say the craving is gone. I still catch myself reaching for my phone when I am bored or tired. But when that happens, I try to go for a walk, do a quick workout or dive into a book — anything that actually recharges me. Slowly, it’s working. My mind feels clearer, I’m reading more and spending valuable time with my family and friends. I feel present in my own life again.

Time is fleeting. And if we want to make the most of our lives, we can’t keep numbing ourselves behind our screens.

Let’s start fresh this fall. The battle against dopamine addiction isn’t easy in today’s world. But it’s one worth fighting, together.