Being Human

Conscious living · Being human

Being human in the digital age

What is a smartphone? A pacifier for the hand! As soon as a little gap opens up – at the bus stop, in the queue, in the waiting room – we reach for the display. It soothes us, it fills the silence, it takes away our restlessness. Just like a pacifier.

This occupies me, because I believe that in doing so we lose something precious: boredom. Out of doing nothing, out of letting the mind wander, creative ideas grow. Whoever immediately fills every empty moment with scrolling never lets that space arise in the first place.

Research bears out this feeling. Every tap, every notification, every swipe gives our reward system a little dopamine stimulus – and over time our threshold shifts so much that calm things like a book or a real conversation barely “land” anymore. At the same time, studies describe how it is precisely in boredom that the brain switches into its resting mode (the so-called default mode network) and begins to think freely and unbound – the source of new ideas. Even the mere presence of the smartphone on the table can measurably lower our attention. I see this not as a ban, but as an invitation to give boredom a place again.

What does my nervous system good

Our nervous system is much in demand today – which makes it all the more important to consciously grant it rest. Two things have helped me especially: magnesium and touch.

• Magnesium oil on tense spots: the skin absorbs it quickly. In the evening I rub it into shoulders and neck, where the day’s tension likes to settle.
• Magnesium bath: 300–500 g of magnesium chloride into warm water, bathe for at least 45 minutes. A wonderful ritual for really switching off.
• Magnesium in your drinking water: with Schüßler salts or natural magnesium – spread across the day, quite incidentally.
• Touch: hugs, massages and bodywork such as osteopathy, Rolfing, Ayurveda or Thai massage do the hormonal, immune and nervous systems good.

Here too my experience matches what science describes: magnesium supports the calming messenger GABA and helps to switch from the “fight-or-flight” mode into the “rest-and-digest” mode. And touch acts through the bonding and feel-good hormone oxytocin, which can lower stress – and it is fascinating that magnesium even seems to support the effect of oxytocin. So gentleness towards oneself has a very physical side as well.

It is not about demonising the digital world for me – it is part of our life. It is about balance: consciously noticing when I lose myself, and reclaiming the spaces in which I am wholly human again – with stillness, with touch, with breath. Every small step counts.

This text reflects my personal experiences and does not replace medical or therapeutic advice.