You are not broken. You have gotten very good at leaving.
Can you put the phone down?
Most people say yes. Then they check it while the kettle boils, at the table, next to their kid. A few short questions. Three minutes. No account. At the end you see if you still can.
See if you still can →No account. No app blocker. Just the mirror.
Gloria Mark measured an average of 47 seconds on one screen before switching. You have stayed here for
00:00s.
The average person switches at 47 seconds.
01 / THE MYTH
The eight-second goldfish stat from 2015 has no traceable source in peer-reviewed research. You can still binge a show or a conversation for four hours. Your brain isn't broken. Your thumb is just trained to bail the second a moment gets slow.
02 / THE MECHANISM
In a 2024 Peking University experiment, students who could swipe through short videos for 20 minutes did worse on a short reasoning test than students who watched similar videos as one continuous clip. The swiping, not the content, made the difference.
03 / THE STAY
Two weeks without mobile internet improved sustained attention by about as much as it normally declines over ten years of aging. Yet as soon as the block turned off, screen time climbed back up. Blocking works while it is on; when it comes off, the reach returns.