Breaking the Cycle: Why Cutting Back on TV Binges & Doomscrolling Can Help You Take Back Your Power

You tell yourself you’ll watch just one more episode. Or scroll for just five more minutes. And suddenly, it’s midnight, and you’re still sitting on the couch, phone in hand, brain somewhere between numb and buzzing.

What happened?

You were just trying to relax, unwind, and maybe escape for a bit. And that makes sense. Life is exhausting. But let’s be honest—does that binge-watching session or endless scroll really leave you feeling better?

Or do you feel more drained, more checked out, and, if we’re being really real, more resentful that the same damn problems you started with are still right there, waiting for you?

Dissociation Isn’t the Problem—It’s the Symptom

Listen, there’s no judgment here. Tuning out is survival. When your brain decides to dissociate (whether through Netflix, TikTok, or zoning out while folding laundry), it’s trying to protect you. Maybe you’re overwhelmed, burned out, or just fucking exhausted from carrying the weight of a household that no one else seems to notice. Maybe you’re so used to pushing down your own needs that sitting with your actual emotions feels unbearable.

YLast week we talked about grounding, and this week I want to share three of my favorite things to do when I need to get back in my body.

The goal here isn’t to work out, or to get stronger, or to feel calm. The goal is to remember that you are important. That by taking small actions throughout the week you can show to yourself and others that you matter and deserve care. It also reminds your body of what’s happening in a real, chemical way and helps it to get back “in the moment” and out of the news cycle, or the fight from this morning, or the kids scream-crying at drop-off.

I'll share them in order of time that they take...

You probably feel a bit battered.  How much doom scrolling have you been doing when the kids go to bed?  Or are you mindlessly shopping on Amazon?

For several weeks I found myself loading up my Amazon cart with random shit.  It would sit there… the total climbing…$50… $200… $1000…  then when someone in my family wanted to buy something they actually needed they would have to move all twenty items into the “saved for later” section so they could order an air filter.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes dissociation and numbing out is helpful.  Sometimes it’s literally necessary.  

The problem comes when it becomes a trend.  When the time of being in your body and knowing yourself becomes smaller and smaller.