Digital Overwhelm: Why Technology Creates the Same Exhaustion as Big Cities

I remember as a kid getting so excited when my mom would announce that we would be going into Boston for the day. I found the city to be fascinating, from the museums and shops to the smells, sights, and people watching. There was so much to see, and like many, it spurred the desire to live there when I grew up. Sure enough I went off to Boston University with its beautiful urban campus smack in the middle of some of the biggest landmarks of Boston. I loved my time at BU, exploring all Boston had to offer as a young woman. The only thing I craved when in Boston was the ocean. Despite being on the water, the sights and sounds and of course the obligations of my studies made it quite challenging to spend time near, in and on the water.

Alas upon graduating I chose to accept a job in the bustling paradise of Honolulu. It became the best of both worlds, the conveniences of a city with the life giving magic of the ocean waves. Honolulu will forever hold my heart, it's where I fell in love, built my career, started our family and lived blissfully for nearly 20 years.

The Call for Digital Wellness and Slower Living

Then all the sudden I got an itch for a quieter, slower, peaceful lifestyle even more closely connected to the rhythms of nature. I couldn't shake it despite spending more time walking the beautiful trails and surfing the world renowned waves. Something deep in my soul was calling me to leave the bustling life of living in or near a city. I spent hours dreaming of gardens and chickens and space! The journey to fulfill this soul yearning is still unfolding but something big has already shifted!

Since embarking on our RV journey we have ventured into two big cities - Washington DC and Chicago. With both of these cities, I have had such a blast showing my girls all that they can offer - the museums, monuments, and history along with the full sensory experience. It's so fun to watch the thrill in my girls when they see something for the first time. These are exactly the experiences I was hoping to provide my girls on this RV adventure. I want them to know their country, see it from as many angles as possible, learn its history, and experience the diversity of its people and places.

Understanding Sensory Overload in Modern Life

At the same time, my nervous system has clearly changed! While I immensely enjoyed our trips into these world class cities, I have at the same time found them utterly exhausting in a way I have never experienced.

The energy in a big city is unlike anything else. There is a constant hustle bustle of which you are swept up into whether you like it or not. So many faces, so many sights, sounds, and smells - it's a constant and rapid influx of sensory stimulation. I recall feeling energized by these things but this time around it was all too much. Upon finally laying down at night my body was dead tired - as if I had at once walked a marathon and taken a standardized test.

This got me thinking, am I just getting old or is the constant digital overwhelm from technology filling my days, driving me to yearn for space, quiet, and calm?

Technology Overstimulation: Living in a Virtual City

I think it's the latter and here's why... our lives have changed so drastically since my days in college it's almost unfathomable. I remember trying to find my way to my internship locations using printed out MapQuest directions, texting by pushing the same button 3 times to type a 'c' and writing all my papers 100% from my own brain. Social media was a fun pastime not a constant barrage of brain-shifting visuals.

No matter where you live, in a city or a corn-field, without boundaries your technology will deliver a city-level of sensory bombardment on a daily basis.

The truth is, we're already living in a virtual metropolis every single day. Our phones ping with notifications, our feeds scroll endlessly with catchy images and videos, our minds jump from email to text to news alert in rapid succession. We're essentially carrying a bustling city square in our pockets, complete with all the digital fatigue and overwhelm that comes with it. Not to mention the bombardment from our already busy lives as mothers. 

The Hidden Cost of Digital Overwhelm Exhaustion

So when we add an actual city visit on top of our already overstimulated digital lives, it's no wonder we feel completely drained. We're layering one sensory overload experience onto another, pushing our nervous systems well beyond their natural capacity to process and recover.

The exhaustion I felt after those city visits wasn't just from walking miles of concrete or navigating crowds - it was my brain desperately trying to manage the compounding effect of digital overwhelm plus urban intensity. No wonder my body felt like it had run a marathon while taking a test. In many ways, it had.

3 Proven Ways to Reduce Technology Overwhelm

But here's what I've learned: we don't have to accept this constant state of tech overwhelm and exhaustion as our new normal. We can reclaim some peace and give our nervous systems the break they desperately need. Here are three simple digital wellness strategies that have made a world of difference for me:

1. Set Social Media Time Limits with Built-in Reminders

Most phones now have built-in screen time features that will remind you to sign off after a set amount of time. Use them strategically for digital detox. When that notification pops up telling you you've spent 30 minutes scrolling, honor it. Your brain needs those micro-breaks from the constant stream of visual input to prevent digital fatigue.

2. Turn Off All Non-Essential App Notifications

Yes, all of them. The only notifications you truly need are calls and texts from people who might have actual emergencies. Everything else - email, social media, news, shopping apps - can wait until you consciously choose to check them. This single change will dramatically reduce the number of times your attention gets hijacked throughout the day, significantly reducing digital overwhelm.

3. Practice Daily Nature Connection for Nervous System Reset

Get in nature every day to settle and ground your nervous system. Even if it's just five minutes in your backyard or a brief walk around the block, daily connection with the natural world helps reset your overstimulated system. There's something profoundly calming about stepping away from screens and into spaces where the only notifications come from birds and the only updates are the changing light of day.

Finding Balance in Our Digital Age

The irony isn't lost on me that I'm sharing these thoughts through technology itself. But perhaps that's exactly why this conversation about digital wellness matters. We can use these tools without being consumed by them. We can visit amazing cities without arriving already depleted from screen time exhaustion. We can give our children rich, diverse experiences while also modeling how to find peace in an increasingly chaotic digital world.

The key is recognizing that just like we wouldn't run a marathon every day, we don't have to subject our nervous systems to city-level digital stimulation around the clock. Sometimes the most radical thing we can do for our digital wellness is simply... turn it off.