Design digital recovery periods that restore attention instead of adding more stimulation.
Recovery research distinguishes breaks that merely stop work from breaks that restore capacity. Psychological detachment means mentally switching off from job demands. Relaxation lowers activation. Mastery gives a small sense of growth outside the demand cycle. Control gives the person choice over the break. Digital wellbeing fails when every pause becomes another attention market. Scrolling can feel like agency, but it often keeps the same systems active: novelty seeking, comparison, unresolved work cues, and micro-decisions. A better break changes the state of the nervous system and the attentional channel. That might be walking outside, stretching without a screen, making tea…
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