THE ANTI-ALGORITHM MORNING
How to kick-start your day with calm (and without doom-scrolling)
Words
SCARLETT CONLON
A quiet morning with a steaming cup of coffee looking out the window as the world starts to wake up to a new day; a gentle yoga stretch; a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. The anti-algorithm morning does exist! At least it would be if these weren’t scenes that I had doom-scrolled on Instagram somewhere between waking up at 6am and getting out of bed at 7.
But that was before. Before I clocked that all this instant stimulation was about as helpful as eating a Krispy Kreme on an empty stomach, which is to say the spike soon left me feeling lethargic. Recognising my bad habit was key in ditching my early morning iPhone-dependence, beating the algorithm, and creating a sense of calm to start my day.
Before we continue, if any of this relates, don’t beat yourself up – we’re not alone. When polled earlier this year by Virgin Media O2, 81% of Britons said they reached for their phones first thing most days, with 75% heading straight to their social media feeds.
What’s the harm in that? Staying connected to friends and family and being in the loop on social media can be positive. But according to Empowerment Psychologist Jay Rai, who specialises in the neuroscience of mental health, when we go to our phones first thing, we force our brains to skip important subconscious brainwave states that makes our creative brains most attuned (theta and alpha stages to be precise).
In other words, we’re making our brain alert before it’s ready (skipping from deep-sleep into the beta ‘wide-awake’ state), which stops creative ideation in its tracks. This makes it hard to process triggering things, and sets us off on a bad course for the day.
So, how to get out of the right side of the bed? I’ve found that new routines only work if I really want them to, which requires a healthy dose of reality and meaningful resolve. Making changes within the parameters of reality always makes my good intentions more likely to stick long term. For example, I’ve read advice about leaving my phone in another room and getting an old-school alarm clock, but I feel better knowing my phone is close by for emergency calls – see kids, parents, and work – and personally I don’t trust anything other than my high-pitched iPhone alarm to wake me for a 6am flight. Instead, charging it on a sideboard on the other side of the room is a game changer. Obviously, this means I have to get up to turn it off and when I’m up, I’m up, which reminds me I don’t want to default to doom-scroll (see, reality and resolve!).
From there, I’ve found that a curated self-care routine makes the world of difference. Wrapping myself in a beautiful dressing gown and slipping my feet into sheepskin slippers is a delightful way to start the day. After a simple first-thing facial beauty routine (wash, dry, spritz), I’ll light a scented candle in the kitchen and click play on a cassette tape while I’m waiting for the kettle to boil. Again, you’ll have your own musical idea of what is mood-boosting – for me, it ranges from Oasis to Vivaldi Four Seasons, depending on my mood.
Italy, where I live, is a morning kind of place, and throwing our windows open and hearing the streets come to life is a good reminder that real-life is more interesting than any Instagram feed (for the record, I felt the same way when I lived in London). While my tea is brewing, I’ll take my supplements, feed our cats, water our plants, and do a gentle stretch. And then, and only then – about 25 minutes after getting out of bed – I’ll check my phone for updates and respond to anything urgent while savouring my cuppa.
It might not sound like much, and morning responsibilities will vary wildly from mine – but again, reality and resolve is everything. It’s no coincidence that all the little morning rituals I have put in place create moments of sensorial interaction. As a journalist, I naturally want to know everything when I wake up, which means I’m hard-wired to crave immediate stimulants in the morning. But trading iPhone/newswire/Insta-gratification for touch, scent, sound and taste is addictive in a different way. I find I want to do all these things more than I want to get distracted by headlines, emails and DMs before I absolutely have to. In fact, it makes me more prepared to get stuck into it all.
Above all else, I have found that the most helpful thing in attempting to avoid the lure of my phone first thing is to give myself a break. There will always be things to do, reasons to pick up, inevitable distractions. That’s life. But adopting good habits can never be a bad thing. As my personal trainer is always reminding me, it doesn’t matter if I don’t keep up best intentions every single day of the week, as long as you make sure to pick up right where you left off.
Scarlett Conlon is a freelance journalist, editor, author and consultant, specialising in fashion, design and lifestyle.