Some advice to those struggling with PCS, especially young adults:

Do you use a smartphone? Get rid of it! Do you look at porn? Quit it!

Smartphones make it so easy to access the web and Facebook that you end up using it too much. For example, 65% of young adults use their smartphones in bed. The light from the screen disrupts melatonin production and the increased brain activity degrades your quality of sleep. Because the body does most of its repairing while you sleep, using a smartphone in bed hinders the healing in a big way.

Telling yourself "just don't use your smartphone" doesn't work because your phone is usually within arms reach at all hours of the day. So it's best to just get rid of your smartphone and switch to a basic phone. You know what you see when you check Facebook on your phone? Same stuff that was there 5 minutes ago!

Porn should also be abstained from while recovering from concussions. Internet porn has the same effect on the brain as cocaine. It causes artificially high levels of dopamine for extended periods of time which overstimulates the brain and impedes the healing. Side effects include brain fog, depression, erectile dysfunction, social anxiety and violent dreams. So watching porn exacerbates concussion symptoms.

Porn and smartphones can be very difficult to give up because once your brain becomes accustomed to that high level of stimulation it needs it just to feel normal and it will make you hurt if you try to take it away. So you have to reboot your brain and just go cold turkey. The good news is that eventually your brain will get tired of beating you up and life without those vices will become normal once again.

When I ditched my smartphone, I started getting an extra 2 hours of sleep each night! And when I quit looking at porn, for the first time in as long as I could remember, girls appeared in my dreams and I thought that was awesome!

Thanks for this. It's great to hear it from someone in the middle of the smart phone/social media age. I tried to warn people from using smart phones long ago. Nobody appeared to believe it was valid and worse, the social pressures were too great.

The challenge is to find a decent flip phone. Mine is getting very old.

If anybody has a recommendation for a flip phone what works well, please post it here.

I had not heard the porn issue but it makes sense.

I use my smartphone wisely and for me it is a must since I take Uber and ride hailing apps in USA and other countries too. I also check the stock market and have done trading when I am out and away from computer.

There are apps like MagicJack which I have in my iPhone and so I am available on my US number (which I ported to MagicJack) and can keep my cell phone number as well.

When applying for jobs sometimes you have to be around email all the time. Those days also I found it is a must. Smartphone can save life too if you put all your information in medical id where anyone can access even if your phone is locked.

Now I also agree many use for Facebook, Whatsapp etc., almost non-stop and it is very sad. Outside the virtual world they all act strange. I even read one article since they constantly look down they developed text-neck where the neck spine bent for one teenager.

I even see many of my adult friends just placing the smart phone right in front of the dinner when we go out and they subconsciously keep checking even if nothing there. Youngsters don't even take their eyes away when talking. I find that insulting and disgusting.

I doubt many people know how to use it wise.

Drew,

Gutsy post with which I agree.

Pcs,

I know people who can't make it through a church service now without texting...sad.

Bud

Smartphones are so ubiquitous that not having one is a modern-day taboo. So it's an interesting conundrum. If you use a computer instead of a smartphone to access the web then you can only go on Facebook when you're sitting at your desk so that limits your online time. Which is a good thing.

I suggest reading the book "Your Brain on Porn" for help quitting. It was really interesting because doctors and psychologists have always said that porn is harmless. So it's regular guys that are saying "wait a minute, this stuff is really bad for you!" and discovering all the side effects and what happens when you quit.

Your Brain on Porn Book | Your Brain On Porn

Ty you for this post. I use porn to try to relive my pain temporarily but I think it depletes my testosterone levels and can cause brain fog to worsen. Doing some research, i found nofap community and am going to start now by going hard mode for 30 days. Will post results weekly if I notice any changes in PCS symptoms. Time to reboot my brain.

well, here is the thing, I just got my first smart phone last August, i caved, and a lot of terrible side effects, but one thing i did notice, I am spending a lot less time staring at my dual monitor computer screens, now do I spend more time looking at a screen before I had my smart phone, I'm not sure, but there is a lot less desktop time and no laptop time any more, just thought that was an interesting perspective on this topic

I got a smartphone last winter and I just got the text and talk option and had them put a data block on all the apps. Alot cheaper and when you don't have all the internet options the phone becomes just a phone again.

Todayistomorrow, glad to hear you are accepting the reboot challenge! It will be great to hear your experience.

Endorphins are powerful painkillers so yeah it feels great watching porn. But that temporary relief comes at the expense of worsening symptoms. For me it made my dizziness a lot worse.


Sohitd, I noticed the same thing. Checking messages on my smartphone is less stressful than on the computer because the screen is so much smaller. I still use my smart phone over Wi-Fi for that reason, I just don't carry it around with me everywhere I go. If I use my smartphonephone too much, I can turn it off for a few days and still get calls and texts through my basic phone. That way I have more control over how much I use it.

For those who want to break free of smart phones but still need texting. Pinger TextFree ( pinger.com) offers a good way to send and receive text from a computer. Verizon also offers Verizon Messages / Message+, a downloadable app for your computer that resides in the taskbar so you can send and receive texts. It even uses your cell phone contact list. It syncs with your cell phone so you can use both. I can even send a text to myself when I want to send a phone number or address to my cell phone from my laptop.

Take Texting to the Next Level | Verizon Wireless