The Game Designer Who Detoxed From His Own Industry
Joel Bergman has ADHD. He runs an indie game studio in Indianapolis called Grizzhoot. He designs the loops that pull you in and make it hard to put the controller down. And he just walked us through how he ran a 30-day digital detox using Cal Newport’s method, and made it stick.
Most people who attempt a 30-day break fail in week one. The framework is sound. The execution is where it falls apart. Bergman’s execution is the lesson.
This post is drawn from a standalone segment of The Vitality Journey Podcast with Dave Rodriguez, Dimitri Snowden, and Joel Bergman.
Step 1: Figure Out Your Values First
Newport’s method does not start with rules. It starts with values. The reason most detoxes collapse is that people try to remove the behavior without first knowing why. Willpower runs out fast. Values do not.
Bergman did not arrive at his detox through a productivity blog. He got there through journaling. He started writing daily as a creative practice and noticed a pattern showing up on the page: hours and hours of YouTube, days in a row, with nothing to show for it. The journal made the gap between his stated values and his actual behavior visible. Once you see the gap, the motivation handles itself.
Before you delete a single app, answer two questions. What do I actually want my life to be about? And which technologies are serving that, versus stealing from it?
Step 2: Raise the Friction to Bad Behavior
This is where Bergman’s method is sharpest. He did not rely on willpower. He redesigned the environment.
- Phone set to grayscale, removing the visual pull that the apps are designed around.
- Social media apps deleted from the phone but kept on the computer. He could still use them. He just had to walk to a different room and sit down at a desk.
- Time limits set to zero minutes for the worst-offender apps, using the phone’s built-in controls.
The principle is simple. Every extra step between you and the bad behavior reduces the frequency of the bad behavior. You do not have to make it impossible. You just have to make it inconvenient.
Step 3: Plan for the Silence
This is the step most people skip, and it is the reason most detoxes fail in week one. Phones do four things: they fill silence, soothe boredom, provide low-effort dopamine, and give you something to do with your hands. Remove the phone without addressing those four functions, and you will be back on the phone by Tuesday.
Bergman had real activities ready. He got into reading. He joined a book club. He walked his dog. He listened to podcasts on purpose, not as background noise. None of it was dramatic. All of it was prepared.
Before you start the 30 days, write down five things you actually want to do with the time. Have books on the shelf. Schedule the walk. Tell a friend you are doing this. Have somewhere to land.
Step 4: Reintroduce From a Blank Slate
At the end of the 30 days, Newport recommends starting from zero. You do not return to your old phone. You audit each technology and only reintroduce the ones that genuinely serve your life. This is the part that requires the most intentionality, and it is the part most people skip.
Dave puts it well in the conversation: everything around us is pushing us into a reactive mode, and intentionality takes real energy. But a 30-day detox without an intentional reintroduction is just a vacation from the addiction. The reintroduction is where the change actually sticks.
The Honest Part: The First Week Is the Hardest
Bergman did not pretend the detox was easy. He talks about constantly catching himself reaching for the phone in the first week. Putting it back in his pocket. Sitting with the urge to watch a YouTube video and instead being alone with his thoughts. That discomfort is the whole point. It is also the part that gets shorter every day you keep going.
Where to Start This Week
You do not have to commit to all 30 days right now. Pick one move. Set your phone to grayscale today. Delete one app from your phone but keep it on your laptop. Schedule a walk without earbuds. Behavioral health is one of the six dimensions of vitality, and it is the one quietly running the show. Start small. Stay honest.
If you are ready to take the longer view across all six dimensions of vitality, our coaching framework, The Calling Quilt™, is built for exactly this work.
Watch the full conversation on The Vitality Journey Podcast and learn more at destiny-works.com/the-vitality-journey.
Watch the full conversation with Joel Bergman on The Vitality Journey Podcast: HERE
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Full Transcript
Dave: Let’s talk about what Newport says: how to become a digital minimalist. He said first, choose a 30-day period during which you will take a break from optional technologies in your life. He means stop it all.
Joel: It’s pretty tough. So fast.
Dave: 30 days. I’m saying, how could I do that?
Joel: It does go by quickly if you do it. The replacement is mostly the app. When I did my digital detox, as he calls it, I set my phone to be in black and white mode, so it was less interesting to look at. I deleted a lot of apps from my phone. I told myself, “I can still use social media. I’m just going to do it on my computer instead of on my phone.” Because if I’m doing it on my phone, it’s always in my hand, always in my pocket. It’s too accessible, too easy. But doing it on my computer, it’s like, “Okay, I have to sit down in a different room, on a different device.” Most of the mobile operating systems have ways to limit the time you spend on apps so you can set time limits. I set time limits for zero minutes for a lot of the apps I shouldn’t be spending as much time on while I was trying to do this digital detox.
Dave: Was it hard for you to set the timer? Was there a lot of resistance?
Joel: It was pretty easy because I knew that it was going to have a positive impact.
Dave: You were motivated, because you had done what he suggested first: figure out what your values are.
Joel: Exactly. That’s the first step. Before you even try a digital detox, you need to figure out what your values are, then find some activities you can do that align with those values that can take the place of the digital.
Dave: Newport says, during the 30-day fast or detox, explore and rediscover activities and behaviors that you find satisfying and meaningful. Did you do that too?
Joel: Yeah. I got really into reading. I joined a book club recently. I walk my dog a lot. Listen to podcasts. Real analog.
Dave: Is there difficulty in that? If you had four hours a day on the screen, and now all of a sudden you don’t, I could imagine going nuts. How do you find that thing to fill that time?
Joel: It goes back to your personal values. Spending time with other people is a great way to do it as well. You’re less likely to be on your phone if you’re with a group of people engaged.
Dave: There’s the power of relationship. So your recommendation would be, if you do this detox, have some things in place. Set the timers, but you’ve got to have a plan, because otherwise you’re going to sit there and do other things.
Joel: Having another person to keep you accountable is very important.
Dave: Newport says, at the end of the break, reintroduce optional technology starting from a blank slate. Make sure that each technology you reintroduce has value and serves your life. That is a level of intentionality. For people to live with intentionality is a very hard thing. There’s a lot of energy. It feels to me like everything around us is pushing us into a reactive mode to what’s handed to us, instead of living intentionally. Do you find that to be true?
Joel: Everything is passive. It just works because you’re there. You don’t have to do anything anymore.
Dave: And then he says, reclaim leisure. Reading, exercise, long walks, hobbies. Prioritize demanding activity over passive consumption. Do something with your hands. Do something with your body. Use skills to produce valuable things in the physical world. And join something. Show up. Your book club. Was any of this difficult for you?
Joel: It was difficult maybe the first week, but it got easier. I constantly found myself taking my phone out of my pocket and looking at it, and being like, “Okay, no, I need to put it back in my pocket.” There were times where I’m sitting there and I’m like, “I could be watching a YouTube video, but I just need to sit here with my own thoughts and figure out what I need to do.” I got in touch with some of my other hobbies that I’d been neglecting. It helped that the weather started to get nice while I was doing this, so I could take my dog on long walks.