Let me tell you a tale of two creators.
Maria wakes up at 7. She grabs a coffee, opens her Moleskine, and takes a 45-minute walk through her neighborhood. No earbuds. No doomscrolling. Just thinking. Feeling. Breathing.
She posts one piece of content at 10AM. It’s smart. It’s soulful. It gets shared like wildfire.
Then? She logs off.
Alex, on the other hand, also posts at 10AM. But he hasn’t left his apartment in three days. He eats with ChatGPT open. He falls asleep to podcasts about productivity. He’s optimized everything — except his humanity.
When people multitask between screens (e.g., phone + laptop), IQ drops by up to 15 points — the equivalent of losing a full night’s sleep.— [Source: University of London study via HP]
Alex, the multitasking content creator. He thinks he’s killing it, but cognitively, he’s functioning like he pulled an all-nighter every day.
Guess which one feels more alive?
We’re not just using tech anymore. We’re living inside it. – And it’s messing with us.
And our reduced attention span is an indicator of that dilemma.
To provide a bit of data to how the 2 worlds are impacting us you only need to look at attention span trends.
“The average Gen Z attention span is 1.3 seconds shorter than that of a goldfish (8.25s vs 9.5s)”. – (Microsoft Canada, Consumer Insights Report]
Welcome to the tension of the 21st century:
You live in two worlds now. One physical. One digital. And our parents and society haven’t provided us with a guide or roadmap.
So…here’s the plot twist:
The problem isn’t your phone. It’s not even AI. It’s that you were never taught how to be a hybrid human.
We’re all beta testing a new species:
- We walk through parks while writing LinkedIn posts.
- We build brands while forgetting birthdays.
- We Facetime people we haven’t hugged in years.
And we’re quietly asking: Is this what life is now?
Let’s get brutally honest.
You’re overwhelmed not because you’re weak but because you’re trying to exist in two realities at once.
- Physical world: Smells, sweat, sunlight, slow moments.
- Digital world: Speed, scale, metrics, dopamine.
Most of us are drowning in one and sleepwalking through the other.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
How can we see differently
Let’s break it down with the WHAT → SO WHAT → NOW WHAT framework:
WHAT:
Technology didn’t just reshape the world. It split it.
You’re not managing screen time anymore.You’re managing two identities:
- Your real self: the one who eats, cries, stretches, ages.
- Your digital self: the one who posts, performs, scales.
The average internet user now consumes the equivalent of 174 newspapers worth of information per day — 5x more than in 1986.— [Source: UC San Diego study, “How Much Information?”]
It’s not that the “tech is overwhelming” to “you are overloaded by design”. The design applied to tech is designed to distract and overwhelm. Tech is in itself agnostic. The humans that design it aren’t. They are designing hooks and triggers to maximize your revenue and attract your attention and consequently your mental health.
“We’re not broken — we’re overstimulated to the point of numbness”.
If your mind feels full, it’s because you’re mentally reading a full Sunday paper every 5 minutes.
SO WHAT:
This duality is exhausting your nervous system. You are constantly bouncing between 2 worlds.
We all have technology induced schizophrenia not induced by psychosis
It’s why you feel:
- Emotionally fried after a “normal” workday
- Disconnected after a full day of “connection”
- Uninspired even though you’re producing more than ever
You’re not lazy. You’re fragmented. And fragmentation is the death of meaning.
NOW WHAT:
If we want to thrive in both worlds, we need a new skillset:
Not more productivity hacks.
Not more AI tools.
Not more “optimize your morning routine” B.S.
We need something deeper: To develop workable Hybrid Human Hygiene — practices that help us integrate, not escape.
How do we practice being a Hybrid Human?
Let’s make this real. You’re not a machine. You’re not a brand. You’re not a growth funnel.
You are:
- A body that needs sleep.
- A mind that needs silence.
- A soul that needs stillness.
But we are trapped in habits that have been designed by the humans behind the tech to entrap you. For their needs. You don’t matter to them, but your money and attention does.
How addicted are we?
“The average smartphone user touches their phone 2,617 times per day — and heavy users? Over 5,400”.— [Source: dscout Research]
So here is the thing.
You touch your phone more than you touch your lover, loved ones, your face, your food, your future. Even your dog. What’s that doing to your nervous system?
Let me give you five ways to protect all of that while still playing the digital game.
The 5 habits of hybrid humans:
1. Awareness: Know where you are
Think of this like mental GPS. You wake up and check Slack in bed? You’re starting your day in someone else’s world.
Try this: Before touching a screen, ask: “Am I in my body? Or in the feed?”
2. Ritual: Reclaim the physical
You don’t need a silent retreat. You need a signal to your nervous system that you still exist outside of tech.
Ideas:
- Walk before you scroll.
- Eat without content.
- Write one page by hand each day.
“Start small. The body keeps score”.
3. Curation: Control your inputs
When databases started to be created and used back in the good old days when computers started to emerge and were used by business there was a saying “Garbage in, garbage out”
If you are feeding your mind with dross and superficial shallow 15 TikTok videos designed for nothing more than to get you to click and follow then you’re canon fodder for someone else’s influencer dreams.
The reality is that what we put into our minds comes out in our personality, our view of the world and the quality of what we create.
So when you pick up your phone and mindlessly scroll for hours a day consider this:
“You wouldn’t eat from a trash can. So why scroll through one?”
So…Audit your digital diet:
- Unfollow noise.
- Mute anxiety loops.
- Replace doomscrolling with idea-feeding.
Feed your mind like you’d feed your future self. Carefully.
4. Creation: Scale your raw and real humanity
AI can automate your voice. But it can’t know your values. It also doesn’t know your stories. Be real and tell your own stories. Share your pain and your joy. Be vulnerable.
- Don’t just create for reach. Create from resonance.
- Use AI to refine your truth, not fake it.
- Show up as a real person — not a brand cosplay.
“The most advanced tech you’ll ever own is still your intuition”.
5. Community: Be human with humans
In the past friends were people you cycled with, played football in the park, caught up with for dinner and had conversations and greeted each other with a hug. That’s changed.
Now we have friends we have never seen, never met and may never see. In fact with AI companions we are now starting to have friends that are not real and avatars designed to take engagement from normal to addictive..
The social media ecosystem, AI and the virtual world is changing our humanity.
It has a role but…
- Followers ≠ friends.
- Slack ≠ connection.
- Zoom ≠ presence.
Talk to someone without multitasking. Leave voice notes and not just texts. Host analog moments: walks, dinners, deep convos.
“The most disruptive act in a digital world is still being fully present”.
Contrast between the real world and the virtual
In looking at the contrast between our two worlds we need to take time to examine what each means and brings. Ancient wisdom is often worth examining.
“The unexamined life is not worth living,” – Socrates
This emphasizes the importance of self-reflection and thoughtful consideration in shaping a meaningful life. It suggests that simply existing without introspection or purpose is not a fulfilling way to live.
Here is some hard contrast as a checklist:
| Behavior | Feels Productive | Actually Draining |
| Multitasking across tabs |  |  |
| Checking every notification | | |
| Posting content every day | | if soul-less |
| Walking without your phone | | |
| Real conversations | | |
Here is something to reflect on: Your mind is a browser. Every open tab is a drain on your RAM. Close tabs. Reboot. Reclaim bandwidth.
Final words
We tell ourselves stories in order to live.
But some of those stories are breaking us now. And this is what they are saying:
We can be in two places at once. Presence can be manufactured. Constant input is a substitute for attention.
Instead we should remember. We are not machines. We are humans enabled and amplified by technology not enslaved to our devices
So…We respond to sunlight, not spotlights. We are meant to pause, to bore ourselves, to sit in traffic in silence and grief without needing to narrate it. But feel it.
Technology was meant to extend us…not edit us. But somewhere along the way, the tools became the life.
It’s easy to mistake the scroll for movement..To believe that being seen is the same as being known.
You are here. In this body. In this moment.
So here’s your challenge:
Turn your screens off, just for an hour.
Let the silence settle.
Go for a walk.
Be somewhere without needing to be seen.
Let the sky go on without your commentary.
And do not call it a break.
Call it your life.
Then return to the digital world, on your terms.
The post Are We Beta Testing a New Hybrid Human Species? appeared first on jeffbullas.com.
* This article was originally published here
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