By Miguel Luna 
A veces no es ansiedad, ni timidez, ni “ser raro”. A veces simplemente nos apagamos. El mundo sigue girando, pero nuestra vida queda en pausa. ¿Qué nos pasa cuando dejamos de construir experiencias y empezamos a vivir más en pantallas que en personas? Sometimes it’s not anxiety, or shyness, or “being weird.” Sometimes we simply turn off. The world keeps spinning, but our lives are put on pause. What happens to us when we stop building experiences and start living more on screens than with people? And, above all: how do we turn the spark back on?
🌧️ Have you ever felt like your life is running on autopilot?
You go to study or work. You come back home. You crash on your bed. YouTube, Twitch, reels, a series, snack, sleep. And the next day, the same thing. Over and over again.
The curious thing is that you’re not unwell. You’re not crying in the shower. You’re not on the verge of anything. But you’re not fully alive either. What used to excite you—going out, meeting people, planning things, feeling the world outside—now gives you apathy or laziness.
It’s as if your life is on pause, but you’re still there staring at the screen, waiting for something to activate itself.
🔥 Why does this happen?
We live in the era of infinite entertainment: the brain receives cheap and fast dopamine (short videos, games, notifications), and then reality—the things that take time, uncertainty, embarrassment, or effort—starts to feel like… a downer.
Result:
- Socializing is tiring.
- Making plans feels like a chore.
- Staying inside is easier.
- And the life outside loses its shine.
And if you’ve even overcome fears, shyness, or difficult phases, something even more confusing can happen: you “healed,” but you don’t feel like it. You can now, but you don’t want to. And that feels emptier than fear.
⚡ Warning sign: a life without milestones
Months go by and there are no:
- new memories
- new places
- new people
- new experiences
Just more chapters watched, more scrolling, and more similar days.
Life doesn’t hurt… but it doesn’t happen either.
🌱 The good news: you can get out
To feel the desire again, you don’t need infinite willpower, but micro-sparks that re-ignite the system. Three simple steps work much better than just “trying harder”:
1) Micro-social exposure Don’t ask yourself to “go out with 10 people.” Ask yourself for short and frequent interactions. 10 minutes of real conversation > 3 hours of Netflix.
2) One planned outing per week (mandatory, even if you don’t feel like it) A class, a hobby, a get-together, a workshop, a sport. At first, you don’t enjoy it: you build enjoyment, like a muscle.
3) Less immediate dopamine, more achievement dopamine A little less screen time. A little more time on something that grows (a project, studies, an experience, human contact).
💬 You are not alone in this
Many young people are turning off without realizing it. It is the silent epidemic of our time: huge internal lives, tiny external lives.
And it’s not because “you’re not good at socializing,” or because “that’s just how life is.” It’s because you need to re-ignite the outside, in small, constant, and real steps.
🌞 Life is lived
Life is not watched. Life is lived. You don’t need to make an epic change today. One spark is enough. Then another. And another.
The important thing is to start moving outwards again—because out there, not in here, is where the stories that will build you happen.
