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You’re on hold, shifting between automated menus, waiting for someone — anyone — to answer. Your phone buzzes, an email pings, a news alert flashes across the screen. Hours later, you feel disoriented, exhausted, and disconnected. This sense of unreality is increasingly common.
The average American now spends nearly five hours a day on their phone, and office workers spend an additional six to seven hours a day in front of a computer during the workday. Adults spend roughly 2–2.5 hours a day on social media alone, and the typical office worker reads or scans over 100 emails daily. It’s little wonder that Americans with high screen use are experiencing fractured attention spans, higher rates of anxiety, and disrupted sleep. Exceeding these limits has been linked to higher anxiety, disrupted sleep, and a fractured attention span.
Katherine May, author of Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age, sees this modern overload as more than inconvenient — it shapes our emotional lives. “That looping behavior in particular — that cycling between one app and another… sometimes closing the app and opening it immediately afterwards, like as a complete impulse — I began to try and see that as a symptom of anxiety in itself,” she observed. It’s our mind waving a red flag, signaling that something deeper needs attention.
Constant exposure to alarming news and online outrage compounds the strain. Neuroscientists warn that chronic engagement with negative news triggers the body’s stress response repeatedly, leaving people with unspent adrenaline and a near-constant sense of threat. “Never before have we had to live with this extent of contact with all the awful things in the world,” May said. Humans were designed to deal with suffering in our own communities, not on a global scale. The sheer volume of suffering happening far away leaves us feeling helpless and overwhelmed. Our brains, evolved for far slower, more contained experiences, struggle to process this nonstop flood of global crises. This results in emotional exhaustion, disconnection, and a sense that reality itself is slipping away.
“What’s going on underneath that,” May said, “is this constant sense of threat that has become ever-present but [is] actually quite amorphous. It’s not something we can look at directly, but it’s there — this looming, existential threat that we’re all aware of but can’t act on. Life might look kind of normal, but every piece of media we consume is telling us it isn’t. And this leaves us living with unspent adrenaline, ready to act on something we’re not even sure of.”
This emotional tension, May argues, is compounded by the endless outrage we encounter online, where anger becomes the only socially validated response. She suggests that the real cost is how we respond to this constant state of unease: “It’s almost God-like, the overview we have now of all the terrible things in the world at once, and, of course, we’re totally helpless in the face of it most of the time,” she said.
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A Moment to Marvel
The remedy is both simple and radical: wonder. Wonder is the deliberate practice of noticing what fascinates, delights, or humbles us in everyday life. Children do it naturally — a stone in the garden, a leaf, a cloud can absorb their full attention. Adults, by contrast, often dismiss curiosity as trivial. Relearning this skill even in small doses, May says, can restore balance and focus.
Even tiny moments of observing nature can be transformative. A leaf’s delicate veins, sunlight slanting across a kitchen counter, the way a bird perches on a branch — each encounter invites a pause. “I don’t have to achieve something that’s going to solve all my problems forever,” May said. “But I can make a connection with something that I find wonderful that’s going to settle me for long enough to survive this moment.”
Research shows that spending as little as 20–30 minutes in the natural world can reduce cortisol levels and lower blood pressure.
“The world is actually 95% probably more wonderful” than the problems we dwell on. “And that’s what we need to integrate now more than anything else,” May said. “That’s the lesson that we need to learn about this, that the terrible violence, the terrible suffering is unusual in our species. For most of the time, we are ticking along with great kindness and generosity.”
Research on awe and mindfulness suggests that reflecting on the vastness of the world — whether through nature, the cosmos, or quiet contemplation — can reduce stress, improve focus, and foster empathy. By embracing our limited scope, we free ourselves from the burden of control and can invest energy in simple, meaningful gestures that connect us with others and the world around us.”
Wonder as Practice
Wonder is both practical and adaptable. Observing nature, revisiting childhood fascinations, or keeping a journal of small delights can help anchor us. Scientific curiosity can deepen the experience rather than diminish it: watching a plant grow, noting the trajectory of the stars, a walk by a river — each offers moments of grounding in a frenetic world.
Importantly, wonder is not a way to ignore suffering. On the contrary, it makes us better equipped to face it. May explains that our emotional reactions — grief, horror, and outrage — were never designed for the constant, distant suffering we’re exposed to today. We find ourselves caught in a cycle of debating emotional responses to things that are happening far away, instead of engaging with the actual people who need our help. “We’ve got ourselves into quite the pickle, but none of us are willing to let that go,” she continued. “We’re arguing about that response without actually even touching the people who are suffering… and it’s a self-perpetuating toxic environment.”
“If we are rested and if we are grounded… we can help the world better,” May said. Moments of joy and curiosity provide resilience, allowing us to be present for others, act thoughtfully, and meet life’s challenges without being overwhelmed.
For those looking to reclaim calm, May suggested simple exercises: take five minutes to observe something closely, keep a notebook of small delights, or notice a familiar object as if seeing it for the first time. These intentional acts of attention create pockets of calm that counterbalance digital noise and constant productivity demands.
In an anxious age, wonder is not a luxury — it’s a survival tool. It reconnects us to our humanity, restores equilibrium, and allows us to notice the extraordinary in the ordinary. By cultivating fascination, curiosity, and awe in everyday life, we can manage stress, nurture resilience, and find joy — even amid the relentless pace of modern life.