Why We Just Can't Stop Scrolling !
We've all been there - bedtime scrolling, worktime scrolling, even scrolling with our friends and family around us. Wherever we are in the world, our phones are with us.
Sometimes I find myself doing it without realizing it. We all want to quit, but we can’t seem to do so. Why?
The internet is saturated with so-called solutions — dopamine addiction, poor habits, algorithmic manipulations. And I think the reality is more complex than we’d like to acknowledge.
Let’s begin with something we usually overlook: our devices take advantage of our anxiety.
How Notifications Create Anxiety
Picture having a notice come through. You don’t know anything until you open it and find out your phone needs your attention. It might be wonderful news — such as an income payment — or awful news — such as an email from a loved one with bad news.
The uncertainty generates anxiety.
The only solution to it? Look into the phone.
And it’s usually something irrelevant most of the time. But this occurs incessantly. Hundreds of times daily if your notifications are not well controlled.
The outcome? Ongoing, low-grade anxiety. We stop waiting to hear back eventually. We pre-emptively check — refreshing email, refreshing our streams — just to make sure we haven’t missed anything.
Phones exploit our nervousness and subsequently cause us to become more anxious.
The Development of Anxiety in the Age of Smartphones
Psychologist Jean Twenge, in her book Generations, presents strong evidence that use of smartphones and social media has substantially eroded mental health.
Dissatisfaction among youth has all but doubled since 2012. Large numbers say that they don’t find joy any more or feel worthwhile. And the trend began long before COVID-19 hit. Twenge contends that phones and social networks aren’t merely associated with these declines in mental health — they’re a strong causal factor.
Even on a personal level, I become anxious without my phone or when waiting to hear news, although checking does not cause anything to come any sooner.
So I’ve made extreme decisions: no social media apps, no YouTube, and eventually — no email on my phone whatsoever.
The Vicious Cycle: Anxiety Nourishes Off Itself
Here is the trap: our phones cause anxiety by being uncertain. Then, because constant phone and social media use heighten general anxiety, each subsequent notification becomes increasingly more difficult to avoid.
It’s a loop:
→ Anxiety leads to mobile use
→ Cell phone use heightens anxiety
→ More phone use
And once we are on our phones? We scroll.
Are We Addicted to Dopamine?
One reason is the dopamine theory:
Phones provide little “hits” of dopamine.
We grow addicted to those hits.
We desire increasingly more and more.
So it is that we scroll endlessly — to receive those small moments of feel-good rushes.
Introduce randomness and uncertainty, and the allure becomes almost irresistible. Our algorithms are specially designed to hook us.
The Myth of Dopamine Fasting
As an alternative, some turn to “dopamine fasting” — avoiding all sources of stimulation and pleasure in an effort to “reset” the brain.
They avoid even delicious food or crowded streets.
But the problem is that dopamine fasting does not reset your dopamine levels. It’s not real science. Even its biggest proponents, including psychiatrist Cameron Sepah, say so themselves. A more appropriate name would be “stimulation fasting.”
But the concept behind this — that we develop habits out of what we enjoy — is very old. Aristotle put it most succinctly: we can condition ourselves to enjoy something.
So the more we use our phones to entertain ourselves, the more we make them our prime source of gratification. It’s not outright addiction — but it is reinforced habit.
We Scroll Because It’s Fun
The one part we usually overlook: scrolling is enjoyable.
Watching YouTube, talking with our friends, viewing TikToks — it’s enjoyable. So we just do it.
This need not be justified by addiction. It is just human nature. Humans like to enjoy themselves. Phones make us happy. Therefore we use them — a lot.
The Anger Trap: How Platforms Weaponize Emotion
But not everyone scrolls happily. A great deal of it is driven by anger.
When Facebook added emotional reactions back in 2017, they started to emphasize posts that elicited powerful reactions — particularly anger.
Why? Anger keeps audiences engaged more long-term. And it worked.
Research demonstrates that posts with negative and emotive contents are more likely to be shared compared to neutral or positive posts. Before long, your newsfeed is filled with items that infuriate you. And Facebook is not the only one. YouTube, Twitter, TikTok — they are all guilty too. As an creator, I know that sensational titles and thumbnails are more effective. Shock generates clicks.
Anger Is Addictive
Roman philosopher Seneca equated anger with madness. Anger obscures your judgment and kills self-control. The moment you’re angry, you’ve lost already.
And still, platforms continue to give us anger because it is profitable. You can become famous by just fighting with somebody else who is famous. Controversy generates dual constituencies: those who agree with you — and those who despise you.
And advertisers? They don’t care that you’re watching. Just that you are.
Algorithmic Complacency: Losing Our Agency
Recently, Technology Connections presented the concept of algorithmic complacency. We have outsourced far too much thought to computers.
Our phones instruct us on what to watch, what to read and what to feel and we obey.
Similar to relying on a calculator to solve little things, we forfeit our capacity to solve problems, entertain ourselves, or simply just be able to tolerate boredom.
Phones are tools, and tools are beneficial — but with any tool come trade-offs. The trade-off with this one is our agency.
So, Why Can’t We Stop Scrolling?
It’s not any one reason. It’s all of them:
Our phones exploit our anxiety.
We’ve developed habits that feel good.
Social media stokes outrage and pays out anger.
Algorithms influence our behavior and preferences.
We are dependent — socially, cognitively, and emotionally.
We scroll because doing so is effortless. Because it’s comfortable. Because we don’t know how to stop.
And perhaps the initial move toward taking back our attention…
is merely being aware of all the ways in which we’ve given it away.
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