Today, let’s talk about something very important yet dangerously common: scrolling.
We know that mobile phone usage has become so widespread that, for many people, it has reached the point of addiction. Our hands automatically drift toward our phones the moment we have a spare second, whether it’s a five-minute break or the final hour before sleep. Our fingertips open the social feeds before the brain even commands them to do so. The habit has become almost instinctive.
On the surface, this act feels relaxing, but it is an escape from the pressures of daily life. We scroll expecting a high-reward escape, but the question is: Are we really getting it?
Why do we feel like we are trapped in the endless loop of scrolling and wasting hours every day without much real gain?
Before knowing more about why we are addicted to scrolling, we should know about B.F. Skinner.
Neurobiology Of Reward
Burrhus Frederic Skinner was an American psychologist and behaviourist who taught psychology at Harvard University. His major study was focused on behaviourism and how humans behave in terms of responses to environmental stimuli. He proposed the Theory of Operant Conditioning in 1937 in the context of reflex physiology. It is a key concept in behavioural psychology that explains how behaviour is shaped through reinforcement and punishment (rewards and consequences).
Skinner introduced the term ‘Intermittent Reinforcement‘, which means a pattern in which rewards are delivered unpredictably, on no fixed schedule. He showed that unpredictable rewards tend to create stronger and more persistent behaviours than consistent rewards. Because people continue performing actions in hopes of a reward. It can happen anytime; that anticipation increases the urge to stay and intensifies the happiness. So work more for more rewards.
Most mobile apps are now designed using Skinner’s principle of intermittent reinforcement. While using social media, you don’t know if the next post will be a funny video, a news update, or a beautiful photo; your brain stays in a state of heightened anticipation. And this means there is a chance for happiness if we find something funny or interesting. This releases a small hit of dopamine in our brain, and the primary reason scrolling feels relaxing is the activation of the reward system in us.
Unlike other hobbies (reading a book or painting), scrolling requires almost zero effort – the easiest way out from stress. It is an activity that requires almost zero cognitive load. That’s why we automatically go towards scrolling when we feel empty. It is easy to do and fills the emptiness but doesn’t need much attention or effort.
The Cost of Easy Gain
The initial hit of dopamine feels good, but scrolling for a long time results in Cognitive Switching Penalty. Cognitive Switching Penalty is a phenomenon in which our brainpower is affected due to continuous task switching. Frequent switching leads to reduced creativity and focus. Additionally, it prevents the brain from entering the Default Mode Network.
The Default Mode Network (DMN) is a state where a person is at wakeful rest and not focused on the outside world. In that state, we are not involved in any external activity but will be daydreaming, recalling the past or planning the future. It is the time of self-reflection, emotional processing, and moral reasoning. So scrolling is stealing the time for DMN and diminishing the chance to have a positive change.
Scrolling is actually giving stimulation without depth and causing subconscious social comparison by comparing our lives to others’ highlights or stories. It satisfies a momentary hunger for an easy time-pass. But actually turned into a time-killer and energy-draining addiction.
So before taking the phone, thinking it is just something we do while resting, we should realize that our brain is actually working overtime. It is consuming thousands of diverse content that is not even connected to real life.
Billion-dollar algorithms are designed to keep us engaged, and our time and peace of mind are the costs.
Let’s reduce scrolling and invest our time in rest, mindfulness or happiness.
