Being on your phone is such a sweet spot. You don’t want to put in effort into anything but also don’t want to lie around and be completely useless? Easy, scroll on your phone so the constant barrage of information keeps you engaged but requires almost zero effort.
This engagement gives you the illusion that you’re doing something worthwhile when in reality, you’re just doing something. Let’s start with clearing some things up before we talk about how to put a stop to scrolling.
Scrolling is not the real Problem.
Entertaining or keeping yourself occupied on your phone incessantly is a symptom. Not the problem. In my practice as a psychologist, I’ve found that many different types of problems can lead to indistinguishable or the same “symptoms”.
Following are five of the most common reasons why one might get addicted to scrolling:
1. You’re Overwhelmed:
Life is challenging, and it’s all fun and games until you start to face challenges you did not sign up for. Maybe, you were ready for the stressful work hours, creative blocks, and financial scarcity. However, passive challenges like health issues, chronic pain, bills, accidents, trauma, political changes, climate change, and others are often responsible for sucking the life out of us.
Scrolling is so tempting when you’re overwhelmed because it distracts you from the suffering. It starts with a fun little escape, till your mind learns that this is way more comforting than living life. Soon, you find yourself trying to self-soothe your way out of problems by simply watching short videos.
2. You’re Lonely:
Loneliness is a visceral feeling. When you think about it, it probably feels like a pit in your stomach, missing human voices and touch and the happiness or safety that comes with a secure social life.
While short exciting videos cannot become a part of your social circle, it can definitely check a few boxes. Whether you watch short videos or read bite-size information written by other people, it can mimic a real human conversation in the brain based on your imagination.
The difficult part is that when you stop, the loneliness is even more pronounced than before because you realize the reality wherein you don’t have a social life.
3. You’re an adult iPad kid:
Everyone knows that old habits die hard. If you were raised in front of the television or iPad in your formative years, you got a head start to be addicted to scrolling.
Parents use devices to soothe their kids if they throw a tantrum, to avoid playing with them, or to distract them while eating so they eat whatever is fed to them. This makes a parent’s life a lot easier.
As an adult, you start doing the same things for yourself. You watch a video when you’re sad, you put on something engaging when you’re eating and anytime you’re unsure about what to do, the phone is your go-to. The behavior soon turns into an addiction.
4. You’re Addicted to cheap dopamine:
Bite-sized information does the same thing as bite-sized food. Imagine you’re hungry, and you get a small portion of the food you like. That’s not going to satisfy you, but rather make you crave more.
Same thing with scrolling, but this time you’re hunger has no bounds. The hunger is for happy hormones and you want to maximize your satisfaction. Every short video or tweet takes you deeper into the vicious cycle of the never-ending hunger for dopamine. Hence, you keep going at it for more and more.
5. Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Inflammation:
A neurodevelopmental disorder such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) makes you more prone to falling into addictions namely substance abuse.
Whereas the mechanisms that cause individuals with ADHD to be at higher risk for such addictions are not clear, theoretically, it makes sense that a neurodevelopmental disorder can cause phone addiction.
6 Tips to Stop Scrolling
The goal is not exactly to completely stop being on social media (well, maybe it is for you) but to do it more mindfully and in a regulated manner.
Depending on the reason why you’re so addicted to scrolling, the fix can be very different. Here are six effective tips to help you reduce your screen and scroll time.
1. Enter the room with a plan:
Have you ever opened the fridge and suddenly found yourself just standing there, with no clue how and why you got there? We often use the “enter the room with a plan” technique with clients who struggle with ADHD for inattention symptoms. In this technique, you’re basically required to declare out loud or in your mind why you’re entering a room, or doing anything at all.
You won’t always remember to do this, but is like a habit that you’ve gotta build. So when you go to the washroom, declare why you’re there. Similarly, when you pick your phone remind yourself why you’re even picking it up in the first place. Is it for scrolling, a quick Google search, or a message reply?
To further strengthen this practice, remind yourself often why you do everything that you do. Perhaps make a small memorable quote out of it like “I want to read to be smarter than I was yesterday”.
2. Switch to long-form content:
Short-form content gives you an instant boost of satisfaction coupled with a craving for more. So you get a nice hit of dopamine, and you can’t help but go back for more. It’s unrealistic to think that you can stop scrolling completely on day one and sustain this habit in the long run.
The key is to make a gradual change for long-term benefits. Instead of reaching for short videos, click on the 3-minute or 5-minute videos. Gradually, move on to long informative content, that requires effort and patience. Just like food, a more nutritious and hearty meal can satisfy you for much longer than a quick snack.
3. Notifications and a reality check:
Notifications simply give you an excuse to use your phone. It can be as simple as “Person X liked the post you sent them”. Do you really have to open it right now and risk falling into that loop of scrolling? No, but you can’t help it. The best fix is — turn off all notifications, especially from social media. Honestly, no matter who texted you, they can wait a couple of hours.
Now for the reality check. I’m pretty sure my readers are adults or maybe high schoolers who realize that they’re wasting their lives on the phone. Ask yourself, as an adult, do I really need that game or a snap-sharing app on my phone? If the answer is yes go at it.
Another way to get a reality check is to find out exactly how much time you’re spending on specific apps. To track your screen time on specific applications on an iPhone you can use the Screen Time feature and for Android, it is called Digital Wellbeing. You’d be shocked to see that your 15 minutes were 150 minutes in reality.
4. Slowing down:
Ever noticed how snappy and fast scrolling is? In under a minute you watch and register 2–3 short videos. Now when you function in your normal-paced life, stuff is less exciting, way too slow and as a result frustrating. But that’s just how it’s supposed to be, things take time.
So, make it a point to complete things at their own pace. If you’re waiting for a thing to load on the computer, don’t run to the phone for a quick scrolling session.
Wait, stare at the screen, and remain patient. Practice patience and mindfulness during longer showers, longer skincare routines, and painstakingly complex cooking sessions.
5. Schedule screentime:
As we discussed, stopping it all at once isn’t a sustainable solution. Schedule your whole day, and in there put in a little time to catch up with social media. However, scheduling is easier said than done.
So, to make scheduling achievable, start with a realistic morning routine. Keep a simple morning routine and try to avoid touching your phone for as long as possible. Give yourself something to do for every minute of your first couple of hours in the morning, so there’s no time for mindless scrolling.
6. Reduce Inflammation:
Inflammatory load in the body caused due to stress, anxiety, or lack of sleep can deplete your willpower. You can lower inflammation in the body with low-intensity workouts, whole foods, fixing your sleep schedule, and sitting less during the day.
Some specific things that I love to do to reduce bodily inflammation are yoga nidra (Non-Sleep Deep Rest), Wim hof breathing, box breathing, and physiological sighs. All of these resources are available for free on YouTube.
Life is Boring, get used to it
Life isn’t as vibrant, lively, or happening as the content on your phone. Realize that the intention of those videos is to make virtual life more interesting than your real life. With the six tips I shared above, you essentially build a muscle to do more boring stuff.
Trust me, a boring day is the best day.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: charlesdeluvio on Unsplash
