As the all-pervasiveness of digital technology continues to grow ever-more unavoidable in society, more and more of us find ourselves routinely sucked into what seems like a cycle of never-ending scrolling. Whether it be on your laptop, tablet, or smartphone, putting an end to the scroll can sometimes feel like an almost impossible task.
If this is the case for you, don’t place the blame upon yourself - social media algorithms are deliberately designed to encourage this kind of addictive behaviour. With a never ending newsfeed and a “refresh” function that plays on your brain’s built-in reward system, social media sites aim to keep us engaged with their apps for as long as they possibly can.
If you find yourself particularly susceptible to this tendency and wish to nip the bad habit in the bud, the sooner you start the better. Attempting to break out of this cycle may seem like a daunting task, but there are plenty of easy ways you can stop yourself when you feel pulled towards the black hole that is infinite scrolling. Try doing one of these x things next time the impulse to scroll hits you and you can learn to break free of scrolling for scrolling’s sake.
1. Go for a walk
When it comes to looking for something to do, going for a walk is always a great option, especially if you’re lacking the impulse to do anything that requires much intellectual engagement or effort. Taking a step outside and going for a walk is a great way to break free of the blue light of the screen and connect with your physical environment.
Take the time to properly soak up your surroundings and practise the art of mindfulness - simply being exactly when and where you are. Best of all, besides combining exercise with mindfulness, going for a walk allows you to leave your phone at home - creating a much needed sense of separation between you and the vortex that is the algorithm.
2. Learn a new skill
Most people have at least one skill that they’ve always dreamed of learning but have never given themselves the chance to properly commit to. We always seem to find a way to create an excuse for ourselves not to get started on something, even if it’s something we know we will eventually enjoy. Saying we don’t have “enough time” is often the excuse given to put off learning a new skill or taking up a new hobby.
But think of all the time spent mindlessly scrolling through social media news feeds, all added up together. In the last few years, the time that the average person spends on social media per single day has risen to over an hour, and in the case of 16-24-year-olds, this amounts to a median of 3 hours a day. With this in mind, the excuse of “not having enough time” starts to look pretty weak. Simply trade in those hours for time spent developing a new skill or practising one that you may have lost throughout the years. You can look to your precious passions for inspiration, or try one of these solo hobbies to get started:
● Painting
● Drawing
● Chess
● Squash
● Bouldering
● Photography
● Knitting
● Gardening
3. Read a book
It might sound silly, but some people could do with a reminder that books do, in fact, exist! Again, with the hyper-paced tempo of life in the digital age, many people find the idea of committing to a book a daunting task. Reading requires time and focus, commodities that can be hard to come by in the current day and age. But reading is a valuable activity for the mind at any age. It exercises the brain and stimulates imagination, and there are several studies that suggest that those who read more often, may have a greater capacity for empathy than those who do not read on a regular basis.
Reading regularly also improves general literacy and vocabulary, and exposes us to lives, ideas, and worldviews outside of our own. Practising long-form entertainment like a book helps to deprogramme the part of our brain that gets addicted to the instant gratification of scrolling social media.
4. Stick on a podcast
In this day and age we truly live in the era of the podcast. The internet is awash with a podcast for every type of person, no matter how niche your interest may be. True crime, history, pop culture, politics and current affairs - you name it, you’ll bet there’s a podcast out there catered to your taste. If you’re new to the podcast game, some of the most popular podcasts well worth a listen out there are:
● This American Life
● Radiolab
● S-Town
● 99% Invisible
● Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
● Witness History
● BBC Global News Podcast
● Serial
● Planet Money from NPR
● Dark House
● Root Of Evil
● Soft Voice
5. Take up journaling
The art of journaling is a great way to cut through all of the noise that seems to so easily creep into modern life. Writing down your thoughts is a great way to filter through this chaos and make sense of your own thoughts. Rather than get sucked into fixating on the lives of others on social media, take a step back to order your own thoughts and create inner clarity in your life.
It’s never too late to break the habit of infinite scrolling, but once you do you’ll feel like you’ve gained back a rich and fulfilled side of yourself you may not have even realised you were missing out on.
