Refusing to doomscroll as an act of resistance.
the impact of doomscrolling on us and the society, cognitive agency and dealing with phone addiction.
At the beginning of social media platforms, it was all fun and games.
1x1 Instagram pics, celebrities connecting with fans on Twitter, relationship statuses on Facebook, personal blogs curated with your favorite music and sparkly cute images. If you had access to the Internet around that time, you may feel some nostalgia recalling what it used to be… I know I do: the Internet was a less self-centered place compared to nowadays; its primary role was to inform, connect people, play or learn something new. It was a fun, purposeful medium.
Yet, what I miss the most is the possibility of disconnection: when you decided that it was time to stop playing, chatting or getting informed, you could actually turn everything off, step away from the computer and go do something else, without the distraction of a pushy notification coming from the little box inside your pocket.
Before we go any further, a disclaimer is needed: I’m not demonizing the Internet, social media platforms or smartphones; I’m consciously writing on an online platform and my reflections on this topic were gathered through my personal experience merged with the ones of strangers who shared their ideas and suggestions on the Internet, as I’m doing as well. I believe that these platforms are very powerful means. They come with the opportunity to share, learn and connect communities of people with the same interests and curiosities. Since the Internet is a great instrument, I think we should approach it more mindfully and actually use it in our favor.
What I condemn is the normalization of “brain rot” and “doomscrolling”: the consequences of getting mindless and temporary stimulation every chance we get to have been deeply underestimated.
I used to be pretty superficial about my own use of social media platforms, doomscrolling for hours and consuming so much mindless, forgettable content, often reaching an awkward screen time (during quarantine, I remember it easily getting to 10-12 hours most days).
How did we get to this point?
In “This Video is About Brain Rot”, the creator explores the roots of brain-rotting and its effects on our lives. Around minute 4.30, he uses the history of human evolution as a way to highlight the fast pace at which technological progress happened, making human life more and more comfortable. In fact, this process happened so fast that our brains are not yet able to handle all the entertainment and easy stimulation available today: evolution is slow.
As a species, we have always craved stimulation, with the exception that we actually had to provide it for ourselves by doing “hard” things: being social, hunting, building… generally, this kind of stimulation was useful and it was earned, because it wasn’t immediately available.
The average human being spends at least 6 hours consuming empty content everyday: 6 hours of stimulation that comes with basically zero effort, keeping us entertained and comfortable.
Today, this has become a bigger problem than it was some decades ago. The Internet has lost its diversity, especially after the “TikTok revolution”: the content is handpicked for us (think about TikTok’s FYP), meaning that we get what we want, whenever we want it, for free and without any effort.
Soon, every single app adapted the capacity to suit this fast-paced content for its consumers and, as if it wasn’t enough… this content is endless. You will never reach the end of your FYP and, in order to keep your attention, the content is more and more stimulating.
It f*cks up so bad with our attention span: since we adapted to this kind of entertainment, whatever is not instantly gratifying loses its appeal, until we realize how dangerous the addiction to brain rot is and we try to break the cycle.
Why is it so important to break the cycle of doomscrolling?
On an individual level: we are being “robbed” of the focus and the energy we could put into our dreams, work, passions and relationships. Most times, in order to achieve your goals or whatever is meaningful for you, you need to focus on it; that means thinking about what you want and how you would like to do it, going on different paths to understand what suits your vision best and, overall, working on the same things over and over again: all of the above requires a long period of time without distractions; that comes with an attention span that is not completely fried.
On a social level: our social skills are highly challenged by the illusion of connection that online platforms provided for us, as bestselling author and therapist Esther Perel claims (I recommend her podcast and this episode).
Furthermore, doomscrolling leads to overconsumption, feeding the unsustainable, capitalistic economy that profits off your insecurities and made up necessities all the time. Our brains are flooded with not just trends but microtrends, products, purchases and targeted advertisements EVERYDAY. Overconsumption leads to poor mental wellbeing: it makes you feel like you always need something new and you always have to change your aesthetic, ultimately leading us to become clones. But this is the least worst: the impact of overconsumption on the environment, the economy and us as a society reinforces the capitalistic dynamics that make our lives miserable. Read more here.Our datas are extracted and manipulated by the few billionaire companies that rule the whole thing, and behavioral advertising is the least problematic factor. Me and my friend Gennaro (here’s his blog) long talked about the implications of technological power and control on the population: online platforms are essential to get everyday services and this phenomenon, called techno-fascism, empowers the same billionaires who gain control over what is said and expressed through said platforms; the power they have on the medium applies to real life. “Techno-fascists are Ruining the World: Get Mad”, by Michelle Murria, highlights the risks of concentrating unchecked autocratic power in the hands of “techno-fascists”, who can ultimately control public opinion, the information that is spread and how, the money earned that is used to finance activities benefiting the system of oppression and extortion we live in.
We cannot escape it entirely, but we can be conscious about our choices and the power it has over our minds.Finally, the information we absorb and the one we spread is limited to our bubble: every group is highly isolated from the opposition and that reinforces the confirmation bias (a cognitive distortion through which people tend to look for confirmation of their pre-existent ideals or hypothesis); so, no, we are not really connecting with other people or making a revolutionary statement that will change minds. We are just making a statement that will reach the ones that already agree with us, not really changing anything.
Holding onto your critical thinking skills as a form of resistance: a reflection on AI technologies
I feel like I cannot talk about doomscrolling without considering the implications that AI technologies and algorithms have on our cognitive agency.
Information is always biased and never neutral: anytime the algorithm pushes something onto us, it’s crucial that we keep in mind who’s telling us what and why. We have to hold onto our critical thinking skills and cognitive agency, especially in a timeline characterized by huge developments of AI technologies.
That brings me to my next point.
Normalizing the use of ChatGPT to write work emails, texts and the groceries list for us has more of an impact than we think. It’s like accepting a brain replacement on a daily basis, making ours lazier.
I know it’s practical, I know it looks like it will make life a little bit easier. I’ve used it as well, knowing I wasn’t doing myself any favor. But ultimately losing the ability to formulate a thought will make your life harder in the long run.
The use of ChatGPT as a therapist is increasingly popular as well. I understand the constant availability of the service, the fact that it is “free” (if something is free, you are the product), but most of all I understand how likable it is to have someone that always agrees with you. How can that be good for us in the long run? How can that not isolate us in our individual bubbles?
Someone is profiting from our isolation and from lazy brains that refuse to be challenged, critical and aware. Go for the hard way because that is the one that will pay back. If you’re interested on listening more on the topic, Anna Howard recently posted a new video titled “for those who need a gateway to radical imagination”, where she explores the importance of literacy and reading as a form of resistance and the issue of the misuse of ChatGPT as systemic and not individual, as always filled with many interesting reflections and references.
Practical ways that help me avoid doomscrolling
When I decided to write on this topic, I knew I didn’t want to simply end up writing a list of suggestions, without offering a critical reflection on our use of technology as a society. So, if you were just looking for a list, good news because here we are. Still, these practical ways wouldn’t really work for me without understanding the social and political implications of (mindless) technology use.
Of course, I always felt like doomscrolling wasn’t good for me, but it wasn’t until a day in 2022 that I actually started to worry about the effects it was having on my brain. In short, I was on shrooms and my brain was processing thoughts as if they were Instagram captions: my thoughts were structured as something I would write or read on Instagram. Let me tell you, it wasn’t pleasing: the sense of dissociation from reality and from my own brain, was something I could not ignore from that moment on.
A few days later, I started a social media detox week: to me, that meant no Instagram or TikTok — those were the apps on which I easily ended up doomscrolling. The first thing I noticed was that I spent more time doing “useless” activities, because boredom stimulated my creativity and I could feel my nervous system being so calm it could actually focus on stuff that had no purpose, other than me wanting to. I learnt new skills (like how to ride a bike, so proud); I spent more time with my family; the constant but unconscious sense of urgency coming from notifications disappeared. It was like everything went… quiet.
Okay, time for the list:
Ever since then, I have notifications off and a daily time limit on social media apps. Does it always work? No, but at least it makes me aware of how much time I’m spending online and how I’m spending it: at least, I notice when I’m doomscrolling. I know it’s not good for me at all, I made it impossible for me to ignore it. I start feeling so bothered that most times I will stop and go do something else before 8 hours fly by.
If I feel like I’m starting to scroll mindlessly, the first thing I do is physically get away from my phone, putting it out of sight. I observe the resistance that comes up, begging me to reach for it again and scroll just a little bit more. I actively refuse to.
Then, I focus on myself and wonder what I really need: when I finally stop neglecting my brain by flooding it with 15-second videos, all my needs start to arise. Maybe I need to drink water, get up because I have sore legs or stare at the wall for a minute.
Maybe, I actually want to read/learn/listen to something, so I intentionally pick the book or the music. It’s normal to look for stimuli: the brain wants to be fed and I think we should honor its hunger by providing quality information and content, chose by us and not casual.
If I’m going out and there is even a tiny chance of waiting (for a friend, the doctor’s appointment, at the post office, etc…) I always bring a book or crosswords with me. I don’t like to wait, but I don’t even want to end up scrolling for 30 minutes just because there is nothing else to do and my first instinct is to grab my phone. I make it easier for me by providing myself slow content that will keep me entertained, without bombing my brain with useless information and unintentional screen time. Same goes for train rides or flights.
One time I read a quote from Gabri Abrão (you may know her as @sighswoon on social media) saying that you never have to wait if you carry a book with you, because then you are not waiting: you are reading! (I’ve spent months trying to find the exact quote again, unfortunately I couldn’t).
Embrace boredom: I realized that I don’t need to come up with a solution immediately. I don’t have to compensate, desperately finding a way to stimulate myself over and over again. By interrupting the constant stimulation, boredom will arise: if you stay with it long enough and listen to yourself, inspiration will flow. Boredom makes me eager to do “harder” things, such as writing, planning hangouts, training, going out for a walk, cooking, meditating, re-organizing my space.
These things will take longer to feel good compared to the instant gratification of reaching for my phone… but they feel real: I’m actively engaged and the real satisfaction that comes from them lasts longer, compared to endlessly scrolling on TikTok for dopamine.
