Breaking the Scroll: Developing Mindful Social Media Habits
Think about your daily routine. How much time do you spend scrolling constantly through social media feeds? This is called "continuous partial attention," and it's ruining our brains. It's not just making us more stressed out. It's a lot scarier than that! Continuous partial attention has very serious consequences for our mental well-being, our interpersonal connections, and how we learn.
One of the main reasons why this is a problem, according to Tristan Harris , a leading voice on the problems of social media, is that it makes us "mindless." When we're on our phones, we are in what he calls a "shared trance." We stop thinking for ourselves. We start just going with the flow. He explains: "We're constantly seeking approval from each other, which actually prevents us from hearing each other and learning from each other."
When we scroll endlessly through our social media feeds, we end up having no real relationships at all. We become like zombies, missing out on real human connection. Beyond the problems that this causes for our relationships, there are serious issues with how it affects our brains.
Contrary to popular belief, scrolling through social media isn't enhancing our memories or making us smarter. It's actually making us more stupid! This has to do with the way that we think and learn when we're "in the trance." Before the advent of mobile phones, we would take a break from focusing on something and give our brains a chance to rest. Now, when we're on our phones all the time, we don't give ourselves any breaks! We can't focus for very long before we go back to surfing social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. This is because the "scrolling" motion of the phone engages our basal ganglia — a part of our brain that's associated with focusing. But when we're not thinking about something, our brains are designed to rest and switch off.
When we're constantly checking for new things to look at, we're getting catatonic (see more on this here ). This happens because when you continually get the same stimulus — a new piece of information or reaction — your brain will end up feeding on the same information in an obsessive manner. Your brain will then start to respond to this stimulus very strongly which will just continue to reinforce what you already know so heavily. Since you're not taking in new input — the amount of new stimulus you're getting is quite low — your learning is very narrow. And because you're unable to see the bigger picture, you may actually have a difficult time grasping new information.
As Harris explains, "If I'm on a mobile device and I don't give myself any breaks, my nervous system starts to get adapted for that." This means that even when we stop looking at our phones we feel anxious because our brains are still rewarded for being constantly stimulated.
This can lead to problems with our executive functioning . This refers to things like organizing ourselves, prioritizing tasks, and being able to set a goal and focus on something for long periods of time. Being able to focus over long periods of time is a crucial skill, and we're not meant to be constantly checking our phones. We can't focus when we're constantly looking at our phones. This leads to problems with memory, attention, and impulse control.
This doesn't have to happen if you are mindful of your mental state while you're scrolling through social media. As Harris explains, if you check your phone every 5 minutes it won't matter because you'll still be getting that small burst of new input : "You could spend the entire day scrolling through the newsfeed in a mindless trance. But then when it's over, you get a spurt of dopamine . And that makes you feel temporarily happy!"
However, if you're checking your phone more mindfully, you may find that the amount of new input that you're getting is a lot greater than we realized. We can't just spend our lives online looking for new things to learn about. There has to be a balance! The amount of time spent on social media will have a subtle impact on how much information we take in. And this will affect how we think, remember, focus, and learn.
Harris encourages mindfulness when using social media. He describes how he used to check his phone all the time, and then one day he took a break from it for 24 hours. He found that while he was checking Instagram all day, it didn't seem to affect him as much as looking at Instagram for a shorter amount of time. So he encourages us to be mindful of our social media use — and to consider how much new information we're taking in every 5 minutes.
The curious thing about Harris's advice is that his desire for us to be mindful of our smartphone use might actually be counterproductive . As Harris explains: "What I'm doing is potentially making the problem worse because I'm telling people not scroll fast enough. I'm slowing them down. I'm making them use their phone more mindfully, which is kind of ironic."
When we take in new information mindlessly, our brains are overloaded with the same stimulus over and over again. We need to give our brains a break . For this reason, it's important to make sure we're taking time off from social media and doing things like reading books and being in nature. This will allow us to rest and let our minds clear out all of the unconscious thoughts that have accumulated during our day on social media.
When we're not looking at our phones, but are instead focusing on the world around us, we can be present with what's going on in an authentic way. We can be present with the people we're with, and in the moment . We can't be present when we're on our phones — it's an artificial experience. Being present means being in the flow state . This is a way of being that's quite different from being focused.
Being in the flow state is not about always being able to step back and see the big picture. It's about staying in the moment and experiencing everything that's going on around us. If you check your phone every 5 minutes, you'll be constantly distracted by new information, and this will prevent you from truly experiencing life.
Conclusion
I find that there are two primary reasons why I use my smartphone: checking social media and catching up on the news. Although I can't say that this is true for everyone, I suspect it is one of the main reasons why most people spend so much time on their phones.
Though my smartphone use makes me feel more connected to the world — and it offers a great way to kill time — it doesn't have a positive effect on my mental health. In fact, I think that regularly checking my smartphone for new information can be quite harmful.
To maintain a positive mental state, we need to be in control of our own attention .