“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
-Annie Dillard
Doomscrolling. 2x speed. TikTok, Reels, Shorts, Spotlight. Brainrot. 5-hour screentime. 7 hours. 9 hours. 12. 15. 24. Comment, like, share, repost, save, post, follow, subscribe, block, friend, report.
Have you ever scrolled until your phone got heated enough to feel just a tad bit uncomfortable in your hands? Until your eyes felt strained and stung in between blinks? Until you feel like you wasted your day being unproductive and feel some guilt, though you and I both know we are going to rerun this tomorrow?
Most people around you are victims of endless scrolling. Social media apps are designed to keep you engaged, to rewire what stimulates your brain. They control what you consume. Which, a lot of the time, is not beneficial to us.
Roughly 30% of TikTok is advertisements, according to The Daily Scoop. This means that every 4th to 6th TikTok video you will see is an ad, and on Instagram, it’s every 2 to 5 reels.
This surplus of commercials fuels over-consumption and consumerism. It makes us materialistic beings, and becoming so obsessed with what we have the potential to possess can detach us from reality.
Even when it’s not ads, social media tends to put on a show. A new term, “performative,” has been gaining popularity recently. Although it is usually used to describe men who drink matcha and wear quarter-zip ups, it can also be used to describe many influencers we see on social media. Content creators have coined the term “influencer” largely due to their ability to make you desire what they show. Their life online is groomed to appease their audience, and they do this in a number of ways. Even the “realistic” influencers use this brand of realism because they know it creates authenticity that pulls in their viewers. We watch them so we can live through them, be inspired or entertained by them, learn from them, or have parasocial relationships with them. We put aside assignments or tasks waiting for us. Motivation and productivity are drained from our bodies and replaced by quick satisfaction in the form of moving images.
Unfortunately, identity cannot come to us this way. The endless scrolling will not give us fulfillment. It will not create fond memories we can look back on when we are old and wrinkled. If we fill our days doing meaningless and purposeless things, we will live a meaningless and purposeless life.
It is hard, though, to cut down our scrolling time. Our brains are used to receiving dopamine in the form of quick, overstimulating videos. Discipline and self-control do not come easily. It takes baby steps and practice.
Some people like to go cold turkey. Deleting all the apps so they’re forced to focus on more beneficial activities. However, the app store lives on, and sometimes temptation and boredom win over, and we redownload the same apps we swore to cut ties with.
In some cases, this method can work, but it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. A measured amount of social media can do no harm. Many screen-limit apps encourage people to take frequent breaks from scrolling. Furthermore, planning out our day and sticking to a list can help us be more productive. Removing distractions from around you is also a good tactic to spend your time focusing on more worthwhile pursuits.
Spending less time scrolling doesn’t just mean you have more time to finish your homework. In many cases, it can bring back hobbies. It will allow you to rediscover your love for soccer, crocheting, piano, and watercoloring. Things that bring you more fulfilling entertainment than your screen. You can hone skills you didn’t know you had or were capable of. You can come across dreams and goals that you have for the future.
Life is short. Every second counts. Tear your eyes away from the screen and bring some meaning and purpose into your days, and, inevitably, into your lives.