Infinite scrolling is seen nowadays in the digital world. We scroll infinitely through thousands of pictures and videos everyday. The thing is that they are infinite, atleast they feel like.
I mean this is a great way to just keep you consuming something new, so your retention is always on the app. I guess you understand what I mean. I’m not here to take about infinite scroll but about how it rewires and affects our brain and health.
As it is designed to provide infinite amount of information as long as the user is scrolling through their app, users are overloaded with information. Users find a very hard time to remember all the information that they’ve consumed. As our brain is a good at adjusting to circumstances and finding the most optimised solution, it tries to keep memory of the most recent content and forget the details of the content that the user have consumed before.
In short-term, this feels good for the user but in the long-term it has bad consequences. It leads to memory loss and having a hard time focusing on one thing or doing a specific task. They always feel needy, tired and consuming. In short, depressed. They know they are wasting their time but it has become so enjoyable that they forget that it is wasting their time.
Another issue it causes is lower attention span, lower patience, and even contribute to polarization and extremism. Infinite scrolling is often used in social media applications, which often does have an algorithm that only exposes content based on user preferences and demographics which results in limiting critical thinking, narrow perspective and cognitive fatigue. They also seems to consume information that confirms their existing biases and beliefs and reinforce stereotypes.
Can’t avoid that infinite scroll also affects people with anxiety, depression, trouble sleeping and disrupted circadian rhythms — which affects your body’s internal clock which tells it when to sleep or wake. These things have a high impact on your mental health.
As it narrows your perspective and limit critical thinking, you are often slid down the same path, repeating it everyday. You spent your valuable time, your energy and your brain whole day processing stagnant, repetitive and unuseful content.
It’s also important for users to mitigate these problems by taking breaks, controlling their urge, limiting their time spent consuming unuseful content and also taking regular breaks. They also should seek help if needed.
Not to say that, there are good content out there that provide information that are useful to you and provide a path to follow your curiosity and build something of your own. It’s normal to get stuck in the infinite scroll loop because our brains are designed to follow our curiosity. But we have to take control of what we follow and how we spent our time, health and energy.
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