We all are guilty of this habit. Mindless scrolling in our phones is normalized now. Even though the activity may seem mindless, the feeds in our social media platforms or other web platforms are carefully designed such that we are hooked to the platform.
The damage this one activity causes is unfathomable. The blooming of artificial Intelligence (AI) resulted in creating these infotainments or entertainments ensuring that we are glued to our screen is becoming toxic. The instant gratification we get from scrolling through the phone urges us to do more and more even though it may not bring high-quality leisure time.
Dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is responsible for experiencing pleasure and plays a role in thinking and planning gets overstimulated due to these small spikes of pleasure we get throughout the day through social media feeds or similar platforms. A drug addict knows that the drug is bad but they still take it because of the high levels of dopamine released during the activity. Our phone habits are increasingly becoming addictive. We are losing the fun in it. The best example is the play anything option on Netflix.
It may become hard for us to do activities that will give delayed gratification. For example, working on a book or setting goals and achieving. That all are going to look harder than usual if we are used to these spikes of joy from our phones. Needless to stay about the short concentration spans.
Consciousness is the light. You bring awareness to the action it becomes illuminated and you see everything with more clarity. There are different levels of consciousness as you keep practicing it can be increased. Thus increasing the overall quality of the experience on earth. Below are some habits suggestions to change our relationship with phone .
Habits to replace Mindless Scrolling
- Pause before scrolling: Is there something else that I would rather do? Do something that takes less than 2 minutes. That would make your day easier ( Cleaning,going through calender on upcoming planned events. etc)
- Carrying a book/kindle/ E-book – A book that you are genuinely interested in can be a huge benefit.The time we spent in waiting can be used for reading something interesting and informative.
- Calling or messaging someone Or engaging in social activities.
- A hobby-This doesn’t have to be grand .Something simple as sketching doodles or painting is a good substitute for the mindless scrolling.
- Going for a walk
Take one of these habits and start small. If you have 5-time windows that you use for scrolling through social media replace one of those windows with this habit and slowly work your way up. Our life is pretty short and each day is important. Everyone is screaming for our attention. Please understand how valuable your time is and use it wisely.
Thoughts of Freedom 