On Scrolling.
A spare moment arrives in a day, and we reach for our phone. We need to begin a big task and before we finally get going, we reach for our phone. We stand in a queue, or find ourselves in any waiting situation, and we reach for our phone. Our devices provide so many choices – the weather, the news, messages, emails, social media, tracking or information apps that we may be using, photos, games. There are options to satisfy productivity, relaxation, and curiosity, and there are opportunities for distraction and tension-release. There are also options for tension-increase, anxiety, and unconstructive comparison. It is concerning that whilst our purpose may be positive, the resulting feeling can often be the opposite of what we were looking for.
The definition of scrolling is the action of moving displayed text or graphics up, down, or across a screen in order to view different parts of them. We all scroll to different degrees, and with different intentions. We invest varying amounts of time on this behaviour; and may be at the point where we are ready to question the number of hours we are spending, and if this time is adding value to our lives. What starts as a simple accessing of entertainment or interesting and stimulating information, may morph into a mindless movement of our thumb over a screen that blurs images and content together and becomes an unnecessary touchstone, multiple times in our day. If you have recently checked your Screen Time app, you may be unpleasantly surprised at how the hours of mindlessness stack up in a week, especially considering what you could be using much of that time to achieve in a world where it is hard not to feel ever burdened by tasks that need your attention.
Gain some perspective by asking yourself the following questions:
1. Am I clear on the reasons I keep returning to scrolling?
2. Am I happy with the amount of time I am spending on this?
3. What benefit does my chosen content bring me?
4. How does it make me feel afterwards?
The very action of scrolling means movement, with minimal pausing. It’s a way of covering a large amount of information, mainly in visual format, in a brief amount of time. When we scroll, we are not researching or going deep – we are purposefully staying shallow. Our reasons could be relaxation, entertainment, interest, or inspiration. Perhaps we are feeling stressed, or bored, or curious. The benefits should then be the alleviation of those feelings, but often the resulting emotions can be distress, and a feeling of wanting more. What results is often negative comparisons about our material possessions, our achievements, our lifestyles and our bodies.
Dipping and flitting, rather than concentrating and committing
And yet, in our gaps, we choose to keep going back, and to scroll. Is it the pleasant numbness or not having to think, and zoning out? Is it the not being here, in the present, which we may be finding intimidating, or uninteresting? The quality and quantity that we absorb when we use social media for information can be challenging because of the scrolling action itself. We are dipping and flitting, rather than committing to read with concentration, to understand content. After a time, we can start to think and even converse in headlines and catch phrases - we only have access to a couple of lines before we need to move on. It takes practice to go deep and remain undistracted.
Social media can provide useful information, although most credible sources have quality, in-depth resources on a website or are linked to a book for you to reference and read up on. Research is important, but at some stage, it is action that needs to kick in. The action should follow the information we have attained, but often what we choose to do is keep scrolling and attaining more information fragments. This requires far less energy than the doing itself. We deviate to our devices when we want to look for an idea, without pausing to think if we can come up with one on our own steam. When we look for ideas on the internet, we can be easily overwhelmed by the sheer number of them, and the resulting feeling is that we could never come up with something that is different and unique. We need to learn to try first. Original thought exists in us, and it is so rewarding when we give it a voice.
Try some of these things to balance your relationship with your phone:
1. Clean up: Spend some time going through the apps on your phone and remove the ones that are no longer necessary, or that may be dominating too much of your time.
2. Time slots: Decide to check your messages, emails and news at specific times during the day rather than checking between every task. Just because you have been sent a message or notification does not mean that an immediate response is required – having a reputation of being eternally available can come at a cost to both your productivity, and your sanity.
3. Disable unnecessary notifications: Unless you are in the business of saving lives, you do not need to be interrupted with notifications throughout your day. When you add up all the time you spend looking at or reacting to notifications (aside from the interruption to your concentration on the task you are involved in) you could add a rewarding and relaxing hobby to your life.
4. Give yourself a daily time limit on social media: Choose to get the full benefit from your social media by setting aside uninterrupted time to properly absorb and enjoy it i.e. 30 minutes at the end of the day or around lunch time, rather than flitting in and out of it throughout the day.
5. Change the ease and attraction to be more intentional: Just for scrolling on social media, use your non-dominant hand for one week, or make your screen and apps grey-scale for one week. Using a different hand is laborious, and the lack of colour makes the screen less inviting, which in turn opens you to alternatives, like engaging in the real, interactive and colourful world.
6. Reflect, and create your own happy medium: Take the time to answer the four questions at the start of the article and gain some perspective on how your relationship is with your device.
If you are happy with the role that your phone is playing in your life and your dependency, or lack of, on its various benefits or distractions, then continue as you always have. If you are not, then choose to make some changes. The benefits of our devices are many, and there is much to be gained by our interaction with them. The key word to remember is to be ‘intentional’ in your use. Be clear about what you are looking for, and guard against any mindless hours that might overwhelm you with images and fragments of feelings that may detract from your energy rather than add to it. You get to design your days; so, curate your time carefully and intentionally, and enjoy the balance and sense of control that results.
Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash