Slow Your Scroll!
Each morning before I head to work, I sit down with a cup of coffee, and open Apple News+ straight to the crossword puzzle of the day. It serves a duel purpose; a little brain work and some relaxation. When I finished today’s puzzle, I scrolled a few headlines and came accross this article from Entrepreneur Magazine titled “Adopt These 9 Habits and You’ll Be Unrecognizable By The End Of 2024”. Hey, I’m game, it is early in the new year, let’s see what little helpful nuggets may be there. Number 1. Read more, scroll less. HA! I already do this. I am an avid reader completing 123 books last year and already have a strong start on this year! I’m killing it so far! As I continued to read, the article brings up how much time is spent mindlessly scrolling. It has a numbing effect, and what we may not realize is that it also is affecting our memory.
“Simply put, how many phone numbers or song lyrics did you know growing up? And how many do you know now?”
Uh Oh….. I already know that I am not as good at this anymore.
I am a Gen X-er so remember clearly the first home computers, our little macintosh cube with a 9” screen that was the most amazing invention! I knew everyones phone numbers by heart, in fact anyone who still has those old numbers from childhood, I still remember them!! Then there was AOL, the internet, smart devices, social media, and advances that continue at a frenetic rate. How many times do you need to look up a loved one’s phone number in your phone, because you simply don’t have to dial it, and therefore never commited it to memory?
So why slow your scroll in this fast paced world we live in?? This article is geared more toward the dangers of scrolling in children and adolescents, but an important component is true for us all.
“Part of the way our brains get us to do that is by releasing oxytocin, our love hormone, which in turn releases dopamine in the reward pathway, which makes connection feel good, ” she added.
“Lembke explains that social media has taken the work out of how we connect with other human beings, placing that effort online and adding three major ingredients: novelty, accessibility and quantity, making scrolling a very potent drug.”
Have you ever gotten ‘sucked into’ scrolling for a period of time? Found yourself checking a text and then opening social media for a moment and suddently it’s been 15 minutes? These quick diversions can make it challenging to focus on the task at hand…whatever that may be. Over the long term you may find an inability to focus for extended periods of time, because scrolling rarely relies on true focus.
I think that the act of slowing our scroll is one of intentionality.
**Do your online scrolling at certain times of day, set a schedule for yourself and do not hop online just when you have a moment of boredom.
** Try to avoid skimming all of the doom and gloom out there and being sucked into feelings of frustration or anger that comes from a lot of the ‘click bait'….. Don’t feel bad, it happens to all of us, the trick is minimizing it!
**Follow things that give you joy and specific topics you are interested in. You are more likely to actually read them in full and gain something from them. Don’t forget to save something that really resonates with you. I can’t tell you the number of times that I wanted to go back to something and couldn’t find it!
**Comment! If you are utilizing a platform like here on substack, be part of the conversation. Discussions may well deepen your understanding of the content and solidify it in your memory, as well as introduce you to others with similar interests.