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Scrolling Coma
What if we simply stopped grabbing our phones every spare minute to scroll and check social media? What would we actually gain?
Contents
The Age of Phono Sapiens
In today's world, it's almost impossible to imagine living without constant connection to each other or without knowing what's happening around the globe. On one hand, that's great — news feels closer, and we have access to an endless stream of information. On the other hand, we've become more distant from one another, overloaded with information, and unknowingly lose huge amounts of time to our gadgets.
The term phono sapiens is gaining traction, because when we leave our phone at home or in another room, we feel uneasy — a nagging sense that something is missing, followed by anxiety and even panic. That alone shows how deeply gadgets have become part of who we are.
Ride any form of public transport and you'll see that almost everyone is looking at their phone — scrolling social media, reading news, watching films, browsing Instagram, or answering work messages. These gadgets absorb our brains so completely that we forget what's happening around us — here and now. It's fine when gadgets serve a clear purpose, but the moment we have a free minute, boredom sends us straight into social media: we start scrolling the Instagram feed, flipping through photos, and then — suddenly — 30 minutes of our life are simply gone.
Has this happened to you? Your brain has slipped into a scrolling coma. And the scariest part is that you don't even want to snap out of it, because the real world demands actually doing things and solving actual problems.
Scrolling Coma
Let's figure out why we fall into a scrolling coma, become dependent on social media, and can't control the time we spend there.
- Giving up your smartphone for even a single day is a real challenge. This state has its own name — fear of missing out. Not long ago, the Oxford Dictionary added the term "FOMO" (an acronym for "Fear of missing out"), meaning the fear of missing important information.
People affected by this actually "live" inside social media, terrified of missing something important. Someone who is constantly present on a platform — Instagram, say — becomes hooked on a so-called "dopamine hit" that pushes them to stay at the center of events at all times. Missing out feels like a catastrophe, so we end up scrolling the feed at every opportunity.
- Social media algorithms are built to keep pulling us back. Likes and comments activate the brain's reward centers. What happens in a healthy brain? Dopamine is released every time we do something beneficial, which signals: this is worth repeating. For example, dopamine fires when we eat something delicious, talk to someone we like, or receive recognition or praise. Unfortunately, alcohol and drugs trigger the same release.
Social media works the same way. A smartphone is a tiny dopamine dispenser: every time we see a reaction or comment on our post — even just posting a photo of ourselves or loved ones — a micro-dose of that neurotransmitter is released. When the likes feel insufficient ("surely there could be more"), the urge to post again and again kicks in. We become social media "mini-addicts". And that's a real problem.
- And of course, it's not only about our own limits, but also about how other people exploit them. It's no accident that content on social media is bright, dynamic, and served in tiny bite-sized portions — that's exactly what our brains love. The feeling that life looks cooler on social media hooks us, making us want to stay there as long as possible.
We feel the passage of time acutely when we're bored, but the moment something new, colorful and shiny grabs our attention, time disappears. The developers of video games and social media algorithms understand these quirks of human nature and study neuroscience research closely. That's precisely how they gained such an effective hold on our attention.
Why do teenagers and adults get hooked on social media?
Preventing Gadget Addiction
First, it's important to understand that humans created gadgets — so humans should be the ones in control, not the other way around. Otherwise, a person simply becomes dependent on and subordinate to artificial intelligence. That leads to irritation, dissatisfaction with one's own life from comparing it to fake ideals, and failure to achieve real-life results. To overcome this, we need to act.
Below are a few minimal, practical ways to regain control over your gadgets — things you can do right now:
- Move social media icons (Instagram, Facebook, etc.) to the last page of your phone's interface, or remove them from the home screen entirely. This reduces mindless feed-scrolling.
- Set a limit on phone/computer use. Consciously set aside a fixed amount of time for work, checking social media, and replying to messages — for example, 15 minutes.
- Turn off notifications, so you check things only when you've planned to — on your own terms.
Conclusion
Of course, life without social media is possible, but still inconvenient. Yet imagine if we simply stopped grabbing our phones every spare minute to scroll and check social media — what would we actually gain?
We could focus much more on the here and now — on how great it feels to give more time and attention to the people close to us, our family, and to really dive into conversations. Little by little, we'd start finding happiness in real life rather than an imagined one.
So let's become true masters of our gadgets and our time, so that our lives can be genuinely effective and productive. And most importantly — alive.
Author: Victoria — mentor at the NWET platform
