Mindless Scrolling

You pick up your phone, unlock it, and realize you have no idea why. A buzz, a red light, a moment of boredom, and suddenly you’re scrolling. Here’s the mechanism: your phone runs on the same reward loop as a slot machine, and never knowing what you’ll get is exactly what keeps you pulling. Willpower and screen-time limits rarely hold, because the part of the brain you lean on for willpower goes offline the moment you’re tired or stressed, which is when you reach for the phone most. What actually works is updating what your brain expects to get. In this session, Dr. Jud Brewer explains the habit loop behind the mindless reach, then guides you to pay attention to what you really get from a scroll, so checking slowly loses its pull and curiosity takes its place.

Transcript

Welcome to day three of the Break Your Habits Challenge here on Insight Timer. We all have things we keep doing, Even when we wish we wouldn't. This is your time to understand these patterns and find ways to hopefully do things differently. Let's jump into today's session. Welcome to the Break Your Patterns Challenge. Hi, I'm Dr. Judd Brewer. I'm a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at Brown University and a New York Times bestselling author. I've spent many years studying how we get hooked on things, Cigarettes, Food, Worry, And yes, Our phones, And how we can break free from these habits. Have you ever picked up your phone, Unlocked it, And then realized you had no idea why you picked it up? Maybe you were standing in line at the grocery store for a meeting to start or sitting at a red light in your car. Why does this happen? Let's start with how we learn. We have one of the most evolutionarily conserved learning processes currently known in science. It's called reward-based learning, And it goes back to the most basic nervous systems we know of. Way back when, It helped us survive. See food, Eat food, Feel good, Repeat. Trigger, Behavior, Reward. Yes, We only need three simple elements to form a habit. Fast forward to today, Our brains use this same process with our phones. The trigger might be a buzz in our pocket, Or often it's something we feel, Like boredom while we wait at a stoplight, Or for the tea or coffee water to boil, Or a bit of restlessness when an email or text is sitting unanswered. The behavior is picking up the phone to check or scroll. And the reward is that we feel a little bit better, At least for a moment. It doesn't take many repetitions before the loop starts to run on its own. Slightest hint of discomfort or seeing someone else check their phone and we're mindlessly scrolling again. We don't even notice that itch or urge because it's so fast and so automatic. So why are phones so hard to put down? Sometimes when we check, There's the message we were hoping for, Or a like, Or a funny video. But most of the time, There's not much at all. We never know which time it will be. That unpredictability is called intermittent reinforcement, And it's the most craveogenic type of reward there is. It's the same formula that keeps people pulling the lever on a slot machine. Think of it this way. We all have a slot machine. In our pocket that we paid for. And now we're paying a much bigger price as we scroll our lives away. Have you ever been watching a movie and couldn't remember the name of an actress on the screen? That itch to know is what researchers call deprivation curiosity, And it feels a lot like a craving. We grab the phone, Look her up, And scratch the itch, And our brain learns that the phone makes the itch go away. And while we're there, Maybe a notification pops up, And 20 minutes later, About something we didn't even know existed when we opened our phone. So what do most of us do? We try to use our willpower or we set screen time limits, Which can help for a little while, Maybe, Until we hit the bypass button or ignore the you're over your scrolling limit alert. The problem is that the part of our brain that we rely on for willpower, The prefrontal cortex, Is the first part of the brain that goes offline when we're tired or stressed, Which is exactly when we reach for our phones the most. And more importantly, It doesn't fix the reward part of the equation. So it's a half measure at best. What does work? Our brain changes a habit when the reward value changes, And it can only update that value when it gets clear information about what we actually get from the behavior. So here's what I have people in my Going Beyond Anxiety program do, And it might seem a bit paradoxical at first. The first thing I tell them is, Go ahead, Check your phone. But critically, I have them pay attention while they do. Let's try this together right now. Bring to mind the last time you found yourself scrolling longer than you meant to. Where were you? What time was it? What were you waiting for or what were you putting off? Now remember the moment you finally put your phone down. How did you feel? And as you remember it now, What do you feel in your body? How does that compare to what you were hoping for when you picked your phone up? Each time you do this, You're giving your brain updated information. When it sees clearly that the reward isn't what it expected, It starts to become disenchanted, And we become less interested in checking without having to force anything. As the old reward fades, Our brains look for a bigger, Better offer. And my favorite one is curiosity. Instead of mindlessly scrolling, We can get curious about what the urge to pick up our phone or continue to scroll feels like. That moves us from mindless to mindful as we re-inhabit our bodies and our experience. Curiosity not only feels better than the urge to check, But it helps us ride out the urge itself as we stay with and get curious about the thoughts and sensations that come up moment to moment. So here's how to put this into practice today. Imagine one of the times you find yourself reaching for your phone, Or even the urge itself, Just before your hand gets there. Take one deep and mindful breath. And then ask yourself, What's going on right now? Are you bored? Did something buzz? Was there a little bit of anxiety about something on your to-do list? Now imagine you keep scrolling the way you normally would. Stop and ask yourself, What did I get from this? Check in with your body. Is there a tightness in your chest or your stomach or a vague sense of, Is that all? Do you feel zoned out or a bit numbed out? Or do you feel more relaxed and more connected? And when the urge to check shows up, You can get curious about the urge itself. What does it feel like? Where do you feel it in your body? Does it change as you watch it? Being curious feels better than that closed-down itch to check. And that's it for the practice. So today, See if you can catch yourself three times when your hand reaches for your phone. Pause for a moment and get curious. Don't force anything, Simply notice and get curious about what that urge feels like. If you find yourself in the middle of a scroll, Bring in that nonjudgmental kindness and ask yourself, What did I get from this? Each time you notice and write out that urge, Or see really clearly what you get from the scroll, You rewire your brain. As you practice, Be patient with yourself and see how much you can learn about yourself and your brain in the process. And the very best of luck with the rest of the challenge. Onward!

Reviews

Such relevant tips. Thanks for the great advice.

Excelente!!!! Tks!!!

Gave me so much to be aware of! Thank you🙏🏾

Loved this . So practical and simple and a practice I will become more Mindful of and share with others ! 🙏🏼