You are probably more than aware at this point in time that social media isn’t good for your mental health, like there’s more than enough studies out there that’s pretty blatant on how this can cause a mental health crisis in some people due to all the horrible ragebaiting content, the awful comments (and it doesn’t help people think they have anonymity especially when their actual name is attached to what they’re saying and doing), and don’t forget the comparison trap either.
Anyways, reaching for your phone when you have a couple of moments of free time is out of habit, a habit for almost anyone with a phone. And yeah, it really is almost automatic at this point. Waiting for the microwave, standing in line, sitting at a red light, walking from one room to another, and the phone is already in someone’s hand like it’s part of the body. And okay, phones are useful, no one’s pretending they aren’t. But the part that’s getting people is the default scroll.
Not the intentional “checking something,” the mindless, reflexive reaching for social media because there’s a spare thirty seconds and silence feels illegal. But again, just like what was mentioned, social media isn’t really a good thing; there are so many bad things about it, bad for your mental health, kids shouldn’t be on it, there are more bots and AI slop, and this all will get worse.
While you don’t have to delete all the apps and be screen-free, you, and well, everyone should honestly just try and break this reflex of immediately going on there and be more purposeful when getting out the phone. But what’s the best way to go about this?
Keep in Mind that this Reflex is a Habit Loop
A lot of people blame themselves, like it’s a willpower issue. But it’s not some moral failing, no, really, it’s actually not. Basically Social apps are built to keep attention. Infinite scroll, autoplay, notifications, “suggested for you,” and content designed to trigger emotion fast. That’s the whole business model. So of course, the brain keeps reaching for it; it’s trained to.
The reflex usually has a trigger. Like, bored for two seconds, reach for phone, slightly uncomfortable, reach for phone, waiting, reach for phone, feeling tired, reach for phone. But you get the point here, and yeah, maybe all of this hits way too close to home or something. But then the reward hits, novelty, stimulation, quick distraction. The brain remembers that reward and tries it again next time. It’s like a never-ending cycle, and so breaking it starts with noticing the trigger. You have to spot it in order to kill it.
Doomscrolling isn’t Just “Bad Content”
Alright, so just keep in mind here that foomscrolling doesn’t just give information, it changes the nervous system. So, negative content, conflict, outrage, and fear it keeps the brain activated in the worst way. It’s not energized like after a workout. It’s activated like something’s wrong. You know that fight or flight mode, if you’ve ever gotten into it, you know how exhausting it is once the adrenaline is gone, right? Well, same thing here.
The Algorithms Know what They’re Doing
This piggybacks with what’s being said above. What happens here is that someone opens an app for one thing, then the algorithm serves five things designed to keep attention. You’ve got bad news, horrifying stories, conflict, and then a random happy video that feels like emotional whiplash. You know how 24-hour news feeds on stressing people out? They know people will constantly come back; they know that, and it’s been proven time and time again. The brain gets pulled around like a shopping cart with one broken wheel.
Plus, that’s what’s going to keep you on the app longer: it uses your emotions to constantly feed you to stay in it, to engage, to stay longer. It’s all intentional, and algorithms are learning more and more to keep you on there, too.
You Need a Better Default
So, ragebait content was already mentioned, comparison trap was mentioned too, and AI slop is a whole other can of worms, and that’s only going to make social media, well, the internet in general, be a lot harder to be on (and it’s pretty much already doing all of that as it is). Well, a phone is not the enemy. Well, it technically doens’t need to be, but if you want to be on your phone less overall, then by all means that’s great, and you should absolutely do that too.
But getting back on track here, it’s the default use that’s the problem. If a person is on a bus, on a plane, waiting in a doctor’s office, or stuck somewhere where relaxing isn’t fully possible, being on the phone makes sense. But the question is what happens on the phone.
As you probably can guess, social media is the most stimulating option. It’s fast, noisy, emotional, and unpredictable. So swapping the default can make a huge difference. Like, you could read instead, you could play chess on your phone, or play puzzle games like a crossword puzzle, color if you want, there’s coloring apps out there, feel free to listen to music or a podcast even. But you absolutely don’t want any negative emotions sparked or even adrenaline, like, that’s basically the whole entire point here!
Make Social Media Harder to Access
If you make it harder to access, it seriously will get to the point where you won’t have that much interest in it, no, really, it’s true, like the dependency will eventually go away. Basically, the brain loves convenience. So if social apps are the easiest thing to open, they’ll get opened. It could help to just put them in a folder and move them off the home screen.
Even better, maybe just log out or turn off notifications. With some phones, you can add a screen time limit. But there needs to be friction. You can go harder on this as changing the password to something that’s only on your computer, so you can’t remember it on your phone, and you won’t bother with logging in on your phone. But you have to stick to this, though!
