'Doomscrolling' gained prominence during early pandemic lockdowns, as homebound individuals compulsively consumed endless updates.
Each discovery of emotionally charged information provides a small dopamine boost, reinforcing the behavior and creating a hard-to-break feedback loop.In the digital era, smartphones are ubiquitous and indispensable for many people, especially as the Covid-19 pandemic has made us more reliant on technology to work, study, communicate with family and friends, or entertain ourselves.
The idea of “scrolling addiction” has also been around for some time, with some individuals reportedly experiencing withdrawal symptoms when trying to reduce their screen time. The pandemic merely highlighted and exacerbated these existing digital habits. Each discovery of novel or emotionally charged information provides a small dopamine boost, reinforcing the behavior and creating a hard-to-break feedback loop.
Humans evolved to prioritize negative stimuli for survival. Our ancestors needed to quickly identify threats like predators, as ignoring potential danger could be fatal. But how do these algorithms decide what content to show us? In what’s known as the “attention economy”, our focus is a valuable commodity, so algorithms try to keep us hooked as much as possible by tracking our online activity and preferences to curate a feed that shows us content we are more likely to click on or engage with.
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