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My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

alexanderell.is

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Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#111

Post by LiquidPolymer »

I’m curious what the generational divide is for this. I’m 57, love tech and enjoy the positive side of the internet in limited doses. But I find most social media boring.

There is incredible and AMAZING art, accidental moments, serious discussion and fascinating analysis of the world to be found online. But without grounding myself in genuine experience in the stinky, cruel real world of human interaction, nature, and emotions it’s hollow. It only has meaning with this grounding reality.

Infinite scroll has never captured my attention beyond a few seconds. I can’t determine if I’m an anomaly? Normal for my age group?

I’m distressed about how much time my 24 year-old daughter spends on instagram. She lives at home, works as a dance instructor, and spends most of her time staring at her phone screen.

As a child I loved television. The six million dollar man was a highlight of the week (unless a spaghetti western was on). But it quickly became stultifying garbage when I spent more than a couple hours on the screen.

Am I just not normal? I love the grittiness and dangerous unpredictability of the real world. Yet love movies. I’m not sure what to think

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#112

Post by ehnto »

sp332 wrote: post #27

Aza Raskin, who improved and popularized infinite scroll, has repeatedly apologized for it. He co-founded the Center for Humane Technology, and has a podcast about perverse incentives that drive tech companies to make users' lives worse. https://www.humanetech.com/podcast

I think he can sleep easy that it wasn't entirely his fault. We already had infinite scroll before social media, it was probably just a matter of time before it made it's way over there.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#113

Post by makeitdouble »

moltke wrote: post #16

I've removed everything with this from my life. Everyone knows how bad it is now, there's no excuse.

You removed all of it from your life with no negative impact.

On the other side there's all the people who live with it with no negative impact either.

The existence of these two groups seem to me a reasonable enough argument to keep it as it is and find alternative solutions for the people who can't remove it from their lives yet are harmed by that. At least, removing it for everyone doesn't seem to be the right call.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#114

Post by pfundstein »

resonious wrote: post #76

Lately I've become convinced that video games and social media are in the same class as drugs and alcohol. They're a pretty fun way to kill time, but some people are predisposed to doing too much, and too much is dangerous. Also similar to drugs/alcohol: it seems to affect some people more than others. I know people who can check FB/TikTok for a couple minutes and then they're done, and I also know people who continu…

The common denominator is of course dopamine, and drugs, social media, video games, etc, all offer an easy and reliable hit.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#115

Post by heffer »

woodruffw wrote: post #31
pomian wrote: post #26

On the other hand, why does every shopping, manufacturer, parts supplier, etc. Have to paginate everything? That only makes sense if you are trying to increase page views with ads. It is frustrating to have to click next, re load all the background clutter, sometimes every ten items.

I've always wondered if this has something to do with instilling a feeling of artificial scarcity.

Oftentimes it is so that you have to interact with the website which subsequently allows the webpage to autoplay media with audio or track engagement with a particular piece of content.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#116

Post by hnick »

pomian wrote: post #26

On the other hand, why does every shopping, manufacturer, parts supplier, etc. Have to paginate everything? That only makes sense if you are trying to increase page views with ads. It is frustrating to have to click next, re load all the background clutter, sometimes every ten items.

It is most likely just a relic from slower internet connections. Anyone who was browsing in the early 2000s didn't want an unknown number of images downloading all at once, especially on a mobile device. It does have little value these days but keep in mind some people are still on slow connections, and some categories of search results can be quite large.

You might as well ask why Google results paginate but you probably answered it (ads).

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#118

Post by MauranKilom »

For those who don't want to completely give up on this kind of content but want to limit their intake, I can highly recommend the Intention add-on for FF/Chrome: https://www.getintention.com/

For me, it worked really well for a while, until I started instinctively hitting the "one more minute" button. But they recently added the option for a 30 second timeout after each "unlock" period, which curbs that very effectively. It gives the non-lizard part of your brain the perfect opportunity to take the reigns again :)

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#119

Post by oxplot »

The key to curb bad habits is to create friction, and doing so well in advance. When you're exhausted and you're out of will, you're not gonna take much action to avoid quick pleasures. As it pertains to websites and app, here are a bunch of techniques for creating friction:

- iOS and Android both have screen time features to show you a banner when you've used an app for longer than a set time. This is a good soft block to start with.

- Auto logout after a set time. Having to login is one extra step that may deter you from accessing a website. This can be done with browser extensions.

- Auto delete apps after a set time (this is possible with MDMs). Again, having to install an app would be a big hurdle next time you want to sit back and scroll through clips.

- Throttle speed of a website - this one's a little brittle as you can quickly switch to a faster network, usually your mobile connection.

Re: My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll

#120

Post by yupper32 »

LiquidPolymer wrote: post #111

I’m curious what the generational divide is for this. I’m 57, love tech and enjoy the positive side of the internet in limited doses. But I find most social media boring. There is incredible and AMAZING art, accidental moments, serious discussion and fascinating analysis of the world to be found online. But without grounding myself in genuine experience in the stinky, cruel real world of human interaction, nature, an…

> But without grounding myself in genuine experience in the stinky, cruel real world of human interaction, nature, and emotions it’s hollow.

The ability for younger people to actually experience life is fading. Having to work multiple jobs to keep a roof over your head, massive inflation, burnout from everything, covid spikes recently, etc, etc, etc, etc.

Instagram/other social media is free and doesn't require any commitment or planning that real life experiences often require.

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