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My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

allthatjazz.me

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Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#91

Post by Bjartr »

ramses0 wrote: post #57
iNic wrote: post #4

I wonder if there's a "minimum viable connectivity threshold" in modern life - you literally cannot function below a certain baseline of digital access. You could model the failure of "delete everything" strategies as hitting against this hard constraint: banking, authentication, and basic services simply assume browser availability. Maybe the key insight here is the pivot from prohibition to differential friction. B…

There was a great UX principle around alternative mechanisms or backups. You can't have two rolls of toilet paper easily accessible in a public bathroom because people will naturally use them up at a similar rate. You need to make ONE OF THEM more inconvenient to use, so that overall your bathroom experience remains useful and convenient. (You'll see this often with a sliding door between two installed rolls of paper…

This is often framed in api design as make it easy to use it correctly and difficult to use it incorrectly.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#92

Post by sotix »

barrkel wrote: post #32
criddell wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife and I recently watched the HBO Dune miniseries (it’s great!) and I was thinking how bizarre it would be if people in that universe were spending their days passive scrolling the screen on their pocket computers. Wall-E depicted a future like that, but I can’t really think of any other books or movies that imagine that kind of future for humanity. Surely this is a phase we are going through, right?

Fahrenheit 451 has the wife mindlessly listening to airpods all day, even while having conversations (requiring skill in lipreading to avoid interruption). The airpods are described as Seashells or ear thimbles, small radios with speakers that sit in the ear canal.

She also had a screen on every wall to watch content everywhere she looked. Fahrenheit 451 was prescient even if it was reacting to the times.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#93

Post by InsideOutSanta »

renegade-otter wrote: post #11

The struggle is real. I wrote about this a while back: https://renegadeotter.com/2023/08/24/getting-your-focus-back... What you are doing is "self-limiting" which is not very effective. The devil on your shoulder will always fight this - "don't tell me what to do!" The wanting to not doom-scroll should be intrinsic. I know that right now, for obvious reasons, it's easier said than done.

"The wanting to not doom-scroll should be intrinsic"

For me, it is, but I would still automatically open Reddit or Twitter when compiling code, and then get stuck in a loop of looking at interesting and/or annoying stuff.

The solution was easy, though, I just put all of these sites, Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, etc. into my hosts file and pointed them to localhost. It took about a week for this automatic behavior to stop. Instead, I have a language learning app, so now I go through some flashcards while my code compiles.

Or open news.ycombinator.com. Maybe the next addition to my hosts file.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#94

Post by nevi-me »

bryancoxwell wrote: post #50
renegade-otter wrote: post #11

The struggle is real. I wrote about this a while back: https://renegadeotter.com/2023/08/24/getting-your-focus-back... What you are doing is "self-limiting" which is not very effective. The devil on your shoulder will always fight this - "don't tell me what to do!" The wanting to not doom-scroll should be intrinsic. I know that right now, for obvious reasons, it's easier said than done.

I’ve actually found using screentime limits on my phone for specific apps (which is essentially self limiting) to be very effective. Once time is up, there’s only a single button click stopping me from continuing doomscrolling, but that’s just enough friction that I’m able to say “oh right I don’t need to be doing this”.

Chrome on Android also has per-site limits, which I've also found useful in addition to the overall app limit.

15 minutes on HN, then I'm out even if I still have a Chrome limit.

It's really interesting that we have to resort to little jails like this to get our attention back.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#95

Post by baxtr »

jy14898 wrote: post #30

Does everyone really mean doom scrolling when they talk about these issues? For me personally, it's definitely about dopamine and not about negative emotions, yet everyone uses the phrase doom scrolling - am I the odd one out? For example, if I'm feeling stressed/anxious, I'll scroll/browse/distract myself to avoid the negative feelings. I'm not seeking them like doom scrolling says.

For me it describes the feeling I have AFTERWARDS. It’s like eating a lot of sweets. They taste great while you’re at it. You feel awful afterwards.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#96

Post by MuffinFlavored »

jy14898 wrote: post #30

Does everyone really mean doom scrolling when they talk about these issues? For me personally, it's definitely about dopamine and not about negative emotions, yet everyone uses the phrase doom scrolling - am I the odd one out? For example, if I'm feeling stressed/anxious, I'll scroll/browse/distract myself to avoid the negative feelings. I'm not seeking them like doom scrolling says.

> For example, if I'm feeling stressed/anxious, I'll scroll/browse/distract myself to avoid the negative feelings. I'm not seeking them like doom scrolling says.

In history, what was the equivalent to this? I think a lot of the negative connotation is related to "it's new and therefore it's probably bad compared to whatever humans used to do".

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#97

Post by slothtrop »

renegade-otter wrote: post #11

The struggle is real. I wrote about this a while back: https://renegadeotter.com/2023/08/24/getting-your-focus-back... What you are doing is "self-limiting" which is not very effective. The devil on your shoulder will always fight this - "don't tell me what to do!" The wanting to not doom-scroll should be intrinsic. I know that right now, for obvious reasons, it's easier said than done.

This is just short-term vs long-term gratification and competing desires. That's not intrinsic, except insofar as newly formed habits are compulsive.

Choice and opportunity-cost is all "self-limiting", the only difference is perspective. It's better to have an additive-mindset, i.e. replace a habit with another that provides value rather than merely focusing on restricting something. This works for everything, including diet. In the words of Allan Carr, if you view your actions as sacrifice, you won't succeed.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#98

Post by mseepgood »

jy14898 wrote: post #30

Does everyone really mean doom scrolling when they talk about these issues? For me personally, it's definitely about dopamine and not about negative emotions, yet everyone uses the phrase doom scrolling - am I the odd one out? For example, if I'm feeling stressed/anxious, I'll scroll/browse/distract myself to avoid the negative feelings. I'm not seeking them like doom scrolling says.

I believe it implies that it will inevitably result in your doom, because you won't be able to achieve much in life.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#99

Post by rbanffy »

Bluescreenbuddy wrote: post #85
bigfudge wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what I thought doom scrolling meant. I thought it specifically referred to the existential doom of endless scrolling for a dopamine hit.

The doom refers to the news and info type.

In 2025 it's fair to say it's just scrolling. The doom part is implied.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#100

Post by snide »

For Android folks, my friend built an app to limit / restrict the apps and websites your phone has access to. It's essentially like workplace fleet management, but for yourself.

I have a little more personal self control, but found his technical implementation pretty neat!

https://limitphone.com/

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