Coding matters: The Scroll of Doom

AI generated image of a fantasy landscape. There is a moon in the background, and a scroll and a bottle of potion in the foreground.

That sounds like a widgit in a fantasy game:
Scroll of Doom.
Click of Chaos.
Mouse of Mystery.
Byte of Betrayal.
Firewall of Fate.

The real scroll of doom

But this is not about playing games. This is about doomscrolling.

Doomscrolling is the the act of contantly scrolling through negative content on social media or news platforms. (You can read about this on Wikipedia.)

Scientists have suggested various reasons for it. One reason is negativity bias. Our brains are genetically wired to pay more attention to negative information.

Another reason is FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). We are afraid of missing out on experiences or new information.

And, of course, big tech uses this against us. Social media algorithms are designed to keep you engaged. They don’t care about the accuracy of content or your mental health. They just want you to scroll, scroll, scroll!

Stress 101

Everyone I speak to seems stressed. I think that return to office policies have added to this, but that’s a topic for another day.

Recently I listened to a podcast interview with Dr Aditi Nerurkar, a Harvard stress expert. Here’s the basic science as she explained it.

In normal circumstances, the prefrontal cortex is the part of your brain that is in control. When you are in a state of stress, the amygdala takes over. The amygdala is the part of your brain that controls your fight or flight response. Its job is survival. Imagine being a cave person and you see a tiger coming towards you. It’s a threat, and you must respond quickly. Amygdala to the rescue!

But the amygdala is designed to work for short periods of time. After you’ve dealt with the threat of the tiger, that’s it. You carry on with life as normal.

The problem is that we have so many tigers around us. Financial tigers, work tigers, family tigers. We can’t deal with them all, and so we are in a state of chronic stress. The amygdala doesn’t get a chance to switch off.

That’s when all the negative effects of stress show up. Anxiety, depression, fatigue, insomnia, eating disorders, digestive problems, cardio-vascular disease. The list goes on.

One article described it like this:
When the amygdala is running the show, you’re not your best self.

The scroll of stress

According to Dr Nerurukar, stress also increases our tendency to keep scrolling. Why?

When your amygdala is in control, your brain focuses on survival. Scanning for danger is a natural response to stress. Dr Nerurkar compares it to when humans lived in tribes. There would be a night watchman whose job was to scan for danger while the rest of the tribe slept. In modern life, you are your own night watchman. So you scan for danger by constantly checking news or social media.

The problem with doomscrolling is that it makes you more stressed. You are increasing your stress, anxiety and depression. And you feel lousy for wasting all that time.

Another result of stress is that your inner critic gets louder. And as that gets louder, your sense of FOMO increases. So you scroll more, and that increases your FOMO, and you scroll some more.

Maybe I should call it the Circle of Compulsive Clicks.

The charm of cyber silence

I asked Co-pilot for some names for a suitable elixir of health. I liked the Charm of Cyber Silence, but it also suggested these:

Talisman of Tech Tranquility
Pendant of Peaceful Disconnect
Bracelet of Blissful Breaks
Cloak of Computer Cessation
Gem of Gadget Gap
Amulet of Analog Adventures

Our works and our lives need cell phones and computers. A complete digital detox is not an option for most people.
But be honest. Do you really need to check your phone first thing in the morning? Or for the last hour before bedtime?

You have to take responsibility for your own health. Not next week, or next month, or next year, but right now.

One small thing we can do is just reduce our scrolling by an hour a day.

Have a better day

And if you must scroll, forget the news.

Researchers found that people who watched 3 (only 3!) minutes of bad news in the morning were 27% more likely to report having a bad day later. But people who watched good news reported a good day 88% of the time.

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