Has it ever happened to you that you intended to watch a video to answer a question in your mind? Or perhaps you wanted to listen to a particular song on YouTube. As you open the application, a short video starts playing on a topic that interests you. You are hooked. It was designed to do exactly that within the first three seconds. You finish watching it, and your finger scrolls to bring up another piece of content. You keep watching and scrolling in a loop.
Before you realise it, you have forgotten what song you were going to listen to. You have also forgotten the question you were trying to answer. As a bonus, you have wasted considerable time — time you needed to do something important and productive.
“Short videos are probably the most harmful curse human civilization has carried since the COVID pandemic,” says a 21-year-old student, who didn’t want to be named, Ruben Roy (name changed).
“The habit of scrolling started when we had very little to do. Now, that very habit has reduced our ability to do much of anything,” he adds.
He is not alone. The sentiment resonates among a group of friends sitting at Delhi University.
“I find scrolling to be an overstimulating activity. Even after a brief scrolling session, I find it extremely hard to do anything that requires concentration. I have to make dedicated efforts to calm myself down to do anything at all after it,” says Ashmita Shah, a communications student based in Delhi.
It doesn't start by chance
The endless scrolling cycle doesn’t start by chance. The architects of our screens have mapped the human mind, weaving invisible threads designed to hold us captive. Their goal is to make addiction the intended outcome.
“The accessibility of digital gadgets and infrastructure, combined with the habit-forming nature of social media, explains why it develops like an addiction for many. This abundance of content affects the human mind's pleasure-seeking behavior. It engages our multisensory receptors through visuals, audio, and even touch due to scrolling,” says Dr. Mimansa Singh Tanwar, Senior Clinical Psychologist and Head of the Fortis School Mental Health Program Adayu at Fortis Healthcare.
Because it engages our multisensory responses, scrolling can create the illusion of productivity. People feel they are doing something useful, such as learning about new things.
“At times I feel like I am doing something productive by learning new things. However, I almost always regret it later. I hardly remember any information I acquire from scrolling reels,” says Ishty Mathur, a law student based in Delhi.
The Vicious Cycle
Experts say excessive scrolling can create a vicious circle that disrupts daily schedules and time management. Scrolling strains the eyes and can leave people feeling tired. As a result, they procrastinate on effortful tasks. Once they procrastinate, work piles up. When that workload becomes a source of stress, people resort to scrolling again to relieve it.
“Many people report going to social media and starting to scroll when they are stressed. This is something being reported often, and we are facing it ourselves as well,” Dr Singh adds.
Many also say they resort to scrolling when they are unable to sleep. Then, scrolling becomes part of the reason they remain awake.
“At times I find myself scrolling at night. My eyes keep watering, but I still keep scrolling. Then I am not able to sleep, and when I cannot sleep, I scroll even further,” says Ashmita.
The concern is not simply the amount of time spent online, but what repeated exposure to fast, constantly changing content may be doing to our ability to sustain attention. Easy access, instant gratification and continuous stimulation can make slower, effortful activities feel harder to engage with.
This leaves people with less time for themselves — and even less for hobbies that require patience and sustained attention. Social media was meant to make interaction easier. Yet excessive digital engagement can also displace opportunities for face-to-face interaction and connection.
“Algorithms are developing the capacity to understand us better than we understand ourselves. Meanwhile, we humans are losing the capability to understand each other,” Roy says.
Dr Singh says relationships and human interactions suffer the most.
“Particularly amongst teenagers and young adults, social interactions have gone down. Physical activity has also decreased, along with engagement in niche interests and hobbies. Those who are conscious can still manage. However, those who are inherently lazy are seeing more dire consequences,” she adds.
When one screen is no longer enough
‘Second Screen Syndrome’ is a phenomenon worth mentioning when discussing scrolling. It describes the urge to use a secondary screen while watching a movie or other long-format content on a primary screen.
The concern is that constant exposure to short-form content may make observation, mindfulness, and patience harder to sustain. Scrolling is increasingly being integrated into otherwise screen-free moments of the day.
“I feel this urge to scroll while getting ready or travelling. It happens while being stuck in a traffic jam, and at times, even while speaking on a long phone call,” says Ishty.
The scrolling issue is how easy it is to access. Even someone conscious of the habit can find it difficult to stay away. Unlike many traditional addictions, there are few barriers between the impulse and the behaviour.
“You do not perform essential functions to engage with it. You just find yourself scrolling all of a sudden. If you are addicted to smoking, you have to spend money to buy a cigarette. You take it out, place it between your lips, light it up, and then indulge. No such barrier exists for today's addiction to scrolling. Everyone needs a smartphone to perform day-to-day activities. You need a data pack or Wi-Fi for your academic or professional needs,” says Roy.
Social media is a cornucopia of updates. You open it without knowing when you will stop. The endless loop becomes particularly significant at a time when human attention and intellect are facing new challenges from technology.
“AI is gradually excelling at most skills once considered inherently human. However, we humans cannot afford to lose the skills that make us distinct. To thrive in the coming years, we need something special that no one else has. We have to be experts in our respective fields so that no AI can overpower us. To do that, we need to practice mindfulness. We need to take the hard way and walk the extra mile. We must ensure our controls stay with us, not with any algorithm,” says Ishty.
Perhaps that is where the real battle over scrolling lies — not in giving up technology altogether, but in deciding who controls our attention.
Every scroll is a small decision, but an endless series of them can quietly shape how we spend our time, what we notice and how long we can stay with something that does not immediately reward us.
The challenge, then, is not simply to put the phone down.
It is to reclaim the ability to choose what deserves our attention — and to stay with it.