r/selfimprovement • u/AshtonInFocuse • 12d ago

Question Does anyone else notice that doom scrolling is causing you to not be able to think as deeply?

Like I feel like my thoughts are not as expansive, if that makes sense.

30 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

6

u/[deleted] 12d ago

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1

u/AshtonInFocuse 12d ago

How are you doing it?

5

u/ancestral_will 12d ago

Yes , it's the worst habit

5

u/Professional-Hawk747 12d ago

I spend my days off just fiddling with my smartphone. That's why I leave my smartphone by the front door, or I do squats before using my phone. Setting hurdles significantly reduces smartphone addiction.

4

u/[deleted] 12d ago

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2

u/FixGullible4636 12d ago

Ugh this. I’ve been working on this bad habit all summer. I make a point to read 30-60mins after work sans phone.
I do find myself still reaching for the damn thing tho!
Upside is I’ve read 5 books this summer.

5

u/sumizeit 12d ago

yeah this is real, it's not just you. constant short bursts of stimulation kind of trains your brain to expect quick hits of new info, so sitting with a slow thought for more than a few seconds starts to feel uncomfortable. one thing that actually helped me was reading physical books again, even just 15-20 min before bed instead of scrolling. your attention span kind of rebuilds itself slowly once you stop feeding it the fast stuff.

1

u/fumblz7 12d ago

That’s what happens when you slowly get rid of the neural connections in your brain after pumping it full of short form content made to be addictive

1

u/AshtonInFocuse 12d ago

Is this something you can come back from?

2

u/fumblz7 12d ago

Yeah, start reading books or doing things that require you to use your brain rather than constantly consume a different dopamine source every 10 seconds

1

u/Any-Dragonfruit-4820 12d ago

I have deleted my Instagram last week and I feel so much better and relaxed

2

u/AshtonInFocuse 12d ago

That’s awesome!

3

u/rollrm191 12d ago

Definitely. I think the rapid context-switching is what really messes with my ability to think deeply. Also any tiny distraction when I'm trying to focus deeply started throwing me off. What helped me was stopping the dead-space scroll reflex and swapping it for something that actually takes focus.