Interesting theory. I disagree but want to take a closer look at it. I believe scrolling is an active form of looking for opportunities to status-signal (feel validation). I think its similar to back in the ancient days, we would flip through a magazine or book looking for something to catch our eye to think about or share with a friend. But a printed piece ends while scrolling never ends. Thats the part that feeds our FOMO which is a form of narcissism.
Your point about community is spot-on. Its something I have been thinking a lot about as a pastor. Gen Z and possibly some millennials have missed out on that middle ring in society. Also in that ring would be coaches and teachers who functioned as mentors that extend parental guidance beyond the parents reach. Now, it feels like you cannot trust coaches and teachers to do this anymore.
I swear I was scrolling through Substack just now and thinking “I feel like I just scroll around sometimes to avoid analyzing every thought that comes into my head.” 😂
Feels like every writer on screens and digital damage is hitting this conclusion. Not enough to just limit the digital world via government regulation or tell people to have more self-control. We need to rebuild the analogue world — the one that we had let atrophy and had let the Silicon Valley tech giants replace with an infinite scroll.
HOW to rebuild that middle ring, that analogue world, that rich web of costly interdependencies and embodied interactions that make us human. That’s the question!
I am encouraged that some social conservative / religious types here on substack (thinking in particular of Freya India) are writing productively on this, and in a way that isn’t totally distasteful. There is hope for cross-partisan discussion on this!
It’s not looking good for us men though — way too many recognize the same problem but have fallen down a terrible black hole of online misogyny and trying to turn the clock back to 1955 in terms of gender roles in a misguided attempt to rebuild a trusting society and that middle ring. And you can see the outcome when they take power like in Hungary, Poland (thankfully the Poles pulled back from the brink in their last election), or most consequentially, the US.
I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say it combats my nascent narcissism, but I often find myself scrolling as a way to tune out. I AM exhausted by thinking, deciding, choosing. Even clicking on an item to buy on Amazon requires a decision. The infinite scroll just lets me zone out. (For that matter, so does Sudoko.)
Honestly, I think that the only way for me to combat that exhaustion is to stop scrolling, just like the only way to get stronger is to actually lift that weight.
We weren’t built to live in our own heads all day and yet somehow everything’s pulling us further inward, like we’re supposed to self-analyse ourselves into peace. I take active steps to avoid doom scrolling, but I am a work in progress!
I see it as a way to not have to deal with the thoughts in my head. That goes in line with drug and alcohol addiction, like Dr. Lembke talks about, love her work. But the more I grow spiritually and the less time I spend online, I realize that the thoughts never go away so rather than just tune them out in an unhealthy way, I learn to actually observe them, give them space, through meditation, mindfulness, etc. I think it actually represses the thought when we zone out like this, pushing energy down and ultimately making healing take longer, if what we are avoiding are thoughts that need space to come up and through. Great piece, thank you!
the need to escape ourselves by viewing others feels tied to the judgemental turn in public speech: cancellation, snark blogs, picking the Main Character of Twitter and pillorying them for a day, etc.
Exactly. Which is why so many feel dissociated and disembodied…which naturally leads to “mental illness” feelings, behaviors, and diagnoses. And yet, there is an antidote to all that…reconnecting with our senses and fasting from the phone.
Interesting theory. I disagree but want to take a closer look at it. I believe scrolling is an active form of looking for opportunities to status-signal (feel validation). I think its similar to back in the ancient days, we would flip through a magazine or book looking for something to catch our eye to think about or share with a friend. But a printed piece ends while scrolling never ends. Thats the part that feeds our FOMO which is a form of narcissism.
Your point about community is spot-on. Its something I have been thinking a lot about as a pastor. Gen Z and possibly some millennials have missed out on that middle ring in society. Also in that ring would be coaches and teachers who functioned as mentors that extend parental guidance beyond the parents reach. Now, it feels like you cannot trust coaches and teachers to do this anymore.
Thanks for sharing.
I swear I was scrolling through Substack just now and thinking “I feel like I just scroll around sometimes to avoid analyzing every thought that comes into my head.” 😂
Feels like every writer on screens and digital damage is hitting this conclusion. Not enough to just limit the digital world via government regulation or tell people to have more self-control. We need to rebuild the analogue world — the one that we had let atrophy and had let the Silicon Valley tech giants replace with an infinite scroll.
HOW to rebuild that middle ring, that analogue world, that rich web of costly interdependencies and embodied interactions that make us human. That’s the question!
I am encouraged that some social conservative / religious types here on substack (thinking in particular of Freya India) are writing productively on this, and in a way that isn’t totally distasteful. There is hope for cross-partisan discussion on this!
It’s not looking good for us men though — way too many recognize the same problem but have fallen down a terrible black hole of online misogyny and trying to turn the clock back to 1955 in terms of gender roles in a misguided attempt to rebuild a trusting society and that middle ring. And you can see the outcome when they take power like in Hungary, Poland (thankfully the Poles pulled back from the brink in their last election), or most consequentially, the US.
I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say it combats my nascent narcissism, but I often find myself scrolling as a way to tune out. I AM exhausted by thinking, deciding, choosing. Even clicking on an item to buy on Amazon requires a decision. The infinite scroll just lets me zone out. (For that matter, so does Sudoko.)
Honestly, I think that the only way for me to combat that exhaustion is to stop scrolling, just like the only way to get stronger is to actually lift that weight.
Interesting post...lots of food for thought.
I really love your spoken Articles 💗
I'm so happy to hear that! I was wondering if people would use them at all.
We weren’t built to live in our own heads all day and yet somehow everything’s pulling us further inward, like we’re supposed to self-analyse ourselves into peace. I take active steps to avoid doom scrolling, but I am a work in progress!
I see it as a way to not have to deal with the thoughts in my head. That goes in line with drug and alcohol addiction, like Dr. Lembke talks about, love her work. But the more I grow spiritually and the less time I spend online, I realize that the thoughts never go away so rather than just tune them out in an unhealthy way, I learn to actually observe them, give them space, through meditation, mindfulness, etc. I think it actually represses the thought when we zone out like this, pushing energy down and ultimately making healing take longer, if what we are avoiding are thoughts that need space to come up and through. Great piece, thank you!
the need to escape ourselves by viewing others feels tied to the judgemental turn in public speech: cancellation, snark blogs, picking the Main Character of Twitter and pillorying them for a day, etc.
Exactly. Which is why so many feel dissociated and disembodied…which naturally leads to “mental illness” feelings, behaviors, and diagnoses. And yet, there is an antidote to all that…reconnecting with our senses and fasting from the phone.
another great article, thanx for all of your time and thoughts, Tim Jordan