Accidentally, I found a hack to stop mindlessly scrolling my phone—and I feel compelled to share it.
It’s said that about 40% of our behavior happens on autopilot. For example, you can easily hold a conversation while you walk because moving your legs happens automatically. Or you can brush your teeth while listening to an audiobook because that movement no longer requires much thought.
Likewise, without deliberately deciding to do so, you might automatically grab your phone, unlock it, and start scrolling. Even typing in your password has become an automated movement. Before you know it, you’ve lost ten minutes of your life. You realize that aimless scrolling wasn’t what you intended to do, so you put your phone away and return to what you really planned. But those ten minutes (or thirty) are nonrefundable.
For me, this usually happens when there’s a slight feeling of boredom or uncertainty—a moment in between tasks, a small gap of time when I should be refocusing on the next thing. Or when there’s a task I’ve been putting off, like writing a difficult email. But mostly, it happens when there’s a small window of undedicated time. It’s as if my mind grabs onto a busy activity. My favorite apps are specifically designed to become mindless habits.
Accidentally, I found a hack to stop this from happening—to snap out of automatic zombie mode.
I used my phone as a coaster for a bottle of water I was drinking. (When taking this picture, I piled up some more random objects that were at hand: a cup, a lipstick, a concealer, a candle holder.) So when that open time gap came, there was a physical barrier in place that interrupted the habitual grab-unlock-scroll movement. With my other hand, I had to remove the bottle first. It completely broke the subconscious routine and forced my mind into a deliberate, rather than automatic, state.
It gave me a split second to consciously think about what I was doing—and it made me realize that I didn’t even want to grab my phone. Like, why? What for? Why was I grabbing my phone?
It was an epiphany—followed by a little anger from realizing how manipulated our behavior is. How our attention is stolen. It felt like an infringement on my free will. I realized how much control these apps have, even over the physical movement of my arm.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Instagram. I think it’s a magical, creative place. However, I want to experience it mindfully. This was a dopamine loop I was trapped in. (I even have the urge to check my phone right now, because I uploaded a picture about 30 minutes ago. Thanks for the heart emojis, everyone—they release little shots of dopamine into my bloodstream.)
So, back to the method for interrupting this behavior: put a physical barrier in place—or more. Pile it up. Build a tower if you need to. Or, better said, add more steps—an extra security check, if you will—before these apps can access your mind and attention.
When you’re tearing down that tower, it will have to be deliberate, off autopilot, because you chose to check a specific app, send a message, or reply to an email. Not because of the dopamine loop Facebook Inc. installed in your subconscious.