Because I’m a chronic scroller, I’m choosing my mindless scrolling on short-form video content apps as the behavior I’m trying to change with the strategies I’ve learned in this class. I’m choosing to include TikTok, Instagram Reels, Twitter, and YouTube shorts in this Measuring Me assignment, as my pointless scrolling typically involves at least a combination of these apps. For the sake of this project, I’ve chosen not to change my behavior in the slightest to get an accurate recording of my habits. I chose to do a busier day paired with a day filled with downtime to look at this behavior in a few different contexts. I recorded whenever I did the behavior or had any notable thoughts related to it.
Friday – Lazy Day
9:10 – Woke up and immediately unlocked my phone to check the notifications
9:15 – opened Tiktok and started scrolling
10:20 – switching to Instagram Reels
11:05 – switching to Twitter
12:00 – forced myself to get out of bed
12:01 – back to Tiktok and scrolled for another 15 minutes
12:15 – morning routine
14:08 – back to scrolling to with Instagram Reels
16:30 – Had the thought, “I’m stuck in a loop,” as I noticed I switched from Twitter to Reels to TikTok almost immediately in quick succession
17:30 – scrolling at dinner
18:15 – noticed I’ve been done eating for a while, but I’m sitting at Twitter threads
19:35 – sitting at my desk trying to get ahead of work and scrolling through the apps again
22:10 – managed to get some work done, but when I switched to the couch, I got distracted by Tiktok again
00:00 – still scrolling – disappointed in myself
1:00 – in bed, but I haven’t scrolled because I’ve switched to Youtube
2:15 – fell asleep around this time based on the last text I sent
Saturday – Busy Day
10:30 – Wake up, start scrolling
10:55 – out of bed and physically threw my phone across the room because I have things to do
11:30 – starting my errands
13:30 – lunch with a friend, haven’t picked up my phone in his presence
16:05 – back home and its time to go to the gym
16:55 – have been procrastinating getting dressed for the gym by scrolling
17:20 – on the treadmill while I scroll TikTok, basically the only place I feel guilt-free about scrolling
18:05 – done with my workout; didn’t scroll between sets
18:40 – getting dinner with friends, was scrolling for about 30 minutes
21:10 – back in my room, with nothing to do, time to scroll
21:30 – once again at my computer while scrolling TikTok on my phone
23:30 – have been working for about an hour and half – bedtime
2:00 – starting to dose off, but I’ve scrolled for about 2 hours
The day that I didn’t spend at least 5 hours scrolling was honestly more surprising to me than the day I did. I had to look over what I had been doing that day to avoid my bad habit, and I figured a connection circle would help me understand why one day was so much more “disconnected” from short-form video content than the other.
One common cycle I quickly identified was one where I scrolled for so long that my guilt motivated me to get stuff done. Once the task was done, my sense of accomplishment typically transformed into a resting state, which quickly resulted in scrolling some more, which would undoubtedly lead to more guilt. It stands out that guilt is a particularly strong motivator for activation. It would be nice, however, to get started on tasks without guilting myself into them due to my bad habit.
Another thing that stood out from my connection circle was how performing any activity that required mental or physical attention easily discouraged me from engaging in any scrolling. I may use short videos as a pure filler to fill in the space that comes with a lack of activity or immediate responsibility. The difficulty arises when weighing why I feel so guilty about not enjoying my free time the “right way.” To answer that question, I decided to use the iceberg model to dive into what structures and mental models could make me feel this way about a generally harmless pastime.
After completing the iceberg model, I found that my endless scrolling was primarily a result of two factors: a lack of alternatives, such as friends or activities, and avoidance of responsibilities. While my avoidance behavior wasn’t new, I hadn’t considered how much more toxic my scrolling had become after moving out of undergraduate housing. My connection circle demonstrated how socializing significantly reduced my scrolling time, but since I’ve moved to graduate housing, I have less opportunity to socialize with people living near me naturally.
The mental models that resulted from analyzing these systems were an interesting finding, given that I don’t fully disagree with any of my mental models. Instead of trying to change these mental models, the right approach would be to work within to replace a behavior I’m discovering impacts my life negatively with a more fulfilling behavior to partake in my free time.
I’m unsure if this assignment taught me anything new about the habit I want to change, but it was interesting to see how much of my life is impacted by a behavior I put little thought into. I want to try to be more mindful about how I navigate this in the future, and I’m hoping some of the material I learn in this class will help pull me away from my avoidant filler behaviors.
