It’s true at this point, phones are quite unavoidable. What about social media? Well… maybe not for me just yet. I have a terrible, awful habit of resorting to scrolling mindlessly on Instagram, falling down rabbit holes and stumbling through looking glasses so that I end up feeling like the White Rabbit: I’m late! (to get started on my assignments.)
And that’s when the deadlines start to sink in, and the panic begins.
The Study
The observation of this behavior began on Saturday, 01/10 and culminated on Monday, 01/12 for a total of 3 days. The subject (myself) was studied at intervals of 30 minutes, by which time they most certainly would have already been scrolling for at least 10 minutes. It was discovered that the subject would quite often reach a roadblock in their brain capacity, or alternatively find a task lacking any inspiration to carry on, and consequently relinquish themselves to the magical wonderland of Instagram. They might start with a few stories (keep in touch with the community), reply to some friends’ reels (commitments must be honored!) and settle down to some “productive” graphic design reels. Which turned into excerpts from animated movies. And then just movies. And then bloopers. And then videos of a child asking if they could “pet that dawg?!”
Interestingly enough, the topic of this scrolling could shift dramatically to also focus on a singular object when the subject was awaiting sustenance: food. Noodles, brownies, pizza, wheelbarrows of tiramisu (yes, they exist). In a way, the subject found themselves curbing their hunger by consuming with their eyes and felt satiated – so long as there was something on the screen that they could chew on.
Speaking for myself now, as the subject, I found this a very enlightening and simultaneously disappointing experience: disappointing for the extent of my vulnerability, and enlightening for how I now see I can turn it into a strength, based on the evidence of my logging and mental models below. Once I realized how much precious time was being wasted on an activity that gave me very superficial pleasure and little to no workable knowledge, I unearthed the motivation I needed to push past it. While my intent was not to alter my behavior, I found my mindset and external cues inherently pushing me to put the phone down and stay on task. As realities set in through deadlines and demands, I had to naturally force myself to work against my nature and use every spare moment to work rather than play. As such, this is the detrimental effect of a procrastinator with access to social media.
Can I go for an hour now without scrolling? Perhaps…
The Mental Models of ‘Gram
Here, I identified “Hunger”, “Going to the bathroom”, and “Procrastination” as some of the most critical cues for the beginning of a scroll. Some items on the circle are more obvious causes and effects than others, some generated additional questions to be explored: How does family time lead to scrolling? Why does sitting on my bed make me feel like I need to do something with my hands if I need to relax? Do I really end up getting any inspiration and motivation from a scroll session?
Here, I found realizations – people are a resource I need to stay productive, but come in short supply in my environment. I need a better time management system, and I’m building an intrinsically-motivated ethic to work my way up to making steady progress on my work. Comfort is an enemy and ally of productivity for me, there’s a balance that needs to be struck there. My stomach should be reasonably full, my body should be at attention, my mind should be open.
The Conclusion
I don’t know how practical it would be to expect myself to demonstrate a full 180-degree personality flip and become a person that easily rejects the call of the apps. It was most interesting to note, as I was going through this process, that I spent so much time on an activity that I never explicitly budgeted any time for. However, it likely ended up being the activity I spent the most amount of time on aside from watching a movie or TV show with a fixed time. That being said, I do believe that I can find some compromise of resolve to be moderately successful in combating my procrastination and addiction; I can weigh my options before deciding how to spend my time.
In another version of this self study, I might attempt to mark both the start and end periods of my scrolling time to more thoroughly get a sense of distribution of time. In addition to this, to truly drive the point home, I would be very curious to create a “Time Spent” visual graphic illustrating my time distribution across various activities in my day, and compare these to the quantity of time spent scrolling to get a moral measure of how I am managing and valuing my time.
Behavior is change, change is behavior. Without one, there cannot be the other.
The Log
Saturday, 01/10/26 – The ideal day, no immediate assignments, the weekend lies ahead.
8:37 – Woke up, eating cereal, scrolling/browsing on Instagram while eating
8:45 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram while eating
9:15 – Going to the bathroom, scrolling/browsing on Instagram
9:45 – Watching CS 224N lecture
9:53 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
10:15 – Watching CS 224N lecture
10:19 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
10:45 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
11:15 – Watching CS 224N lecture
11:45 – Watching CS 224N lecture
12:15 – Eating lunch
12:45 – Watching “The Good Place” with family
13:15 – Watching “The Good Place” with family
13:45 – Watching “The Good Place” with family
14:15 – Working on CS 224N assignment
14:33 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram during assignment
14:45 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram during assignment
15:15 – Working on CS 224N assignment
15:45 – Eating a snack, watching “The Good Place” with family
16:15 – Watching “The Good Place” with family
16:45 – Working on CS 255 assignment
17:15 – Working on CS 255 assignment
17:21 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram during assignment
17:45 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram during assignment
18:15 – Working on CS 255 assignment
18:45 – Working on CS 255 assignment
19:15 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
19:45 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
20:15 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
20:45 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
21:15 – Eating dinner
21:45 – Watching “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” with family
22:15 – Watching “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” with family
22:45 – Watching “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” with family
23:15 – Watching “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” with family
23:45 – Watching “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” with family
0:15 – Watching “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” with family
0:23 – Going to sleep
—————————————————————————–
Sunday, 01/11/26 – I started to feel the pressure of my work, time spent scrolling reduces.
8:40 – Woke up, went to the bathroom, eating breakfast
8:51- Scrolling/browsing on Instagram after breakfast
9:10 – Working on CS 224N assignment
9:27 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram during assignment
9:40 – Working on CS 224N assignment
10:10 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram during assignment
10:40 – Working on CS 224N assignment
11:10 – Eating lunch
11:40 – Watching “The Good Place” with family
12:10 – Watching “The Good Place” with family
12:33 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
12:40 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
13:10 – Talking to family
13:40 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
14:10 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
14:16 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
14:40 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram
15:10 – Showering
15:40 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
16:10 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
16:40 – Watching “The Good Place” with family
17:10 – Watching “The Good Place” with family
17:40 – Eating dinner
18:10 – Watching “The Good Place” with family
18:40 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
19:10 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
19:40 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
19:58 – Scrolling/browsing on Instagram during assignment
20:10 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
20:40 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
21:10 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
21:40 – Working on CS 247B Measuring Me assignment
22:10 – Watching “The Good Place” with family
22:40 – Watching “The Good Place” with family
23:05 – Going to sleep
—————————————————————————–
Monday, 01/12/26 – I had higher priorities to tend to, so the habit fell away almost completely out of necessity.
8:00 – Woke up, eating a banana, scrolling/browsing on Instagram
8:30 – Going to the bathroom, scrolling/browsing on Instagram
9:00 – Assessing work for the day with laptop
9:30 – Working on CS 377Q assignment
10:00 – Working on CS 377Q assignment
10:30 – Working on CS 224N assignment
11:00 – Working on CS 224N assignment
11:30 – Eating lunch
12:00 – Getting ready to leave for campus
12:30 – Driving to campus
13:00 – Driving to campus
13:30 – In class (CS 146)
14:00 – In class (CS 146)
14:30 – In class (CS 146)
15:00 – In class (CS 255)
15:30 – In class (CS 255)
16:00 – In class (CS 255)
16:30 – In office hours for CS 255
17:00 – In office hours for CS 255
17:30 – Driving home from campus
18:00 – Driving home from campus
18:30 – Driving home from campus
19:00 – Arrived home from campus
19:30 – In office hours for CS 224N
20:00 – Completing and submitting CS 224N assignment
20:30 – Working on CS 377Q assignment
21:00 – Working on CS 377Q assignment
21:30 – Eating dinner
22:00 – Doing daily Duolingo
22:30 – Working on CS 247B Measuring Me assignment
23:00 – Working on CS 247B Measuring Me assignment
23:30 – Working on CS 247B Measuring Me assignment
0:00 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
0:30 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
1:00 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
1:30 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
2:00 – Working on CS 247B sketch note
2:12 – Going to sleep
By Ananya Navale.
