Is Doomscrolling Making You More Bored?
By Movieguide® Contributor
Scrolling from video to video on online platforms or apps doesn’t keep the mind entertained. According to a study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, it actually increases boredom.
“This behavior, where users rapidly flip between videos or skip over parts of them in search of something more exciting, is fairly counterproductive. Instead of curing boredom, digital switching can intensify it,” Relevant reported Aug. 19.
This behavior of endlessly switching through pictures or videos is recently referred to as “doomscrolling.” It’s named that because the activity is almost never-ending, as in one scrolls until their doom, semi-seriously.
“If people want a more enjoyable experience when watching videos, they can try to stay focused on the content and minimize digital switching,” said the lead author Katy Tam, PhD. “Just like paying for a more immersive experience in a movie theater, more enjoyment comes from immersing oneself in online videos rather than swiping through them.”
The study had 1,200 undergraduate participants from the University of Toronto and U.S. colleges.
It suggests that the endless amount and variety of videos available makes attention “fragmented.” This experience makes it difficult to pay attention, and the result leaves a feeling of boredom.
In one experiment in the study, participants watched a 10-minute video and were not given the option to skip through it or cut to another video. Afterward, they were allowed to freely switch through five seven-minute videos within a 10-minute time frame. The majority reported that they felt less bored and more satisfied when they watched the first video fully than when they were allowed to skip other videos.
Relevant said, “When we constantly switch between content, we miss out on the deeper engagement that makes watching enjoyable. The allure of finding something better with just one more swipe often leaves us feeling unsatisfied.”
Online video sites and social media are designed to be addictive. Users scroll on apps like YouTube and Instagram to amuse themselves, but increased boredom is hardly the worst that endless scrolling can do. Too much time on social media and video websites can lead to a variety of mental health issues like depression, anxiety and addiction.
Movieguide® reported:
“These social media companies, big tech, have consulted with those who created slot machines in casinos, and they’re basically using the same psychological, addictive, both algorithms and technology that get people just to continue to pull the arm on a slot machine. And it’s actually called variable ratio schedule,” explained Darren Whitehead, author of “The Digital Fast.”
Whitehead explained that, like with slot machines, the unpredictable aspect is part of what makes them addictive. You never know exactly what you might get.
He told Bream, “You’re waiting for the next thing, and you’re always asking yourself the question, is [it] the next one? Is the next one going to be the one that is fulfilling me? Or, in this case, is often giving you a hit of dopamine.”
