Mindless scrolling
Well, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t do this on some level. LOL It’s nice to learn about why we do it though and what we can do to regulate it.
Dr. Jud Brewer comes back to teach us about “Reward-based Learning” and just how frightfully easy it is. There are just 3 simple parts: the trigger, the behavior, and the reward. We all know this type of learning. We’ve probably used it with our children, students, or pets. Dr. Brewer uses the example “See food. Eat it. Feel better.” He says that what once helped us to survive has now become something so automatic that we don’t even realize it’s happening. As a result, it’s become a major time-suck and doesn’t really give us what we’re craving.
He describes it like this: our phones buzz (the trigger), we pick them up (the behavior), and we answer the text/delete the email/laugh at the funny meme, etc., and we feel better (the reward). Sometimes the “itch” is satisfied easily. This is just one example. He briefly talks about other types of triggers like boredom and anxiety. He touches on something called “intermittent reinforcement” which is the unpredictable timing of a reward (think: slot machine) and “deprivation curiosity” which is when we can’t think of something or remember someone’s name, etc., and we grab the phone to look it up. (Oh, but it’s just so darn convenient!!!) But what happens, more and more often, is that one thing leads to another and before we know it 20 minutes have passed. I don’t know about you, but I’m nodding my head and chuckling right now . . .
Ok, so what do we do about it?
Dr. Brewer says, “Our brain changes a habit when the reward value changes.” In other words, when the reward isn’t all that great anymore our brains become dissatisfied and the urge to repeat the behavior weakens. (Sound familiar to anyone?) We all know that it’s not that simple – or that easy. So he runs us through a quick practice and asks us to remember the last time we mindlessly scrolled. Then he suggests several questions to ask ourselves:
“Where was I?” “What time was it?” “Was I waiting for something?” “Was I procrastinating?”
Once we’ve determined those answers he says to ask ourselves things like:
“How did I feel when I put the phone down?” “What did I feel in my body?” and “Where?”
Finally, he says to follow it up with these:
“What do I feel now?” and “How does it compare to when I picked up the phone?”
By doing this exercise, questioning our triggers and rewards, we begin to change how we look at the behaviors. Dr. Brewer says that our brains need clear, specific information in order to “update the value” of the reward. The only problem is that our brains always seem to be searching for the next best thing, or the next reward – and hopefully it’s better than the previous one. To this, he tells us that curiosity is a great tool to use to combat the urge to check our phones and help us feel better. As I understood it, rather than simply diving into scrolling, we need to approach it from the outside, more objectively. We need to question why we’re doing it, how it feels, and if the reward is really worth it. Then we can keep practicing and, therefore, change the habit. Once that happens, it feels really good.
Here is Dr. Brewer’s method to approach our scrolling with curiosity and, hopefully, break ourselves of the automatic response . . .
- Stop before our hands actually touch the phone.
- Take a deep breath. (I think of this as ‘creating the pause’.)
- Ask, “What’s going on right now?” (What’s the trigger? Use the questions listed above.)
- Imagine scrolling and ask, “What did I get from this?”
- Check in with our bodies and ask, “How does this feel?” (Again, use the questions above. Maybe you get the “that’s it?” feeling.)
Dr. Brewer challenges us to try this technique 3 times today. Apparently I wasn’t listening very well because while I was writing this post my phone buzzed (email) and I immediately grabbed it. It wasn’t what I was hoping it would be and became disappointed. I put the phone down and continued to write. Then it hit me that I’d just fallen into the trap. The automatic response. Intermittent reinforcement failed. It didn’t make me feel good. But it made me more aware of what I was doing and when my phone buzzed 3 more times I stopped, took a breath, thought about what was going on, what I needed to do, how it felt. Then I let it pass and kept writing. That felt pretty good. Plus, I got the post written.
I hope that you find something worthwhile in today’s lesson that helps you become more aware and connected no matter the habit.
Namaste.
#breakyourpatternschallenge
#insighttimer
#mindlessscrolling
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