The 3 Fool Proof Ways To Escape Doomscrolling

Shareholder capitalism may load the gun, but it’s us that pulls the trigger. Personal responsibility is the only exit strategy any addict has.

I have a friend who irks me. He’s one of those rare individuals who can dip in and out of any habit and not get hooked. Smoke a few cigarettes with a drink and never have a craving. Drink with a meal and not want to get drunk. Eats whatever he wants and doesn’t accrue bad health. I on the other hand get hooked negatively on all of those things. And I was curious why. What’s the difference here? Basically my friend accepts responsibility for his actions and doesn’t blame the prop. He doesn’t place it in the hands of others, or to fate. And has other bigger things to focus on that become the organising principle of his life. And to top it all off is one of those people who is fast asleep when his head hits the pillow, and who’s mind doesn’t chatter for an hour after getting in to bed.

Addicts sadly have a tendency to blame the addicting substance or ritual. The first step in seeking help is recognising that they have a problem. And whilst it’s true many substances are habit forming, with each new uptake of the deleterious substance or activity it’s us that must make a brand new descision each time to do it.

It’s said that Facebook etc have hacked our innermost desires and gamified them to make profit. And that these services know more about us and our psychology than we do ourselves. And whilst this maybe true — why shouldn’t they? After all they’re a victim of their own circumstances too. These companies are a product of shareholder capitalism (versus stakeholder capitalism) where those at the top (the shareholders) make a fuckton of money for themselves and receive all the benefit. So in a model where shareholder value is King, it creates perverse incentives. And that’s the game these corporations are playing. You, as a consumer, are simply a pawn in that game. Until harm to users becomes an influence on share price — and we’re getting there, then they won’t take action. And even then they still will have to balance the need between your interests as a user and the corporations interests as a revenue generating engine for shareholders. In that sense the game is rigged, but social media companies are simply only players of a corrupted version of capitalism they didn’t invent. And it’s probably too late at this point for them to become a private company that holds all stakeholders, from coders, advertisers, suppliers and customers as a worthy participant that receives a benefit also.

Some such as Cal Newport in Digital Minimalism posits a “Cold Turkey” detoxification approach to social media. Or limiting exposure for professional gain only. But both of those arguments are modelled around “what’s in it for me”. And as I will argue — that’s part of the problem!

Whether we like it or not these tools have become our window on the world. Newspapers are highly generalised, social media is specific. Even if a contributor has just one single post and one single follower, if the algorithm decrees it’s of maximum excitement to you, you’ll be damn sure it gets inserted into your feed. So resistance to that is really kind of futile as it locks in to our deepest desires and an ancestral biology to enpreference novelty. For our caveperson ancestors when there was a threat within their environment, a predator for example they must react immediately or face game over. So it is for us too, there is new information demanding our reaction. These are innate and instinctual. Baked into us at the most primal level. And these corporations by all accounts from whistleblowers and ex employees — know this and use this “novelty bias” to keep us locked into infinity scrolls.

The first stage of addiction is knowing you hve a problem. The second stage is knowing you ultimately are responsible. A bitter pill to swallow. If you blame the substance you’ll remain an eternal victim.

The problem is most people, and society at large does not want to take personal responsibility, the twin pillars of full time victimhood and growing egoism have created a toxic mentality that first began to shriek at operatic levels in my (Xennial) generation. Our egos now are at the height of their development and they would never for a second allow the possibility of ascribing blame to them.

There are three methods, that I have found along the way that can be very useful.

1. Short term pleasure to long term pleasure.
2. Self benefit to benefit of others
3. Observe the monkey mind

Short term hedonism for long term hedonism

Ask yourself the question. How long into the future will this post be valuable to me? What I’m viewing right now. Is this just providing an immediate hit of pleasure, dopamine, specificity, or whatever. Or is this going be valuable to my long term self.

The Marshmellow Test demonstrated that the more one is able to defer immediate gratification in favour of long term interest, the happier, healthier, more well balanced and successful that person will be. There maybe a case of genetics at play with those individuals here, or something “other” going on. But this also can be a learned behaviour if we’re conscious of it. The trade off of course is, are you able to endure some immediate suffering for a bigger payday down to the line, so to speak.

You know in the short term eating junk food three times a day will taste amazing. Like social media junk food is engineered by technicians that way. But in the long term you, will become fat and sick. You’re effectively self destructing Future You.

So you might say I enjoy it so I’m going to roll the dice and that is that. But to resist the urge to eat anything you like all the time, that requires you rising out of your instincts into reason. And valuing the potential Future You more than the current whiny “but I want it”. Do you hear how weak and childish this makes us sound?!

In food you could strike a deal with yourself. Say ok if I eat healthy for an entire week. On Saturday night I’ll allow myself whatever I like. Whether it’s pizza, topped with cookies, inside a bucket or chicken. Anything goes. Recognising that it’s still bad for me, but also limiting exposure to it. The secondary problem from this though is that it elevates the junk food to a reward or a “treat” or a “cheat”. And you see this all the time in the world of Instagram “personal trainers” who eat their rice and broccoli six days a week and then post photos pounding burgers and fries and all kinds of junk food in a way that frankly borders on the obscene. But, they have prioritised the long term pleasure of having a body like a Greek god above the short term pleasure of “I’ll eat what I want” the majority of the time. So it’s controlled exposure. And perhaps there is something to be learned from that.

Is what I’m doing on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter of benefit to Future You or am I just scrolling through virtual junk food.

Limiting exposure. Compounded into a single chunk. Analyse is it of benefit to long term me. Or is this just crack? And if there is no long range benefit. Unsubscribe. Be brutal.

If not for me then for who?

Around a hundred years ago Jay B Nash wrote a book called “Spectatoritis”. It’s a life changing book in my opinion and one that’s been completely forgotten by the modern productivity movement of today. But in it he was observing that as leisure time was increasing for the average Joe in twentieth century America, they were using that leisure time on being spectators. Viewers instead of doers. He speculated that the viewers would become greater and greater and those that produced or did things would become fewer and fewer. And boy was he right. Not only that but what we were viewing was becoming more and more sedentary and individuated and on demand. Now you can have your dinner shuttled to you by Uber eats, your groceries sent in 15 minutes. All with just tapping a finger. Netflix and YouTube create specific individuated and niche content designed for and collated by the algorithms just for you. So ask yourself this. Are you a creating good for both yourself and others, or just a passive spectator?

Even when you are spectating, does that produce value for others? Is one more like or love heart actually assisting or lending support. Or just a declaration you are an addict.

Can you use these tools to create content that is of benefit for others? Even sharing a meme. Is it for my benefit or the benefit of others — those who see it — and the general integrated system of life in which we all are in?

Freud discovered long ago that human beings are governed by powerful unconscious desires, in the main — sex, money and power. This was then proven and applied by his Nephew Edward Bernays the inventor of Public Relations. Bernays discovered that by tapping into peoples unconscious desires — you could sell more stuff. Before that, advertising consisted of a picture and some dry copy describing quite clinically the benefits a product would bring a consumer. After Bernays advertisers were no longer selling to just our reason, but the deepest parts of us. It is no coincidence that the most popular influencers on these platforms are those who are the sexist and most beautiful. Even if you don’t value those things, it maybe the most intellectual and knowledgeable. Either way the unconscious is involved. And the question must be asked — to whos benefit? The influencer alone or everyone else? Whilst of course veneration of beauty, although these days they aren’t genetic and mathematically proportioned oddities, but created in a surgeons office, has always existed, does me gawping at a bunch of “fitness models” benefit others or is it merely some kind of short term fantasy?

Becoming the observer.

As you scroll through. Instead of falling into “the unconscious” — observe yourself, without judgement, just placing your awareness on the tension between the content and what’s happening inside of you, your mind, your arousal, your emotions. Don’t fall unconscious but zoom out and above it and just observe what is happening. You don’t need to try and change things. But just by stepping above the “monkey mind” or “watching yourself from the side” you can bring forth a new awareness and sense what’s happening. Everytime you go into a social media binge session, be aware of what’s going on within you. And over time insights will aggregate, patterns emerge. They are neither good nor bad. They just are. But most people don’t know that they are unconscious or that they are operating solely on ancient reflexes — ergo we find it easier to yell “It’s their fault!” at the services. Or have to completely remove oneself from them, which creates it’s own kind of suffering and likely a relapse worse than before.

1. Willpower is like a muscle and can be trained. Like any bodybuilder there is a choice, train the muscle or let it atrophy. Try putting social media on a schedule. Rather than falling prey to it when you’re standing in queues or seek distraction any spare five minutes. Maybe set an hour once per day before bed that you’ll browse ad libitum, but the rest of the day you won’t touch it. This will be difficult at first. Turn off notifications. Cull those who don’t serve your long term interests. And perhaps over time experiment with how often you need to check in. Maybe limit to twenty minutes a day. Or once a week to catch up.
2. To who’s benefit? Am I a viewer or a doer? What is the emphasis I want for my life, do I want to remain a passive consumer or an active participant? And to who’s benefit is that participation — myself alone or providing a benefit to others? Can I annul self benefit and become a doer? Which benefits not only myself but others too!
3. Observe the process. What is happening inside of me when I scroll. Am I going “under” and becoming reflexive and unconscious?

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