How to Restore Focus After Constantly Scrolling Through Feeds

The internet can be very distracting, especially when you have a lineup of things to do. Take a quick look at your favourite apps, and before you know it, it’s been hours of mindless scrolling. Over time, it tends to culminate in difficulty maintaining focus. It happens to the best of us — we agree. And that’s what makes it all the more concerning.

The good news is that you can improve your focus with practice. In this post, our Slotozilla experts examined the situation at hand and put together some tips to help you stay on top of the situation.

The Psychology Behind Scroll Addiction

The relevance of any social media platform is based on how well it can capture and retain your attention. These apps use design tricks which activate the brain's reward system. When you use them, you enjoy the content you see, which triggers your desire to keep scrolling. Before you know it, hours have passed. In those hours, you’ve accomplished little more than racking up likes and reposts. Before you know it, you’re left feeling overstimulated and drained.

Many of us social media users exhibit compulsive behaviour without even realising. This involves scrolling through feeds instead of engaging in other activities you’d normally do. Content is usually unpredictable and often tailored to our interests. This keeps us coming back for more. And don’t be too hard on yourself — we all do it. After all, it’s fun.

But like anything, it gets to a point that’s too far for comfort. According to Tristan Harris, a former Google design ethicist, the business models of technology companies rely on capturing users' attention. This inclusion makes them non-neutral parties in the process.

Studies have shown that the average person spends around 2 hours and 25 minutes on social media per day. When you consider the cumulative effect of this daily habit, the script writes itself. What are the negative impacts, and how can you regain your focus?

The Alarming Signs of Lost Focus in The Digital Haze

The signs of excessive use of social media are always apparent, except you’re in that initial stage of denial. However, if you are oblivious to these signs, we’ve got you covered. Here are some pointers that you're losing focus due to constant feed consumption:

• Your thoughts are all over the place, and you are always mentally exhausted.
• You’re mindlessly scrolling through your feeds without any direction, purpose, or goal.
• You begin to get highly dependent on your phone for recreation, and a low battery may leave you uneasy.
• Your retention level dwindles as you reread the sentences multiple times without any storage of information.
• Your to-do list remains uncompleted or takes longer to get done.

The Real Cost of Lost Focus From Constant Scrolling

Constantly scrolling through your feeds may seem harmless. In most cases, it appears relaxing as this is done in your comfort zone. But a closer look tells you the hard truth — the effects of this singular phenomenon sting badly. It steals your time, your ability to think, focus, and grow. Some common consequences of constant scrolling through feeds include:

Shortened Attention Span

Endless scrolling through internet feeds is designed to invoke a pleasant dissatisfaction in you. This constant craving makes it really difficult to engage in anything challenging.

A 2015 Microsoft study found that the average human attention span dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to just 8 seconds. For context, that is shorter than that of a goldfish. Dehumanising stuff, quite literally.

Increased Anxiety and Low Self-Esteem Issues

Content on your feed can be entertaining, and just as overwhelming. You’re constantly seeing glammed-up content from influencers, celebrities, and even friends. It’s easy for this to fuel comparison, and your self-esteem takes the hit.

Disrupted Sleep Pattern

Your brain requires all the rest it can get to maintain its activeness. When you use your phone late at night, it not only stimulates your brain. The blue light suppresses melatonin, but let’s skip the scientific jargon. The effect is that it gets really difficult to sleep well. With migraines, poor sleep quality, and fatigue in the mix, you just know you’re not getting a good deal.

Loss of Time and Opportunity

Scrolling through feeds eats up hours daily, often without awareness. Those lost hours could be spent on learning, family, rest, exercise, and even gaming. The DataReportal 2024 Global Overview reported that the average person spends 2 hours and 25 minutes per day on social media. That’s over 17 hours weekly—roughly 38 full days each year.

There are people who spend even more than that scrolling. Needless to say that the opportunity cost of that would be staggering.

How to Restore Your Focus

Frankly, we don’t expect you to disconnect from the internet completely. Instead, the goal is to develop intentional use habits, set better boundaries and maintain focus level.

There are some easy strategies to help you restore your focus while allowing you to leverage your feeds productively. We’ve highlighted some of them below, with the table providing a usage impact assessment overview.

Setting Your Goals and Priorities Straight

You should always define what you want to achieve for the day before going online. This involves having a task or a to-do list. It has been discovered that ticking a completed task makes one feel a sense of accomplishment. Doing this will help you restore your focus and avoid mindless scrolling.

Use Website Blockers or App Limitations

The temptation to scroll through social media feeds can be strong and overwhelming. This catches even the most determined individuals off guard. While distractions may be lurking around, tools like Freedom, SelfControl, or StayFocused are useful. These block distracting websites or limit your app usage during certain times of the day.

Schedule Your Online Screen Time

While we understand that constant social media usage can lead to an addiction, we can't rule out that a little bit of online screen time is a bit healthy. It is important to allocate specific times you spend on a screen for social media or gaming. Stick to your schedule, and you just might be able to cut the needless scrolling.

Practice the Pomodoro Technique

This technique has been primarily recommended for students, and it has been tested and trusted. You can spend 25 minutes in a focus work mode, followed by a 5-minute break. This technique can help you stay focused and avoid burnout by making you anticipate the “reward” of rest for your hard work.

Replace Feeds With Flow

Exploring new activities can be a liberating experience — you might want to try it sometime. You just might be surprised at how engaging they can be. Instead of constantly checking your feeds, you can try healthier alternatives. Consider stuff like baking, journaling, yoga, or even playing games with your friends. You’d find that these activities help you regain your enthusiasm and focus.

Conclusion

Social media platforms offer an escape from reality. That is quite literally the excitement and relaxation it provides for many of us. Scrolling through feeds isn't exactly bad, to be frank.

The issue arises when it consumes hours of your day, leaving you feeling mentally drained. Reclaiming your focus doesn't require drastic measures like deleting accounts. And we’re not telling you to abandon your phone or become a recluse. Instead, it's about being intentional with your time, recognising your triggers, and creating healthy habits.

We’ve made our peace with the fact that distractions are everywhere. This makes the ability to stay focused a valuable skill, one you need in your arsenal.