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Science Weekly
How to stop doomscrolling and reclaim your brain
Jan 18, 2024
Catherine Price, co-writer of Reclaim your brain newsletter, investigates the science behind excessive phone use. Prof Barbara Sahakian explains why we are drawn to bad news on our phones. Topics include app addiction, the impact of smartphones on attention and memory, negative effects of doomscrolling on mental health and brain function, and strategies to stop doomscrolling and redirect attention.
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Quick takeaways
- Excessive phone use and constant app-switching fragment our attention and hinder our ability to sustain focus and form long-term memories.
- Doom-scrolling, the compulsive habit of scrolling through negative news, can have detrimental mental health effects and can be countered by changing phone habits and employing techniques to regain control.
Deep dives
The Impact of Phones on Attention and Memory
Our phones and the apps on them fragment our attention and negatively impact our ability to sustain focus. This is because scrolling and app-switching trains us to be more distractible. Moreover, phones and apps interfere with our ability to form long-term memories since distraction interrupts the process of transferring short-term memories to long-term ones.
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