How infinite scrolling hijacks the brain’s reward system like slot machines do
Two experts explain what infinite scrolling does to the brain, why teens are particularly affected, and how to beat the addiction
We all know how easy it is to get hooked on scrolling, but what does this endless activity actually do to our brains?
The core mechanism of infinite scrolling is similar to slot machines, explains Matteo Parissi, a registered and chartered forensic psychologist and head of psychology at Cygnet Hospital Harrow in the UK.
“Our brain does not know when the next rewarding piece of content will appear, so each swipe while scrolling has the possibility of getting a reward,” he says.
“For our brain this is quite detrimental because, from a dopamine perspective, the anticipation of getting rewarding content matters even more than the rewarding content itself, and this is the reason why this behaviour persists.
“For example, when we’re scrolling on Instagram and the content is only mediocre and we don’t really see what we want to see, we continue scrolling because our brain and reward system is hijacked by this mechanism.”
He highlights how unlike books, there are no natural stopping points with social media.