Articulation and thought are fading, and fast. The algorithm is winning, and the attention economy is booming. It always has been, but now it’s getting silly.

Human attention has become a valuable and limited resource. For me, the recurring internal issue I have is where to invest my attention, purely since it’s so limited. There’s a certain anxiety that can come from wanting not to waste it.

I suspect that sometimes this causes a fallback loop, where you feel more comfortable (safer) to reach for a device, entering the dull, scroll-lyfe mode in the hopes of unlocking something, only to inevitably waste time and feel annoyed.

Experience proxies

Sadly, scrolling through an experience can give us a faint sense of actually experiencing an experience. Which is messed up. Like watching a diet or fitness routine, and feeling like you’ve made the first steps toward new positive habits, even though you’ve done nothing.

EXPERIENCE PROXIES are replacing the real thing.

Social feeds are dens of short-span, barely viable, ephemeral dopamine hits that suck us in. Weirdly, we all agree we do it, and we all agree it’s not good.

The feeeeeels

I’ve noticed I can unconsciously slip into the virtual stream (X is my vortex) without warning. Strangely, it usually feeeeeels like I’m learning and staying on top of important stuff. But am I? Do I recall any of it? Was it useful? Kind of, but not really.

Even when it’s something potentially important, my pattern is partaking in a knowingly faux save-for-later ritual. Madness.

The fight

As an Atomic Habits aficionado, I’ve been recognising when I’m about to mindlessly scroll-it-up and instead use that as a trigger for something more productive. This is rapidly becoming a writing routine, which puts me in active mode as opposed to passive. I’ve been leaning into posting here as an intentional means of outlet. A surely more valuable use of time.

Maybe a stretch, but the Japanese phrase “Hara hachi bu” comes to mind. A term meaning:

It originated in the city of Okinawa, where people use this advice as a way to control their eating habits. Interestingly, they have one of the lowest rates of illness from heart disease, cancer and stroke, and a fairly long life expectancy.

In some ways, it’s related. I could shovel my fat face with endless memes, hacks and links, or I can consciously cap it. Like time-boxed scrolling, which isn’t a new concept.

Idea: Agent scrollers

Is scrolling the perfect AI agent opportunity? Have an AI agent perform your daily scrolling duties across the networks, followed by a considered gathering of non-slop, relevant highlights in one batch.

Random but related, the Slow Web (described here) is a movement in response to “fast web distress”:

Also related, The Revenge of the Home Page further validates this movement, a proposed return to visiting web destinations with intent, on your terms.