Sebald Beham: Little Buffoon with Scroll (1542)

"Curious how there's so much more effort expended trying not to do something than there ever is to simply repeating it."

We refer to this activity as Doom Scrolling, the practice of aimlessly perusing online media. The scrolling part of the term seems more self-explanatory than the doom portion. The doom comes from the general content found on social media. It tends to be overwhelmingly focused on the catastrophic. On slow news days, plenty of past catastrophes appear to hold the space. Scientists—real scientists, not the phony ones currently enjoying a resurgence on social media—suggest that each exposure to a report of some catastrophe incites something in our brain to dispense an addictive substance that encourages us to continue engaging in the hope of stumbling upon another similar report. Doom apparently better excites the amygdala suspected of dispensing this addictive substance than do more uplifting kinds of content. Fuzzy kitten and fluffy baby duckie pics work to some extent, but apparently not nearly as well as catastrophe.

It's nothing personal. We do not become media vampires because we lust after the taste of blood. No, it's the association biting someone's neck elicits and in no way related to any animosity anybody might feel toward anybody else. We commit these little guiltless crimes against ourselves a hundred and twenty times an hour. Never satisfied with the rushes we've already received, we seek ever more, ad infinitum. There is no apparent saturation or satisfaction point, the perfect drug. It provides a pleasing sensation without ever approaching complete satisfaction. The result seems quite the opposite of satisfying anything or anyone. No, the purpose appears to maintain a relatively steady level of dissatisfaction that nothing can quench. No satiation or tipping point can ever be achieved by continuing to scroll. It's the perfect distraction.

But what if someone were to attempt to scroll for something other than doom? Could Decency stand in as a reasonable replacement? Could the human relationship equivalent of fuzzy kittens and fluffy duckies stand in as a satisfying replacement for catastrophe? I'm unsure how to achieve this end because scrolling doesn't work that way. An algorithm determines what's presented to each user for their review. Well, that and some sense of preference determined by "follows." A scroller creates a follow by clicking a button adjacent to the creator's name associated with a social media item, such as a commentator, lesson, or music video. Not all creators post catastrophic content. Many attempt to produce less alarming stuff. These can prove satisfying to watch, but they seem to be in a distinct minority. Mostly, social media postings tend toward the more satisfyingly catastrophic.

It sometimes seems as though if I were not there to diligently witness every bit of sideways shit, the world might go to Hell in one of those proverbial handbaskets. In fact, my merely witnessing anything couldn't possibly influence any outcome. It doesn't matter who I'm rooting for. The war doesn't care who's watching. Maybe I should care instead.

I've been decaffeinated since 1985. I chose to go that direction because I held a high-pressure position at the time, and I'd begun to notice how I expended more energy jittering than actually tending to my business. I'd long suspected that I was unusually sensitive to caffeine. A second cup would fairly reliably blow me up. I'd get headachy when I couldn't get my fix. I quit cold turkey. Unlike cigarettes, which I quit around the same time frame, coffee came in decaffeinated form, so I could continue with the rituals I was just as addicted to. Over the following eight or nine months, I experienced my first migraine headaches, Incredible Hulk experiences I couldn't touch with any medication. I was not always uncomfortable during the transition, but I'd never know when I'd be freshly overwhelmed with some extreme discomfort.

I made it to the other side, with both the caffeine and the nicotine, and entered into a period when I wasn't addicted to anything. My self-esteem soared. I might have gotten a little too big for my britches, but I learned to thrive without those dependencies. I've been considering a similar cessation of my doom-scrolling addiction by replacing the fully-leaded catastrophic content with something more uplifting and reassuring, D-Scrolling. The world and social media might never notice, but I suspect I might. The challenge lies in finding that kind of content. It seems exceedingly rare from my perspective. I learned that when I quit caffeine, all I had to do was stop, then stick to it. Curious how there's so much more effort expended trying not to do something than there ever is to simply repeating it.

©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #Decency, #PureSchmaltz