Swipe on social media, and you might see a video of a mother shot in her car, a cat video, someone reacting to more protesters shot and killed, another cat video, footage of a war, and a wedding photo — all within a single minute. 

Each day, when we scroll on our phones, our minds are forced to contend in mental gymnastics, repeatedly shifting between a vast array of emotions.

Despite its constant noise, social media serves as a pacifier for our lust for constant stimulation. It keeps our brains hooked through short-form content and takes advantage of our natural desires for dopamine.

It does more harm than good. 

Apps like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and TikTok help us connect with friends and family. However, the instant gratification, dopamine rushes and short-form content afflict users with shorter attention spans, amplified stress and anxiety and depression.

Research conducted at Carleton University found that the average college-aged student spends seven hours a day on their phone — nearly an entire day’s work.

Countless hours spent on our phones are hours lost that could be spent with friends, on hobbies, or on tending to our minds. Thirty minutes after class could be spent reading or reflecting on the day’s events. An hour before bed could be spent unwinding or chatting with roommates.

But when we scroll, we forfeit moments of our day and deprive ourselves of short breaks that are needed to regulate the mind. On top of that, we let more stress in, too.

Research conducted by Gloria Mark, a chancellor’s professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, shows that quickly scrolling between videos actually increases levels of stress due to the frequency at which our attention switches. 

Scrolling does not relax us. It does not provide refuge from a stressful day. It does not let the mind be and sit with its thoughts. Scrolling is just substituting one task for another, keeping the brain active, rather than giving it a moment of calm. 

After all, social media can be nothing more than a shallow pool of escapism where we engage in a world wholly separated from our own. 

As more Americans join social media apps each year, we ought to reject this trend, reclaim the time spent on our phones and devote more time to our actual lives.

Yet, social media is addictive, and it lures us in for hours on end whether we like it or not.

Algorithms and their ability to generate dopamine keep us addicted to the very thing that brings us harm. They dictate what content we see and how frequently. They are designed by social media conglomerates, like Meta, to capture our attention for profit. 

The videos shown to us are designed to give quick bursts of dopamine and form an addictive relationship between us and the app. Our desire for dopamine enthralls us as we consume more advertisements — fueling needless consumerism and generating profit for the social media billionaires. 

Possibly, then, the lust for doomscrolling isn’t entirely a conscious choice. It is influenced by the owners of TikTok and Instagram to hook us in, take time away from our lives and fuse our brains to their slop.

Moving forward, we should put social media on the back burner. Through intense, conscious thought, we can rework our brains to find new sources of dopamine, change the media formats in which we receive newsworthy information and gradually wean ourselves off the addictive devices in our pockets. 

We do this by first identifying the specific ways our phones negatively affect us. Then, we can interrogate the importance of social media in our lives by asking whether or not we could live happily, in large part, without it. 

You should ask yourself:

Do the constant notifications and distractions hinder me from getting through my day productively?

Am I getting the most out of my day, or am I spending most of it on my phone? 

Is social media required for me to complete the tasks that I need to complete, or could I do without it?

Social media isn’t the only source of dopamine, it isn’t the only source of news and it isn’t the only source of happiness. Rethinking how we consume these things is crucial if we ever wish to detach ourselves from the stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms that accompany high amounts of screen time. 

Alternate methods of producing dopamine include going outside and touching grass, reading books, exploring new hobbies, going on dates, building our communities and spending time with people we love. Instead of scrolling, we could stare at the clouds, make art, call our grandmas and tell them that we love them and become fully absorbed in the present moment around us.

To get the most out of the precious life we’re allotted, reducing our social media intake is a necessary goal all of us should achieve.

I, for one, limit my Instagram time to 15 minutes per day with Apple Screen Time. I gradually reduced my allotment from two hours to 15 minutes over the span of a few months, and the screen time is password-protected, preventing me from abusing the “15 more minutes” option over and over. If I want more time, my partner can put in the password.

Yet, I’d rather spend more time on myself, like reading and doing yoga, or take a moment to sit with my thoughts and deal with stress. After going down to 15 minutes, I started to enjoy my walk to class — now that I’m not walking with my phone — and I began to notice the sounds of birds, bicycles riding by and friends chatting together. I feel that I am part of our community, not just a body moving through space glued to a screen. 

As 2026 goes on, we should remember that the world we love takes place in the physical spaces around us, not on the digital platforms in our hands. As the modern proverb says, “Get off that damn phone!” 

Joe is a junior in FAA.

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