Stop Doomscrolling and Write

by Rochelle Melander

Distracted from distraction by distraction.

– T.S. Eliot

I have talked to so many people who’re struggling to focus. They have good intentions to research, write, or work and they end up doomscrolling.

I’m in the same boat.

Because I use social media for my job, I can’t just quit. Plus, social media keeps me connected to friends, colleagues, authors, and thinkers. Because of social media, I’ve met fascinating people and learned many new things. Email, video chat, and social media platforms make my job possible—and easier.

Technology almost demands that we multitask—at the very least, using our smart phones to check in on social media and email when we’re waiting in line, or using our commuting time to catch up on phone calls. Here are statistics that clarify how much our technology rules our days:

• The average person checks their inbox 15 times a day.
• Most people check their phone 46 times a day.
• We spend over four hours a day on our phones.

But this type of multitasking costs us time and attention. Here are some of the costs associated with checking email and social media:

+Task switching taxes our brains.

Gloria Mark, the author of Attention Span, tracked people who used an electronic device and noted every time they shifted their focus. In the early 2000s, it was roughly every 2.5 minutes. Now it’s 47 seconds. And it takes about 25 minutes to return to our original focus once we’ve been interrupted (or interrupted ourselves) to check our phone or social media feed. In fact, most people do two other tasks before returning to their original tasks. All this switching uses up our brain’s limited resources for paying attention. We experience cognitive overload—and it’s even harder for us to pay attention.

+Doomscrolling hijacks our brain.

Long ago, the psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik discovered the Zeigarnik effect—we remember incomplete or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks. This means that even when we stop doomscrolling, our brains are still wondering about that article we didn’t finish reading, the headline we didn’t click on, or the game we were playing. No wonder we can’t focus on our work!

+Checking email lowers our IQ

The Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London published a study on infomania—dealing with the relentless push of information from emails, cellphone calls, and instant messages. They found that when people were bombarded with email and phone calls while performing a creative task, their IQ decreased 10 points, which was similar to what happened when people smoked marijuana.

Did you get that last one? If you’re writing and take a break to check your email, it affects you like you stepped out to smoke a joint. Holy smokes!

What does this mean for you? That smart phone that keeps buzzing? The Facebook or Instagram feed popping up on your screen? They’re killing your ability to focus write.

The Quest

In this quest, you will commit to technology free writing time. Afterwards, you’ll reflect on how writing without social media and phone notifications affected your writing.

Schedule

Give yourself a block of interruption-free time to write. It doesn’t have to be a whole day. It can be two hours on a Saturday afternoon, 30 minutes each morning before the rest of the family wakes up, or ten minutes before bedtime. No matter the amount of time you can grab, take it and commit to it.

Before you start writing, sign off social media, turn off your phone, and close your email and web browsers. If you find giving up technology to be difficult, start small—30 minutes of writing time.

Prepare to feel the internal tug to check email, visit Twitter, or text a friend. Instead of giving in, acknowledge the desire: Hey, I hear you, this is hard, it’s tempting to want to play on social media. Then remind yourself when you will go online: Just write for another 20 minutes, and you can check email.

Reflect

After each session and at the end of a week, make a note of these things:

• In what ways did shutting off technology improve your productivity? Maybe you got more done in less time or you were able to think more creatively.
• During your technology fast, what technology did you want to use the most: social media sites (specify which ones), online search sites, email, or phone?
• Did anything frustrate you about writing without being connected to social media?
• How will you use this tool going forward?

Game Play Tips

• Go beyond the obvious and turn off anything electronic that might interrupt you, including your fitness tracker, alarm reminders, and text messages.
• Decide ahead of time on a signal that your family or housemates will recognize as “Writer at work” and leave you alone. This might be wearing a special hat or putting a “do not disturb” sign on your door.
• Schedule time to connect with people via phone, email, and social media. Many writers use technology like the office water cooler—stopping over to Facebook every time we need a break or texting a friend between work tasks. Instead, schedule time to connect via technology, just like you schedule time to write. Then, give yourself energy boosting breaks—take a walk, fold the laundry, or play with an animal.

For the Win

We don’t need to be hitched to technology. With this quest you determined how technology could serve you in getting stuff done and connecting with others. Good for you.

Need help finding a distraction free writing time? Come to my Show Up and Write sample session this Thursday at 11 AM CT. Sign up at the SHOW UP AND WRITE page.