Ms. A suffers from depression. The doctor asked: “Have you lost interest in things?” Ms. A said nothing. “In their spare time, everyone will do something to make themselves happy, right?” Ms. A still said nothing.
The doctor was anxious and questioned his communication skills. “Everyone does something that makes themselves happy, such as scrolling through their mobile phones and looking at things…” Ms. A asked the doctor: “That makes people happy?” The doctor blushed and blamed himself for asking a very stupid question.
It is indeed difficult to make people happy by scrolling through their mobile phones. The more I scroll, the less happy I usually become. When you feel bored, you take out your mobile phone. Scroll through social media and news websites. Scan through every headline and every picture. There is no end to this. When you encounter an interesting article, you click on it to read it. You will feel gained and satisfied as if casually flipping through a magazine. But if you lack the self-discipline to limit the time you spend scrolling, the positive feelings will continue to decrease the longer you scroll. The feeling of leisure fades, replaced by a sense of aimless and empty bitterness. The brain’s ability to focus constantly weakens. In the past, it was a breeze to concentrate on reading a hundred-word article and memorize it, but gradually even reading a less-than-a-hundred-word introduction has become a chore. Then the duration for which one could hold their attention devolved to a few seconds. When reading a less-than-twenty-word title, the attention already drifted to the next post. The faster you swipe with your fingers, the stronger the feeling of powerlessness.
Unexpectedly, it turns out that your family, friends, and boss have been secretly paying attention to your behavior. When being criticized or yelled at, feelings of shame and self-critical thoughts (“I’m such a boring person”, “I just waste time every day”) suddenly pop into the mind. Then the shame turns into anger. With a dark and fierce look, you set out to protect your fragile self-worth.
Let’s say you calmed down and realized the cost of the perpetual scroll. You still couldn’t help but take out your phone and scroll, like it’s a compulsion. You feel like a few invisible men grabbing your hand, stuffing the phone into the palm of your hand, then lowering your head and demanding you to bow down to your phone master. If you look at your phone while urinating, the most you would pay is just a phone. But if you scroll through your phone while crossing the road or driving, the cost is your life. Even if you know the above logic intellectually, you might still can’t help it.
Most things that make people truly happy require voluntary, willing and active participation. They need a period of concentration. After completing it, they will leave you feeling accomplished and meaningful. All of these cannot be obtained by perpetual scrolling. This explains why after spending a lot of time scrolling, you will find that the only thing written on this “scroll” is your naked loneliness and low self-image.
(Details of the story have been modified to protect patient privacy)
Written by: Dr. William Chui
Translated by: Cheuk Long Chan
