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Why Infinite Scrolling is Both the Best and Worst Internet Invention
Infinite scrolling is the best invention — for website owners, particularly with social media. If you want to maximise the time people spend on your site, infinite scrolling is fantastic. If someone doesn’t immediately see something they’re interested in, they keep scrolling until they do.
Which is why it’s so bad for us.
We mindlessly scroll through Facebook or Twitter. Not because we are looking for something specific but to avoid boredom. We will do anything not to be alone with our thoughts, even if that means wasting our time on a portable fruit machine in the palm of our hand.
Before infinite scrolling, content was organised in pages. If we didn’t see something we liked on the first page, we had to decide to go to the next page. But making decisions requires effort, which is tiring. So programmers found a way to oil the track so we could slide down it without effort.
These days, we have an almost infinite availability of shortform content. Our free time often consists of a continuous stream of bitesize content that keeps us occupied but never truly satisfies.
But even when we do opt for long-form content, it’s still endless. We can binge-watch entire seasons on Netflix without moving a muscle, like zombies whose brains…
