Children aged 16 and 17 years old will face a social media curfew, the automatic shutdown of infinite scrolling and breaks in AI chatbot use under new plans.
The changes, announced by Technology Secretary Liz Kendall as part of wider restrictions on social media for children, will see default settings prevent access for older teenagers between midnight and 6am.
Features that keep users hooked, such as never-ending video reels and algorithmic feeds, will also be automatically turned off.
But what does this endless scrolling actually do to our brains? We asked experts to explain why the habit can be so hard to break.
Reward system
Matteo Parissi, a registered and chartered forensic psychologist and head of psychology at Cygnet Hospital Harrow, said our brain’s prefrontal cortex is “where the core of our inhibition control sits and infinite scrolling is particularly a problem with teenagers because the prefrontal cortex is not fully matured for most people until their mid 20s”.
“Therefore, teenagers and adolescents are a bit more vulnerable when it comes to their ability to stop infinite scrolling.”
Interactions on social media also trigger a rush of dopamine.
“Dopamine is a chemical messenger which is central in how our brain’s reward system works. We get dopamine in order to get motivated and when we’re feeling pleasure,” explains Parissi.
“Teens often get triggered and hijacked by the social reward of likes that they get on social media, which is essentially a metaphor of peer feedback that keeps this dopamine circle going.”
The slot machine effect
Parissi highlights how the core mechanism of infinite scrolling is similar to slot machines.
“Our brain does not know when the next rewarding piece of content will appear, so each swipe while scrolling has the possibility of getting a reward,” he explains.
“For our brain, this is quite detrimental because, from a dopamine perspective, the anticipation of getting rewarding content matters even more than the rewarding content itself, and this is the reason why this behaviour persists.
“For example, when we’re scrolling on Instagram and the content is only mediocre and we don’t really see what we want to see, we continue scrolling because our brain and reward system is hijacked by this mechanism.”
He highlights how, unlike books, there’s no natural stopping point with social media.
“In books, there are natural stopping points where your brain will ask, ‘Should I read another chapter?’ However, the issue with scrolling is that we don’t have any of that, unless we decide to self-initiate this inhibition or put limitations in place.”
Creates entrenched neural pathways
“If you stimulate certain thinking patterns, certain neural pathways, the brain will rewire accordingly,” explains Sarah Warley, neurophysiological psychologist and founder of BeBright, a digital platform bringing biology-led methodology to families.
“Therefore, if you are being fed an algorithm of negativity, your brain will begin to rewire according to the stimulation that it’s given, so you will become much more negative in your outlook.
“It’s a very simple mechanism. The nerves, the thinking patterns that get stimulated get entrenched, and the ones that don’t begin to peter out.”
Impacts on focus
“There’s quite a lot of correlated evidence that suggests that younger generations are becoming less and less able to hold focus for a long period of time,” says Warley.
“If you think about the brain as a muscle, if you’re only giving it quick hits of dopamine [through scrolling] it’s not going to learn how to maintain that focus over the longer term because you just haven’t practised it.
“If you’re not using that ability to focus longer, it won’t develop that ability.”
Increases stress and anxiety
“One of the key traits we’ve evolved to have is to perpetually scan our environment for any potential threats and dangers, and when you’re in the world of doomscrolling, you’re being fed so many things to have to worry about, and your body can’t differentiate between them,” highlights Warley.
Being alert puts your body into a fight-or-flight state.
“This triggers high cortisol stress levels, high adrenaline and makes you feel alert because you expect something negative to happen, and your body feels primed for that,” says Warley.
“Stress is fine when it comes in bursts; it has a functional purpose, but if it’s there 24/7 because of what you’re consuming, then you will get absolutely worn out emotionally. You’ll become much more anxious and are likely to have a much more negative outlook on the world.”
Here are some tips on how to overcome this:
Recognise that progress won’t happen overnight
“It’s important to understand that it’s not just going to happen overnight. You’re not going to go from a pattern of addictive scrolling to suddenly doing things that are healthier for you,” says Warley.
“However, you can gradually get there if you just chip away at it little by little until it’s gone.”
Start small
“If you spend hours doomscrolling every day, it might be helpful to reduce your scrolling time by 10 minutes everyday to start with and then gradually increase this to 15 minutes and then 30 minutes,” suggests Warley.
Avoid going on your phone as soon as you wake up
“The first thing many people do when they wake up is check their notifications, open social media and start scrolling,” says Parissi. “Instead of hijacking and bypassing the fact that our body biologically is wired to have a gradual wake-up time, I would recommend waking up to natural light.
“It’s better to gradually build up and reach the peak of our activity to midday, rather than immediately open a world of endless videos as soon as you wake up.”
Carve out time for fun activities
“Think about all the fun things that you can do together as a family, such as a board game, to replace some of that scrolling time,” advises Warley.
Get outdoors
“One of the things that you can do that’s incredibly effective at reducing your stress levels and cortisol levels is going for a walk in nature,” recommends Warley.
