What Two Hours of Daily Scrolling Adds Up To

Imagine two versions of yourself. One who scrolls for 2 hours every night, and another who spends those 2 hours reading, writing, cooking, socialising or exercising. Over the course of 2 weeks, there’s over a full days worth of growth differentiating these two versions of you. Over the course of a year, there’s a full month.

The thing is, it might feel daunting to do something different. Scrolling is so easy. It’s so comfortable. It’s so appealing to your brain that, despite it being thoroughly unproductive and barely enjoyable, you can somehow bring yourself to accept it. If scrolling weren’t so addictive, it would surely be appalling to us.

One particular cruelty of being human nowadays is that our instincts were built for a world of scarcity and danger. Novelty meant opportunity and rest meant survival. Another animal that eats, rests, and avoids discomfort is thriving. A human doing the same in our world of relative comfort is stagnant and unfulfilled.

To add insult to injury, billion-dollar conglomerates spend endlessly figuring out devious ways to steal our attention by exploiting our instinct to investigate novelty, ultimately bringing us further and further away from what actually fulfills us.

Scrolling in and of itself seems benign, and that’s what makes it so dangerous.

Instead of just thinking about the act itself, think about what you’re replacing with scrolling. It’s the very things that make life meaningful.

The solution?

Replace your scroll time with something. Anything. If you’re not sure where to start, heed the advice of Ray Bradbury, who, in this clip, sets out a brilliant , lifelong challenge:

Every night before you go to bed, read one poem, read one essay, and read one short story. Any and all genres. Diversify.

Imagine how that would impact you. Imagine how consuming thousands of new ideas would bring colour to your life. One of my favourite parts about this clip is his reasoning why: Because it’s fun. Because this is how you live a delightful life. A delightful life is one where you have a popcorn machine of ideas in your head, dropping kernels into your mind that pop.

This philosophy extends beyond reading. 1000 days of cooking. 1000 days of exercise. 1000 days of learning an instrument. We have far more room to live than we're currently using.