Transform Negative Scrolling into Joyful Efficiency: Swap Disheartening Cycles with Uplifting Action
In the digital age, it's all too easy to fall into the trap of doomscrolling and excessive YouTube consumption. One individual, seeking to break free from this cycle, found a refreshing approach that has brought about significant improvement in their daily life.
The video essay by Struthless, titled 'The Hidden Cost of Doomscrolling', was particularly enlightening. It labelled doomscrolling as an addiction to negativity, exposing its different forms and costs. The author, inspired by this insight, decided to adopt a unique strategy to combat this habit.
The strategy, known as motivational reframing, aligns with the concepts from habit change science, as explained in James Clear's 'Atomic Habits'. This approach involves changing the way you perceive a bad habit by altering its appeal. Instead of glamorising the habit, you consciously shift your thinking to focus on its negative consequences or costs.
For instance, instead of thinking 'doomscrolling helps me stay informed and entertained', you reframe it as 'doomscrolling makes me anxious and steals my time', making the habit less attractive and less likely to be reinforced.
This reframing helps in breaking bad habits by making the craving for the habit unattractive, encouraging intentional reflection, and supporting the reduction of exposure to cues. It also aids in forming new habits by aligning the desired habit with your identity.
The author applied this strategy not only to doomscrolling but also to other habits such as writing, exercise, and emotional eating. On the third day, they were able to get up to write for the first time in a long time, which made staying off YouTube easier.
To reinforce this new habit, the author put reminders up where they would habitually watch YouTube and tracked their progress, including how often they watched YouTube, got up to write, and rated their feelings on a scale of 1-5. They noticed that their days went much better when they reminded themselves of what they were gaining by getting up to write.
Despite facing major withdrawals and struggles during the first few days, the author believes that it is important to allow the motivational reframing strategy to work and not sabotage themselves by removing reminders. They recommend watching Struthless' video on doomscrolling to see if there is something different that stands out.
The author believes that this method of reframing works well for them and plans to continue using it to help start habits they want and cull habits they don't. They also believe that motivational reframing could potentially work for others, making it a strategy worth considering for those seeking to make sustainable behaviour changes.
This individual, inspired by the insights from the video essay 'The Hidden Cost of Doomscrolling' and the concepts in James Clear's 'Atomic Habits', decided to reframe their lifestyle by altering their perception of bad habits. Instead of seeing novel writing as a task that requires uninterrupted home-and-garden time, they began focusing on the benefits derived from writing, such as reducing anxiety and increasing productivity, making the habit more appealing and beneficial.
