Alternatives to infinite scroll that allow you to have a more time-conscious social media experience

The social networks have accustomed their users to watching one content after another without giving time to think with functions such as infinite scroll or automatic video playback, but there are design alternatives that make the experience more conscious of the time spent on them.

The infinite scroll, automatic playback, notification pushes and personalized recommendation systems of Instagram and Facebook are in the crosshairs of the European Commission for being part of an addictive design that could cost Meta a million-dollar fine.

These features have been the subject of criticism for years for their ability to hook users into spending hours on social media, and in February they led Meta CEO Mark Zucherberg to defend that his social network Instagram was designed to be useful, within the framework of a historic trial on the addiction of social networks in the United States.

Of these functions, one of the most controversial is the so-called ‘scroll’ infinitive, the action of scrolling the screen from bottom to top to continue viewing new content, which makes Spaniards lose almost two days on average per month, as a OnePlus report published last year warned.

This way of consuming content is not harmless; More than half of the users acknowledge having felt adverse effects such as tiredness, anxiety or guilt after spending too much time swiping on their phones, and 28 percent even say they do diminish your creative capacity.

Infinite scrolling is present on Instagram and Facebook, but also on other platforms such as TikTok, mainly for short videos. Its extension makes it difficult to think of less harmful alternatives, but they exist, such as the possibility of turn pages to load new contenta design that Google recovered two years ago for its Search results.

Even Instagram, one of the platforms investigated by the European Commission, had a less aggressive design in the past, based on “a chronological feed” in which the content was determined by the accounts that each user decided to follow and interact with,” recalls Qustodio’s communications manager, Emily Lawrenson, in statements to Europa Press.

Although this logic is still present in the social network, the directive explains that “the difference is that Today that content coexists with recommendations, advertisements and publications selected by algorithms depending on what the platform considers may interest the user”.

Apart from loading content on pages – which requires the user to click on them – the experience of Instagram and other social networks could become “more balanced” if “small changes” are added, such as allowing the user to choose their topics of interest and the possibility of alternating between ‘feed’ of followed accounts and another of discovery, adds Lawrenson.

The automatic playback of videos is another of the functions that are questioned and that complements and facilitates the infinitive ‘scroll’ by not waiting for users to click on the video they want to see for playback to begin, promoting the continuous consumption of content.

Turn off autoplay o iincorporate notices such as ‘you have already seen all the new content’ are other proposals cited by the Qustodio directive that allow limiting infinite scrolling.

NEW CONTENT CONTINUOUSLY

The need to scroll is also driven by the content itself that is shown in the feed, which is a mix of what comes from the accounts that users follow with rrecommendations that the algorithm automatically selects of the platform, so that there is always something new to discover.

In general terms, this algorithm is based on user activity, that is, on the publications on which they click, ‘Like’ or spend more time, among other factors, with the aim that the content it displays matches their interests so that they can discover new things.

It is considered an opaque element, the real functioning of which is not known, over which users have little or no control, beyond periodically deleting the search history or indicating that content is not of interest to them, if that option exists, to adjust the affinity of the contents.

In the last year, some social media companies and streaming content services have introduced controls that allow this algorithm to be adjusted to a certain extent, by selecting general categories or themesas happens on Pinterest, TikTok and try Instagram; or with direct requests, such as the instructions of generative artificial intelligence chatbots, such as Threads or Spotify.

PAUSES TO TAKE A BREATH

Social platform companies have also introduced digital well-being tools under the pretext of Help users reduce the time they spend scrolling, that allow you to configure a notification to pause, which in many cases can be ignored and deactivated.

As Qustodio’s communications manager explains, “digital well-being features only achieve real adoption when they have a tangible effect on the use of the application. A pop-up notification that simply suggests taking a break or reminding us of the effects of excessive use is not the same as a time limit accompanied by an effective block that prevents further use of the app“.

At the operating system level there are more options to disconnect, such as those offered by Android, which include a usage time timer For specific applications, a rest mode and a distraction-free mode to temporarily silence the most distracting applications.

With Android 17 a more restrictive function has arrived, which introduces a pause point, That is, a moment of reflection when opening an application with the ability to distract (such as a social network) so that the user takes ten seconds so that they can breathe, set a timer for use, or exit from it.

This pause point also gives the user some time to think about whether they want to disable this function, since it requires the device to restart to complete the action.

In the case of iOS, digital well-being tools allow you to establish an maximum daily usage time for certain applications, as well as block ‘add one more minute’ action when that time limit is met.

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