Endless Feeds and Empty Minds: An Exploration of Mindless Scrolling in the Digital Age

Description

Page: 1082-1088

Sweety and Sandeep Singh (Department of Applied Psychology, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, Haryana)

‘We scroll not to explore, but to escape- a gentle drift through endless streams, where minutes dissolve and moments blur’. From Dopamine Surges to lost hours, it infiltrates our lives, obscuring the distinction between connection and compulsion. Even if social media offers chances for knowledge, enjoyment, and connection, more and more studies suggest that using it might have a detrimental effect on mental health. This systematic review aimed to synthesize literature on the exploration of social media addiction and mindless scrolling in the digital age. A systematic review was completed across four databases in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. Qualitative and quantitative types of studies were included to analyse the trends and impacts regarding social media addiction and mindless scrolling. The Quality Assessment Tool was used to measure the quality of studies. Of 540 results,17 studies were included in the analysis. Findings showed that individuals experienced guilt regarding their smartphone use when engaged in prolonged mindless scrolling. Anxiety levels were shown to be statistically significantly correlated with both the inappropriate usage of social networking sites and careless surfing behaviours. Research has indicated a detrimental relationship between fear of missing out (FOMO) and Digital media addiction.