One day, I realized that my attention was not being spent. It was being trained. Every time I started scrolling Instagram or Threads or YouTube, I was spending far more time than I intended. Why did I feel the sting of shame? It felt like I was losing my sense of agency.

Then one day I learned about the Skinner box experiment. Skinner was a researcher studying behavior in pigeons. He found that if the stimulus was consistent, meaning the pigeon pecked a button and received food every time, the pigeon would be satisfied and only peck when it was hungry. But when the pigeon pecked the button and food appeared only randomly, maybe once every sixth or seventh time, the pigeon kept pecking even when it was full. The surprising result was that the behavior was driven by anticipation, not the reward.

The YouTube video I watched explained that social media is structured the same way. You keep scrolling because most of what you see is not that interesting, but every so often one or two things are. That tiny flash of anticipation keeps you going.

And holy crap! That’s exactly what was happening to me. My behavior was driven by anticipation, not actual learning or resting my mind.

I truly believed that scrolling social media was a harmless way to unwind between work sessions. A kind of neutral rest for the mind. But now I see that it pulls me away from creativity and learning.

I use a Pomodoro timer for my coding sessions. I set it for 25 minutes of work, then a five minute break. Supposedly I am meant to get up, stretch those stiff shoulders, maybe get a drink of water. But lately, what usually happens is that I start scrolling. Five minutes blur into twenty five, and then all of a sudden I get that jolt of awareness, like a mousetrap snapping shut. I realize the feed is endless, and if I do not stop, I will not get any more work done.

What I have learned is that scrolling is not teaching me anything. It is numbing the mind. And the opposite of numbing is not productivity. It is engagement. Reading a book. Practicing a skill. Touching something real again.

So now I have an attention budget. Ten minutes at most, or no more than two rewarding posts. It depends on whether I want a longer or shorter break. By doing this, I gain a sense of agency and I have less guilt. Slowly, I’m noticing I have more time for myself. And a sense of calm.

So my question for you would be this: how would you budget your attention? Would it be a time limit? Would it be stopping after a certain number of rewarding posts? What about keeping a book within reach? Ask yourself, what actions would actually work for me?