Scrolling your phone + watching TV = no good.
“In an ideal world, we slow down enough to do one thing at a time, so we can actually enjoy our show … and our life in general,” says Stella Grizont, positive psychology expert and author of The Work Happiness Method. “We weaken our ability to focus, remember, and be present when we ‘multitask.’”
She adds that multitasking actually isn’t a thing. “It’s just task switching,” she says. “It’s turning our attention on and off a particular activity. Doing that all the time takes a lot of energy and diminishes our sense of power and agency.”
Scrolling too much on our phones already presents issues.
“Our mobile phones and social media are designed for addiction, to grab and hold onto our attention,” Stella says. “Scrolling on our phones is like playing the slot machines or even taking drugs. It hooks our brain by triggering the release of dopamine. There’s a random nature to scrolling, so when you get a like, comment, notification, or see an interesting post, your brain’s pleasure center is activated, and you want more of it. So you keep scrolling. It becomes a mindless habit.”
It becomes more problematic when you’re both scrolling your phone and watching TV because you’re splitting your attention, she explains. This can even lead to memory loss.
But alas, we don’t live in an ideal world and ‘multitasking’ while watching TV is going to continue to be a thing. So we came up with a few things to do other than scroll through your phone. They’re not better than nothing, but they are better than double-screening it. Baby steps!
“I would imagine that non-digital tasks are better than scrolling while watching TV simply because they’re less likely to flood your nervous system and overstimulate you,” Stella says.
Hands-on activities can have cognitive and emotional benefits. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
Always forget to stretch? Not anymore because you’re gonna do it while you’re watching Hulu.
Ofc, we’re prepared with a couple of routines to try:
4 Lower Body Resistance Band Moves to Do In Front of the TV
7 Moves to Do With a Pilates Ring While Watching TV
“In some way, you could approach watching TV without scrolling as a mindful practice,” Stella says. “Challenge yourself to be present to the activity at hand, even if it means just paying attention to your body while watching one show.”
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