Most of us scroll without noticing we’re doing it.

The screen lights up, and the external world disappears.

We also scroll and stroll, and when we do, we're walking blind.

Sometimes headphones separate us even further from our surroundings.

Most of us scroll without noticing we’re doing it. Fingers and/or thumbs move, the screen lights up, and the “world” narrows to whatever appears in front of us. We also scroll and stroll — and when our eyes, brain, mind, and attention are on the screen, the objective, immutable fact is that we are also walking blind. We may as well have a mask over our eyes during this time, because the impact is the same.

Sometimes headphones add an additional private soundtrack that separates us even further from our surroundings; in this situation, we are both blind and deaf to the external world. We, of course, do not think that is the case because we are not wearing a mask; however, this is exactly what is happening.

During this process of scrolling and strolling, we have eliminated the external world from our brain, mind, and two of our senses; and choices have consequences (Drew et al., 2013; Ekelund et al., 2022; Nobre et al., 2020; Purje, 2014; Raveh & Lavie, 2015).

How Brain Plasticity Responds to Digital Immersion

Neuroscience research indicates that, because of brain plasticity, the brain is always responding, always firing, rewiring and adapting to whatever we think, do, say, learn and choose. As such, when scrolling on a cell phone or sitting at a computer becomes the dominant rhythm of daily life, the brain immediately begins to fire, rewire, and adapt to these choices and behaviors.

With scrolling, what is now taking place involves rapid visual shifts, instant........

© Psychology Today