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What Your Brain Is Actually Doing While You Doomscroll, According to Science

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17.05.2026

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What Your Brain Is Actually Doing While You Doomscroll, According to Science

As eerie as it may sound, scrolling may be shaping your brain.

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If you find yourself endlessly scrolling as you maneuver through the various landmines intent on detonating your attention span, it could mean that you have some kind of digital addiction problem. But it could also mean your mental focus is so strong that you’ve quietly figured out how to treat social media like an external hard drive for your brain.

A new study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that people with stronger working memory, the mental system tied to focus and attention control, actually pay less attention to posts once they’re connected to the person sharing them. Instead of absorbing every article or meme floating through the feed, they shift their........

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