Is it possible to stop one of the most pernicious habits of the last 10 years: “doomscrolling?”

This activity is the result of many factors, including being surrounded by too many screens, being manipulated by the curators of the content of those screens, and these screens showing us too much bad news.

I know we all get this message all the time: stop staring at your phone! But that message doesn’t seem to be getting through.

Too many social platforms actually lying to you: example: I recently saw Facebook showing an AI-generated “photo” of the “Miracle on the Hudson” Airbus A319 emergency landing in New York in 2009, but showing the incorrect aircraft. I reported it immediately to Meta, but they declined to remove it. Obvious fake. Not removed.

That might be the biggest reason to stop “doomscrolling,” and it’s called “doomscrolling” because that screen in front of you is full of lies. and the worst trap to fall into is believing things you see on your screens because you want them to be true.

“So sure, Richard,” you might be tempted to say, “I sometimes get sucked into the small screen when things get dull.” Right. Sometimes. Face it: it’s constantly. But what can we do to be entertained?

First, are we all really so shallow and boring that we have to be entertained constantly? Does that reflect a lack of imagination? A lack of purpose?

But yes, that’s a fair question. I have about a thousand better things to do than scrolling your life away, but here just a few… Get a dog who needs to be walked every day and walk him/her every day. Go to church. Take a class. Read actual words on paper. Listen to music. Learn to play music. Write. Walk around the park. Edit and scan your old photos, letters and souvenirs. Join a civic club. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Talk to your kids. Talk to your spouse.

Maybe – and I know I’m asking a lot here – we could find a chair in the yard or the park, and just close our eyes and let everything be quiet.