digital wellbeing
Infinite scroll
A feed that loads forever, removing every natural stopping point — the design pattern that turns checking into losing an hour.
Infinite scroll is the interface pattern in which content loads endlessly as you swipe — no pages, no bottom, no "you're done." Introduced in the late 2000s, it removed the last natural stopping cue from feeds.
Stopping cues matter: people eat less from small plates and read less when a chapter ends. Infinite scroll deletes the plate entirely, which is why "checking one thing" reliably becomes forty minutes. It is also why keypad phones are structurally protective — a numeric keypad makes infinite scroll not merely absent but impossible.
Related Terms
View all →Attention economy
The business model in which your attention is the product — apps are free because your hours are what's being sold.
Doomscrolling
Compulsively scrolling negative news long past the point of usefulness — a designed behavior, not a personal failing.
Variable reward
The slot-machine trick — unpredictable rewards — that makes checking your phone compulsive by design.