Humans Were Not Designed for Infinite Scrolling!

There’s this strange feeling a lot of us seem to share these days, even if we don’t always talk about it.

We’re constantly “on,” constantly connected… and yet, somehow, not feeling all that present. Like our attention is everywhere at once, but nowhere in particular. It makes you wonder,

Have we drifted away from how we’re built as humans?

The world we came from vs the world we’re in

For most of human history, life was pretty simple (not easy, but simple).

We moved through real environments, talked face-to-face, and responded to things happening right in front of us. Food, danger, connection, rest. It was all immediate and grounded in the physical world and our instincts were shaped in that kind of environment.

So things like:

• reading someone’s expression

• noticing small changes in our surroundings

• feeling rewarded by effort and progress

• needing real social connection

…all of that made perfect sense. It helped us survive and stay connected to each other.

But our environment has changed incredibly fast and our instincts… haven’t had time to catch up.

A world that pulls on our attention

Today, a lot of what we interact with is designed, not just created, but designed specifically to keep our attention.

Social media feeds don’t just show us things; they learn what keeps us scrolling. Apps are built to be just unpredictable enough to keep us checking. Even food and entertainment are often engineered to feel a bit more intense, a bit more rewarding, than what we’d naturally encounter.

There’s a concept in psychology that helps explain this called “supernormal stimuli.”

It basically means: when something exaggerated appears, our brains can respond to it more strongly than the real-world version it evolved for. So instead of ignoring it… we lean in.

Not because we’re weak-willed, but because our brains are simply doing what they were evolved to do, prioritising whatever feels important right now.

The difference is that “important” used to mean survival. Now it often just means attention-grabbing.

When everything is interesting, nothing really settles

A lot of modern fatigue doesn’t come from doing too little . It comes from doing too much mentally, without real recovery.

We jump between messages, videos, thoughts, conversations, tabs… and even when we stop, our minds don’t always feel like they’ve stopped too.

It can leave us feeling:

• a bit scattered

• oddly tired

• slightly restless, even when resting

• or full of input but somehow still empty

It is easy to assume something is wrong with us in those moments, but often, it’s that our attention has been stretched in too many directions at once.

The part of us that’s still there

What’s interesting is that none of our older instincts have disappeared.

We still want:

• real connection

• time to think without interruption

• movement, not just sitting still

• nature, or at least spaces that feel open and unhurried

• conversations where we’re actually present

We can feel it quite quickly when those things are missing too. Our instincts are still very much alive. They just don’t get the environment they were built for anymore.

Not a problem to fix, More like something to notice

This isn’t really a “technology is bad” story. It’s more subtle than that. It’s more like: modern life moves fast, and our minds are still built for something slower and more grounded.

The tension we feel isn’t a flaw, it’s a mismatch. By noticing it, we can start making small choices that give your mind more space again:

• putting the phone down without needing a reason

• walking without headphones sometimes

• letting yourself do one thing at a time

• spending more time in the physical world and in nature

• having moments where nothing is being asked of you

Nothing extreme. Just small returns to “human pace.”

A final thought

Maybe we’re not losing our instincts at all. Maybe we’re just living in a world that talks over them. In quieter moments, when things slow down, we can notice they’re still there. Still doing what they’ve always done.

Just waiting for enough space to be heard again and remembering where we came from. Not in a nostalgic or romantic way, but in a grounded one. We are still shaped by the same instincts, needs, and rhythms that kept humans connected to nature, to each other, and to the physical world for thousands of years.

It can be easy to get pulled into the “second world". One made of screens, feeds, comparisons, and endless stimulation. A world that feels real in the moment, but often leaves us feeling further away from ourselves afterwards. The goal isn’t to reject that world entirely… but to not get hypnotised by it either.

Seeking to keep finding small ways back into what’s real and immediate. Back into presence. Back into our bodies, our attention, and the slower rhythms we were built for.

Underneath everything modern life adds on top of us…there’s still a natural state that knows how to feel grounded, connected, and fully here.

We don’t have to reinvent it. We just have to return to it.