Relatable! Scientists Say You Likely Enter a “Dissociative State” While Scrolling Social Media

Have you ever looked up from scrolling social media and realized that hours have passed without you noticing? You are not alone.

A recent study out of the University of Washington describes the ingenious way researchers were able to track the amount of dissociation that happens when we zone out while doing mundane tasks.

The idea for an app that connects to users came from the lead study author, a computer science PhD candidate.

The team at the University of Washington built an app called Chirp, which they used to recruit users to use it for a month as a way to measure dissociation.

The app asked the study participants to rate on a scale how strongly they agreed with a statement that read "I am currently using Chirp without really paying attention to what I am doing."

At the end of the monthlong study, 42 percent of participants said at least once that they agreed with the statement, and 16 percent said they did.

In addition to the popups asking participants if they were paying attention, the researchers also presented a series of interventions which would tell users they were all caught up, have them divide the accounts they followed into lists, show them their account usage for the day, or display a popup telling them how According to the write-up of the study, participants appreciated the interventions and that they helped them focus.

It is far from the first time an app has introduced such interventions.

Baughan said that social media platforms are designed to keep people scrolling.

She said that the platforms need to create an end-of-use experience so that people can have it fit in their day.

Cheers to that!

I don't remember what I read, but people enter a dissociative state when using social media.

There are more interventions on app interventions.