Scrolling: The Age of the Fractured Mind
How digital overstimulation is numbing our presence and stealing our attention
The algorithm thrives on our disconnection. And we keep feeding it.
We scroll.
And scroll.
And then we scroll a little more.
We’re not even looking for anything anymore.
We’re just trying not to feel the weight of whatever is underneath.
It used to be that we scrolled through images of our friends
Edited
Polished
Filtered
Still, there was a thread of familiarity
Some reminder of connection
A whisper of this is what they’re up to
Now we scroll through strangers doing things we didn’t ask to see
Screaming
Mocking
Performing
Explaining
Overexplaining
And we keep watching
Even when it horrifies us
Even when it bores us
Even when we can feel it scraping something tender inside us
We don’t stop
And so the algorithm doesn’t stop
It learns
It sharpens
It doubles down
It rewards our attention with more of the very thing that made us numb in the first place
This is not neutral
This is a system designed to fracture attention
To inflame reaction
To capitalize on your nervous system
And it is working
The result is not entertainment
The result is erosion
The erosion of presence
The erosion of intimacy
The erosion of your ability to remember what you were thinking before you opened the app
This is not about discipline
This is not about moral panic
This is about grief
Because what we’re losing is not productivity
It’s not focus
It’s not cleverness
What we’re losing is ourselves
And the part of us that used to know how to sit
How to listen
How to feel something fully before it got interrupted
How to stay with what matters
The algorithm is not your friend
It is not interested in your healing
It is not designed to help you know yourself better
It feeds on the part of you that is overwhelmed and hungry for relief
And it never gives you what you’re really looking for
Not because you’re weak
But because it’s not meant to
This is not a call to unplug
It is a call to remember
That you are not the sum of what you consume
That your attention is not disposable
That your life is not an endless loop of other people’s voices
There is still something in you that knows how to come back
To stillness
To quiet
To depth
To self
Hold onto that.
Adrian Molina is a trauma educator, somatic practitioner, and writer with over 20 years of experience supporting individuals and communities at the margins of traditional care. Born in Buenos Aires and now based in South Florida, he works one-on-one and in group spaces with people navigating trauma, grief, and transformation. He writes at Warrior Flow on Substack.
If you are curious about working together or collaborating, feel free to email me.