Social media and bad TV suck up our time. Here's why we can't break the habit. | Opinion
The next time you sit down to browse your favorite news app or social media channel, think about ways to encourage yourself to switch sooner.
- People frequently persist in unrewarding activities, even when better options are available.
- This "behavioral entrenchment" stems from overestimating the mental effort required to switch tasks.
- Setting timers can help break the cycle by prompting earlier consideration of alternatives.
- Managers should actively support employees in adopting new, more rewarding work practices.
We all do it, and then hate ourselves for it.
We’re at home considering whether to enjoy a bit of yoga, go for a morning walk or even engage with family members. Instead, we find ourselves rooted to the sofa, scrolling through a depressing stream of news stories or flicking through photos of distant acquaintances on Instagram.
We know we are getting little enjoyment out of what we're doing, yet we find ourselves unable to give up and instead do something more rewarding and fun. So why do we continue with something that hurts our mental well-being and even can harm our relationships?
Our research shows that such failure to switch behavior is commonplace. In a survey of 118 adults, 94% admitted to experiencing it, while 50% found themselves exhibiting some form of inertia on a weekly basis.
Examples given ranged from straining to hear music at a low volume (so as not to disturb others) rather than getting a nearby pair of headphones, or watching a boring show rather than picking up an enjoyable book.
This behavior is not limited to our leisure time, either. How often do we complain about having to complete specific work tasks that are time consuming or mundane?
Yet we make little or no effort to improve our situations and, in some cases, can be resistant to switching to alternative (often more efficient) ways of working.
Why can't we exchange our bad habits for better ones?
Inattention, engrained habits and sunk costs are all known factors in sticking with existing courses of action, but none fully accounted for the actions we observed.
Instead, we identified the cause as behavioral entrenchment, a state of mind where people find it difficult to switch from a mundane activity to a more enjoyable one because they overestimate the mental challenge the switch represents.
It just feels harder to change course, even though it is not necessarily the case.
In a series of studies, we offered individuals the chance to perform tasks for money and then tried to get them to change activities. Despite the new tasks being more fun and equally financially rewarding, more than 20% continued with the original tasks.
We found that the longer people were engaged in the less rewarding tasks, the lower the chance that they would switch tasks, suggesting that they had become stuck or entrenched.
Such entrenchment behavior − or inertia − has some benefits. It can be seen as a coping mechanism for someone performing a mundane task for long periods − for example, working on a production line or transcribing an original document.
Yet, it also stops an individual from spending time in more rewarding activities.
How to stop doomscrolling and get out of the rut
The good news is that there are simple ways to reduce the pull of entrenchment. In our research, people were far more likely to switch tasks when they were less entrenched − that is, when they considered switching after performing the less desirable tasks fewer times, before entrenchment took hold.
So, the next time you sit down to browse your favorite news app or social media channel, think about ways to encourage yourself to switch sooner. Perhaps set a timer to go off after a set period, giving you the opportunity to switch before becoming entrenched.
This simple step can help you notice − and resist − the powerful pull of entrenchment.
Not only will the alarm make you more aware of the passage of time, but it also will help you recognize (and fight against) the pull of entrenchment.
In the workplace, it is also important for managers to understand the potential perils of entrenchment. Just because a new way of working is more engaging or rewarding doesn’t guarantee individuals will automatically adopt a new approach.
Managers need to actively support team members in helping them to change their behaviors. Left to their own devices, many employees can get sidetracked performing repetitive tasks that have less value for the organization. And that ultimately leave workers feeling unfulfilled.
Ziv Carmon is The Alfred H. Heineken Chaired Professor of Marketing at INSEAD. Alicea Lieberman is an assistant professor in marketing and behavioral decision making at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. On Amir, the Wolfe Family Presidential Endowed Chair in Life Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship, is also senior associate dean for faculty and research at the University of California-San Diego.