We reach for the phone to look at a message, and before we know it, 20 minutes have passed. Or an hour. We aimlessly browsed through a torrent of videos and news that we no longer even remember. We promise ourselves that tomorrow will be different, but we still fall. It’s not a lack of will, it’s design. Social networks are made to hold our attention captive, without beginning or end, without natural stops, like the end of a chapter in a book or a film. This cell phone screen scrolling exercise —scrollin its English term – distracts or entertains us, but at the same time pushes us towards endless stimuli that exhaust us and, what’s worse, damage our attention.
The pedagogue and neuroscience communicator Marta Romo warns this in her inspiring book Hyperdisconnection (Roca Editorial, 2025): “The scroll It works like a slot machine. We don’t know when that video will appear that makes us laugh or that news that shocks us, but the wait keeps us glued to the screen,” he says. Slot machines work on a schedule of reinforcement that appears unpredictable. The excitement of winning the prize or watching that hilarious video generates such dopamine reinforcements in us that overexcite our brain and prevent it from resting. Because of this habit, more and more people confess to feeling exhausted, without having done anything particularly tired. The mind fatigue. hundreds of micro-impacts every day. «We run the risk of experiencing permanent cognitive fatigue: that feeling that nothing is finished and everything requires our attention at the same time», adds Romo.
The technology is designed in such a way that it endlessly jumps between videos or messages. Every jump leaves an invisible trace. Psychologist Sophie Leroy, a professor at the University of Washington, calls it attention residue: part of our mind remains stuck on the previous task, even when we think we’ve moved on. When these dynamics are taken to the extreme, we lose our memory, our ability to concentrate, and even the ability to create coherent narratives about our lives. And all of the above happens because our attention is fractured.
Attention has become a scarce commodity due, in large part, to the misuse of technology. We find it increasingly difficult to read books or carry out activities that require a certain intellectual commitment. Attention will become the new IQ, according to the pedagogist Gregorio Luri, on the basis of which the people of the future will differentiate themselves. But caring is not a luxury, it is an emotional necessity. It is the basis of creativity, art, deep thought or our rest. It’s what allows us to focus on achieving our goals, discovering solutions to problems, or feeling good about ourselves. The good news is that we have the ability to influence it. Our brain is plastic and we can learn. And the first step is awareness.
“(The solution) is not to disconnect, since we are not machines, but to learn to connect even more, but with life,” Romo proposes. To do this, we must recognize that technology is not the culprit, but rather an amplifier. Productivity has been a maximum in managing our time, we cannot stand boredom and even replace telephone conversations with friends with superficial audio. But these habits do not steal our time, but rather our presence. They take us away from the real moment or conversations happening in front of us. We live hyperconnected and yet profoundly absent. On the subway, in restaurants, in meetings… We all tilt our heads in the same direction: towards a screen. It is the gesture of our time and, perhaps, also its symptom. Paying attention to our surroundings is actually a courageous decision. Because in a world saturated with stimuli, “the quietest revolution begins with the most radical act of all: paying attention to who we have in front of us”, invites Romo.
Furthermore, we always go fast, but our body regenerates itself through mechanisms that require rest and time. We can reduce our demand for efficiency. We can also spend time wandering around, walking without headphones, leaving room for the imagination. This doesn’t necessarily mean disconnecting from networks or demonizing technology, but rather relearning how to use them without giving up on them. Connect with what really matters, the people we love or the experiences we want to have. Maybe that’s why, as John Lennon wrote, “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” Today we could add: while we get lost among cell phone screens. Perhaps the true luxury of the future is not time, but attention. Because when we pay attention we feel more alive and remember that what is important is not on the screen, but in front of it.
