Why can’t I stop scrolling, even when it makes me feel worse?
HCI survey data suggests a common “delayed appraisal” pattern: attention often remains engaged during stimulation, while regret tends to appear afterwards once the stimulation stops.
Answer
In HCI survey data, 87% of people report regretting the amount of time they spend online at least sometimes (Digital Life Survey 2025; n=1003).
Within the same dataset, 16% report that they often or always regret their time online.
When asked how they feel after regretting time spent online, responses are predominantly negative. The most common themes include guilt or shame (21%) and a sense of wasted time (19%), with 81% of responses reflecting an overall negative emotional state.
In another HCI survey sample, 61% agree that the volume of online information makes it difficult to focus on what matters most (Attention & Focus under Digital Load 2026; n=352).
Together, these findings suggest that scrolling can continue during stimulation, while the emotional cost often becomes clearer afterwards. The experience is not simply “too much screen time”; it can involve attention being held open by novelty, updates, and unfinished loops before reflection has time to catch up.
These figures describe self-reported patterns within survey samples and do not establish causation.
How people often describe this
In everyday language, the same experience is commonly phrased in ways such as:
- I keep scrolling even though it’s making me feel worse.
- I don’t even enjoy it, but I can’t stop.
- I look up and realise I’ve lost time again.
- I feel guilty afterwards, like I wasted the day.
- I close the app and regret how I spent my time.
People often describe this as “autopilot” or “time loss”. This page does not measure compulsive behaviour directly; it shows how common regret is after online time, and what feelings commonly follow that regret in survey responses.
A common pattern in digital life
Scrolling environments are built around continual novelty, variable rewards, and rapid emotional shifts. Attention can stay engaged because the next item might be interesting, relieving, funny, useful, or emotionally relevant.
The result is often stimulation without satisfaction. The behaviour continues because attention is still being pulled forward, even when the experience no longer feels restorative.
HCI survey data cannot diagnose individual behaviour or establish a single cause. What it can show is that engagement can continue during periods of stimulation, while negative evaluation often occurs afterwards once attention disengages.
These measures come from different survey samples and questions. They describe association in self-report, not causation.
If this feels contradictory
Wanting to stop, continuing anyway, and then feeling worse afterwards is a pattern that appears in HCI survey data. The data cannot explain why it happens in any individual case, but it does show that regret after online time is common in self-report.
One useful way to understand the pattern is this: scrolling may persist not because it feels deeply satisfying, but because stimulation continues faster than reflection can catch up.
Evidence sources
- Dataset: Digital Life Survey 2025
- Data summary: Digital Fatigue & Energy Data 2025
- Dataset: Attention & Focus under Digital Load 2026
- Data summary: Attention & Focus under Digital Load Data 2026