Doom scrolling - is it worth it?

Yesterday I touched on doom scrolling in my nightly thoughts.  I want to go deeper on it today.

This isn't a niche problem. If you're active on social media, the pull is real and it's by design. These platforms are engineered to keep you hooked. The feedback loops, the infinite scroll, the dopamine hit of the next video; none of it is accidental. If you want to understand just how deliberate and dark this machinery is, read The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher. It will change how you look at your phone.

Most people know without even reading the book the major issue behind the infinite scroll – it eats time. Not necessarily in big chunks, but in the quiet moments. Late at night when the house is still. In the gap between tasks when your brain wants a break. That's when you pick up the phone and suddenly thirty minutes are gone.

Now, not all of it is wasted. Sometimes you stumble across something that genuinely teaches you, challenges you, or shifts your perspective. That's real — and if you apply it, it has value. But be honest with yourself about how often that's actually happening versus how often you're just absorbing noise? Brain rot content is not just a waste of time. It's actively dulling you.

Here's the thing though: the algorithm is powerful, but it is not more powerful than a committed decision.

Yes, this stuff is designed to be addictive. That's not an excuse — that's the challenge. The men I work with who are serious about their growth understand that self-leadership isn't just about what you do in the gym or the boardroom. It's about what you do at 11pm when no one is watching and your thumb starts moving out of habit.

So ask yourself this question honestly:

Would you set an alarm and wake up at 2am just to scroll?

Of course not. That would be ridiculous. So why are you robbing yourself of sleep at the end of the night doing exactly that — just without the alarm? The content is the same. The benefit is the same. The only difference is you're doing it in the hours that were meant for recovery.

Your sleep is not a luxury. It is the foundation that everything else is built on. Your mood, your focus, your discipline, your presence. Every late night scroll session is a withdrawal from that account.

You get to decide what kind of man you are at 11pm. That decision is yours; and it's made before you even pick up the phone.