It's 11:00 PM, I should be sleeping. But I've been stuck in Threads for about 40 minutes now.

Some smartass writes that fat people are just lazy. My fingers are already typing that he's a dumbass, but I catch myself in time: it's not very nice and how will it affect my reputation?
I want to politely tell him he's wrong, I type out my arguments, but then I think: "why the hell do I need this?" and close the thread.

I scroll further. Someone is trashing nutritionists again, drunk Igor is going home, and in the next thread there's a heated debate about whether dogs should be allowed in cafes.

Damn it, I only needed to "just ask" just check notifications! Why am I reading all this?😠

I tried to fight it. I turned off notifications so I wouldn't be distracted. Ha! Now I check it even more often - what if I got a new comment?

I deleted the app out of sight, it even worked for a while. Harder to reach means less chance of opening it. But my brain quickly learned to bypass this obstacle too.

So the other day I'm walking down the street, thinking about how I ended up like this, and suddenly I see the elephant in the room.
Baaa! It's a familiar mechanism: getting stuck in social media and emotional eating are based on a very similar reward loop.


Here's how it works.

Social media is like a casino. They work on the slot machine principle: a person gets variable rewards: one post is boring → the next one catches you → the third is cringe → the fourth is funny.

You can't stop because "what if the next one is even cooler?" The brain is waiting for its jackpot, and this fuels the desire to keep scrolling.

With food, it's the same scenario, but with a twist.
The first piece of chocolate gives a lot of pleasure. By the fifth, the signal weakens. By the tenth, the pleasure dulls. This is an effect similar to sensory adaptation.

But the brain continues the scenario out of habit, hoping to get more dopamine.

Food still has a physiological limit: hunger and satiety signals kick in, and the stomach isn't made of rubber.

Social media, on the other hand, can hold attention indefinitely because novelty never ends.
That's why you can get stuck in arguments longer than you can eat candy.


I fell into a classic trap: I know how it all works, I know how to stop it. I teach clients how to deal with it, stop these scripts and replace them with new ones. I have scientifically proven methods and experience in my arsenal, I'm a specialist.
I once got rid of binge eating myself this way.

But that doesn't stop me from wasting 1.5 hours of my life on Threads.🤡

Automatism is not cured by willpower. It is cured by changing the algorithm and forming a new habit.

Time to apply my own advice to myself.
The main thing is not to fall into the trap of "trading one problem for another," I'll tell you about that separately.

And what do you get stuck on before bed or when you want to relax?) I'm not the only one, am I?