Apps are designed to keep giving your brain something to focus on. A few minutes becomes an hour, then sleep, focus, or the thing you meant to do gets pushed aside.

Checking our phones can help us to escape feelings of sadness, stress or loneliness, and it can become our default mode when hard stuff comes up.

Scroll apps are built so there is always one more thing to see. There is no natural stopping point, so your brain does not get a clear signal to finish. That can make it harder to put your phone down.

Your brain pays attention to things that feel exciting, interesting or new. Notifications or posts can give us small hits of relief or surprise that make it hard to stop scrolling.