Have you ever sat down to write — laptop open, document ready — and somehow found yourself picking up your phone and scrolling social media instead?
You don’t even remember making the decision.
One minute you’re “about to write”…
the next, you’re deep in a scroll, wondering where the time went and why starting feels so hard.
If that sounds familiar, let me reassure you of something straight away:
This isn’t a discipline problem.
And it’s not a lack of commitment.
It’s a conditioned response — and once you understand what’s happening, it becomes much easier to change.
Why Scrolling Feels Easier Than Writing (It’s Not What You Think)
When writing feels hard, many of us default to the story that we’re lazy, distracted, or lacking willpower.
But the truth is far more neurological than moral.
Social media platforms are designed around novelty and intermittent reward — the two things the brain learns fastest from. Every scroll offers the possibility of something new: a post, an image, a reaction, a hit of validation, or an emotional response.
That unpredictability keeps dopamine firing.
And dopamine isn’t actually about pleasure — it’s about anticipation.
It’s the “what’s next?” chemical.
The more often your brain gets that quick hit of gratification, the more it learns to seek it.
Writing, on the other hand, offers delayed reward.
When you sit down to write, your brain knows it’s about to:
- expend effort
- tolerate uncertainty
- stay with one idea for longer than a few seconds
So if scrolling has become your go-to response when writing feels demanding, your brain starts linking the two:
Writing feels hard → scrolling feels relieving
That pattern is learned — and anything learned can be unlearned.
What Scrolling Does to Your Attention (And Why Writing Suffers)
When you scroll social media, your attention is constantly pulled outward.
Images. Opinions. Stories. Emotions.
Your brain never has to generate — it only consumes.
Over time, this trains shallow attention: short bursts of focus followed by rapid switching.
Writing requires the opposite.
Writing asks you to turn inward, to stay with one idea long enough for it to deepen and take shape. So when you sit down to write and feel restless, scattered, or unsettled, that’s not failure.
That’s attention residue from scrolling.
And it’s incredibly common.
My Own Wake-Up Call With Screen Time
I had a big wake-up moment when I finally stopped guessing and checked my phone’s Screen Time.
And honestly? It shocked me.
I realised I was scrolling anywhere between two to four hours a day.
Under a writing deadline, that’s not productive.
That’s dead time.
It wasn’t moving me closer to my goals.
It wasn’t moving me closer to my purpose.
And it was actively hindering my creative flow.
When I saw those numbers, I could no longer tell myself I didn’t have time to write — because the time was right there.
I could also feel how addictive it was. The constant pull. The dopamine hits. The automatic reach for my phone.
So I knew I needed to do something to interrupt the pattern.
I didn’t go extreme straight away.
I started with one day.
Then a week.
Then a couple more weeks.
And eventually, I deleted social media apps from my phone entirely.
Not because social media is bad — but because having those apps there made it far too easy.
One click and I was gone.
Time limits didn’t work for me (that “ignore limit” button is very persuasive when dopamine is involved), so I removed the apps and created friction instead.
Now, if I want to go on social media, I have to use my desktop. I have to open a browser. Often I have to log in.
Those extra steps made scrolling far less appealing — and that small change gave me back hours of focused creative time.
How Much Could You Write With the Time You’re Scrolling?
Most people dramatically underestimate how much time they spend scrolling.
I encourage you to check your own Screen Time or Digital Wellbeing — just once.
Then ask yourself:
What could that time become?
Even one hour a day, five days a week, adds up quickly.
When I’m fully in flow, I can write 1,000–1,200 words an hour.
When I’m starting a book, I usually warm up at around 500 words an hour, then settle into 750–950 words an hourconsistently.
Even at the low end:
- 500 words an hour
- 5 hours a week
- that’s 2,500 words a week
In a month?
10,000 words.
Over eight to twelve months — that’s a full novel.
And here’s the thing most writers forget:
Time passes whether you’re writing or not.
So the real question isn’t “Do I have time?”
It’s “What am I choosing to do with it?”
Why a Social Media Detox Works
A social media detox isn’t about punishment or restriction.
It’s about recalibration.
When you step away from constant stimulation:
- dopamine levels begin to stabilise
- your nervous system softens
- your capacity for deep focus returns
Creativity doesn’t shout.
It whispers.
And when the noise lowers, the signal becomes easier to hear.
A Challenge for You
If this post has resonated, I want to challenge you to try a social media detox — even temporarily.
That might mean:
- deleting one social media app
- deleting all of them
- or committing to a 24-hour break
You can always reinstall them later.
But notice what shifts:
- how your attention feels
- how your urge to write changes
- how much more space you suddenly have
If you do this, I’d love to hear what changes for you.
🎧 Want to go deeper?
This blog post is based on Episode 5 of the Write the Darn Book podcast — “Scrolling Instead of Writing? Try a Social Media Detox to Get the Words Flowing Again.”
If you’d like to hear this conversation in full, including the neuroscience breakdown, my personal story, a listener challenge, and a guided meditation to help you interrupt the urge to scroll and re-immerse yourself in your writing, I invite you to head over and listen to the episode.
You can find Write the Darn Book on your favourite podcast app — or listen directly here:
👉 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/write-the-darn-book-beat-writers-block/id1858775581
A Final Thought
If writing a book has been on your heart for a long time, there’s a reason for that.
And sometimes the most powerful step forward isn’t doing more —
it’s removing what’s quietly getting in the way.
Protect your attention.
Create space.
And trust that the words will meet you there.
If you’d like deeper support to break through writing blocks and finally finish your book, I currently have a few spots open for 1:1 coaching.
👉 Learn more at maddisonmichaels.com/coaching
And remember —
we’re not here to scroll our stories away.
We’re here to write the darn book 💗
