The Illusion Of Choice On Your Feed

LIVED EXPERIENCE

When I first joined Instagram 8 years ago, the feed was very simple—a place to catch up with friends, see what creators I followed were posting, and discover something new. The idea was connection, something I chose. I picked who to follow, whom the content came from. It felt personal, like a space shaped by me. As years went by, Instagram started growing as a platform and keeping up with trends, the algorithm started “learning” my tastes. It seemed like a bonus: more of what I liked, less of what I didn’t. Personalisation was supposed to make the platform feel tailored, almost like it knew me.

But here’s what actually happened when I scroll. I reach the end of posts from people I follow—except Instagram never lets the feed end. Instead, it fills the gap with “suggested” content. Suddenly, I’m watching reels from strangers, posts I never asked for, and clips that I don’t even enjoy (sometimes), but I can’t seem to stop watching.

I’ve realised that the algorithm doesn’t just learn what I “like”—it learns what I don’t know how to stop watching. A random reel I lingered on about a mac & cheese recipe by @cookingwithkian at 1 am, out of boredom, became a signal, as in “show her more of this.” Before I know it, I’m engrossed in content I didn’t choose, and the platform has decided I haven’t seen “enough.”

My attention is treated as infinite, even when my interest has run out. My focus has become their product.

This makes me think about users like you and me, and how unsettling these platforms treat young people—they don’t respect our stopping point. They engineer feeds where “enough” doesn’t exist, because our attention is their currency. The endless scroll isn’t a neutral feature, it's a deliberate choice that blurs the line between enjoyment and compulsion.

Imagine if my feed actually ended when I’d caught up with friends? That would honestly make my decision to leave the app easier. Imagine if the algorithm could tell the difference between genuine interest and passive consumption? That would respect my agency.

Young people like you and I deserve platforms that treat our time as valuable, not infinite. Because personalisation isn’t just about showing us what we like; it’s about deciding when we’ve had enough. And until platforms recognise that, scrolling will keep feeling less like connection and more like confinement.

THE CONTEXT

What’s Really Going On?

Shraddha’s observation hits on a core tactic in persuasive engineering: removing stopping cues.

How Infinite Scroll Hacks the Brain

• Behavioural design relies on unpredictable feedback loops. When you pull down to refresh or scroll past a post, your brain doesn't know if the next reel will be boring, funny or viral. That exact unpredictability releases dopamine, keeping your thumb moving in search of the next ‘hit.’

• Traditional media has natural endpoints—the end of a chapter, the final page of a newspaper, or the end credits of a show. Infinite scroll deliberately removes these boundaries, depriving the brain of a natural moment to pause and ask: "Should I close this app?"

• Algorithms track micro-behaviours. As Shraddha notes, looking at a clip at 1 am isn't always genuine interest, it is often just fatigue-induced paralysis.

How to Reclaim Your Digital Boundaries

1. Instead of relying on in-app reminders, set strict daily app limits through your phone settings.

2. On Instagram, head to Settings ➡️ Content Preferences ➡️ Reset Suggested Content. This clears your historical watch data and resets what the algorithm recommends in your feed.

3. Tap the three dots on any recommended reel on your feed and select ‘Not Interested’ or choose ‘Mute suggested posts in feed for 30 days.’

THE GLOBAL FEED

• The Delhi High Court recently 🔗 directed ↗️ the Union Government to clarify its position on regulating addictive social media features, specifically targeting infinite scroll, auto-play, and algorithmic feed curation that drive compulsive usage among young users.

• European regulators proposed the 🔗 EU KIDS Act, ↗️  aiming to enforce ‘Safety by Design’ for minors by restricting dark patterns such as endless scrolling, push notifications during sleeping hours and algorithmic feedback loops.

• Fresh data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 🔗 (OECD) ↗️ shows that 25 member economies now have active proposals or laws in place targeting social media age verification and systemic platform design risks impacting young people.

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Verified By Boom is written by Divya Chandra, edited by Adrija Bose and designed by H Shiva Roy Chowdhury.

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