Doomscrolling Our Way to Nostalgia

Soon, minutes turn into hours, and yet we end up doing nothing. Gone are the days when we were glued to the TV screen or the pages of a book; all this has been replaced by our phones, laptops, and tablets. How did some of us turn from flipping the pages of a book to mindless scrolling?

I sometimes can’t help but wonder how many books I would have read, pages I would have written, chores I would have finished, or conversations I would have had if I simply put my phone away. Has that thought ever crossed your mind?

As a bibliophile and a single child, books have been my solace right from the moment I was able to put two and two together and read. Glad that I was born at a time when I got to see the mix of both worlds, a time that had radios and TVs, and a time that saw the upsurge of technology, smartphones, and AI. All of us, from time to time, do feel the quiet ache behind the endless scroll.

Having been a content writer, an online student, and an educator, I would say that my work and studies are a major reason why my screentime has increased dramatically over the years. At times, I miss the simpler days when, instead of Googling, we would turn to a dictionary or an encyclopedia to find out about things or clarify our doubts. It would take time, but it was definitely worth it, since we would actually take the effort to learn and memorise. Now with easier access to information, we often tend not to really remember what we just searched. It brings us to the question: We Have Everything at Our Fingertips – So Why Do We Miss Everything?

And perhaps that is what we are nostalgic for.

It almost seems like a lifetime ago when people memorised phone numbers, addresses and locations. We calculated our expenses and savings in our heads or on paper. We learnt directions by remembering landmarks instead of simply following a blue dot on a screen. When I come across a Maths equation or a numerical in Physics nowadays, I sometimes wonder how I managed to solve them back in school without immediately seeking help from the internet or ChatGPT. We didn’t have shortcuts back then, and since we made the effort, we were more involved in the process of learning.

We had photo albums. We had slambooks filled with questions answered by friends in different handwriting. We had birthday cards, handwritten letters, and gifts that were chosen, wrapped, and carried home. A story or a post on social media replaces photos being filled in an album and being shown around during a family gathering or a festive meet. In our eagerness to capture a moment, we sometimes forget to actually experience it. Spotify replaced the pride we would have collecting cassettes and CDs, showing it around as if it was a prized possession.

The human touch is missing. There was a time when we would personally select a gift for a loved one, or write down something meaningful for them. Now, what we have is a reminder on our phone or app about a birthday or an anniversary or a festival coming up, and suggestions for what we can gift or do.

All of us at some point had a celeb crush that we would swoon over, gossip about, and keep cutouts from newspapers or magazines. Now what we have is a Fortnite crush, thanks to OTT platforms, which gives us plenty of options every now and then. We no longer have to wait for our favourite show to come on television. We don’t have to wonder what happens next week. We can watch an entire season overnight.

From shopping suggestions to book reads, events, places to visit, the algorithms just make everything pop up on your phone screen, and you scroll through it. What about the time when we would note down a receipe we would see on TV and try making it? And sometimes I wonder whether we have lost a little bit of the magic that came from discovering things for ourselves.

Even though there is nothing wrong with recommendations, in fact, it can be incredibly useful. But when everything seems to be presented to us on a platter, we sometimes forget what it feels like to stumble upon something completely by chance. In some strange way, simple times have become a luxury.

If I were to put it in one sentence, it seems like all of us are longing for yesterday in a world that never stops scrolling.

Sonali Swain

Sonali Swain is a Freelance Content writer from Delhi. She wishes to be an IFS Officer and is preparing for the Civil Services currently. She can be reached at sonaliankita18@gmail.com.