Scroll Burnout
Mental and emotional exhaustion from prolonged, often mindless scrolling through social media feeds.
Explanation
Scroll burnout, closely related to the broader idea of social media fatigue, describes the depleted, foggy, or irritable feeling people report after extended scrolling sessions, often driven by infinite-scroll interface design that removes natural stopping points. Researchers link it to overstimulation of the brain's reward circuits by constant novel content, notifications, and social comparison, followed by diminishing emotional reward over time. Audiences experiencing scroll burnout become harder to capture with more of the same content, so brands increasingly need to earn attention with distinct, low-friction, or intentionally paced content rather than competing purely on feed volume.
Usage context / examples
A brand may see declining engagement on high-frequency feed posts and respond by shifting budget toward fewer, higher-quality video pieces designed to interrupt scroll fatigue rather than add to it.
Related terms
Doomscrolling, social media fatigue, infinite scroll, attention economy
Turkish definition
Scroll burnout, sosyal medya akışlarında uzun süre, çoğunlukla amaçsızca kaydırma yapmaktan kaynaklanan zihinsel ve duygusal tükenmişliktir.
Source: MMA Academy Sözlük