E22 - How to make scrolling annoying: [Ability Design]

Hi everyone,

My name is Stephan and this is my story of how I became The Attention Master.

If you find yourself giving in to phone temptations too quickly, then episode 22 is for you. Let's dive in!

Here is what you are going to learn today:

• The ability chain.

• How to lower the ability of bad habits.

• Actionable tips for each component of the chain.

Quick review from last time: Behavior happens when motivation, ability and a prompt come together. B = MAP (Dr. BJ Fogg, Stanford University)

Apps like Instagram are so addictive, because

• the prompt comes from inside of you and can’t be taken away (your internal riggers aka. negative emotions)

• the motivation is super high because you are wired to get rid of the discomfort and your phone offers the fastest solution to get relief

• the ability is super high because these apps are for free, quick to access, require no physical or mental effort, and barely interfere with existing routines.

Similarly, if you want to get rid of a bad behavior (like mindless scrolling), you can:

• Remove, avoid or learn to ignore the prompt (→ episode 21)

• Reduce your motivation for a behavior (→ next episode)

• Reduce the ability of a behavior → This is the easiest and most concrete, and what we will cover today.

In simple words: Let’s make scrolling more annoying.

Here’s how: