We’ve all heard of doom scrolling.
You pick up your phone to check one thing, and 20 minutes later you’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of bad news, angry people, political arguments, fear, outrage, and somebody in the comments section calling a complete stranger an idiot.
So, I’m trying something different. Bloom scrolling.
Instead of letting social media decide what gets my attention, I’m going to be a little more intentional about what I give it.
When I see the rage-bait post designed to make me angry, I’m going to keep scrolling. I don’t need to open the comments and spend the next ten minutes reading strangers argue with each other. Instead, I’m going to stop for the funny meme that makes me laugh. I’ll like the inspirational quote that makes me think, watch the video of someone doing something unexpectedly kind, comment on a friend’s good news, and spend a little more time with the beautiful, funny, interesting, and hopeful things that show up in my feed.
Because every time we choose what gets our attention and engagement, we’re also teaching the algorithm what we want more of.
Feed the algorithm what you want it to feed you.
But it works both ways. We’re not only choosing what comes into our own feeds. Every time we post or share something, we’re adding to someone else’s.
And that makes me think a little more about what I want to put out there.
We never really know what’s happening on the other side of that screen. Maybe one of my dog stories gives someone a laugh when they’ve had a lousy day. Perhaps something I write about grief makes someone feel a little less alone. A picture of something beautiful might make someone stop for a second and look for a little beauty in their own world. A “Something Good” story reminds someone that there are still kind people and good things happening all around us.
Those are the kinds of ripples I want to send out.
And something interesting happens when you start deliberately looking for good things to stop for, like, and share. You start getting better at noticing them.
Not just on your phone. In real life.
The other day, I spotted a few little marigolds growing out of a crack along the curb. They weren’t part of a flower bed. Nobody had carefully planted them there. They’d somehow found enough dirt in a crack in the concrete to grow, and there they were, bright orange and blooming anyway. I stopped and took their picture.
The more I train myself to look for things that are beautiful, funny, kind, hopeful, or good, the more of them I start to see.
Maybe bloom scrolling isn’t really just about changing what shows up on my screen. Maybe it’s about changing what I notice when I look up from it.
Let us spend a little less time feeding the doom and look for the blooms instead. 
And when you find one, share it. You never know how far that little ripple might go. 
Happy Friday, friends! I hope you have a happy day and a reason to smile. 
Anyway… Off We Go. 
Here’s to finding light in unexpected places.
© Erica Shoemaker | Anyway… Off We Go.
