Building Up The Habit Of Writing When You Love To Scroll

Usually, I'll end up writing new work because I'm so sick of myself for not writing that eventually I'll guilt myself into it.

And that work is okay, but it comes with that yucky (very external) voice that says what I'm working on isn't right or good enough.

I'm sure you can tell where this is going...but basically I suspect I've started to scroll as a way to avoid 'going there'. But that is not how I feel when I sit down to write and I want to do it.

Instead, those rare times, I can hear another voice calling to me. A better voice. A kinder voice. One who says: just put it down on the paper. Look how fun. Look how cute. Look how special.

So the question becomes (or became) for me: how do I get there instead of just going to the scroll?

Writing as replacement therapy

Here's what I've discovered: writing can become a replacement therapy for something else.

It didn't come all at once though. First I had to be young and curious about why my mother seemed actually and very seriously addicted to eating carrots.

That's where I found out that people have higher success rates quitting smoking by reaching for a carrot instead of a cigarette.

Why? Becasue apparently carrots have a sort of addictive vitamin (or some such factor) that can compete with other habitual addictions! (What?!)

Now, maybe that's just qualitative evidence from some deep corner of the internet, but regardless, it was my first time really getting that people can use better habits to replace bad ones. Replacement therapy, right?

Next, I had to really learn that it's okay to move the goalposts an inch at a time.

I had to build up the idea that I didn't have to move away from my scrolling habit all at once. That there are degrees to the picture.

If I liked the screen, then so be it! I decided gaming is better than scrolling, so long as the game is peaceful.

So anytime I wanted to scroll, I went to the game.

Then, when I realized all I wanted to do was game, I was actually empowered by having been able to successfully replace one thing with another.

So I took it a step further and this week started replacing that habit with writing.

But first, I had to realize it was writing that I wanted to replace it with.

Building up your writing habit by using it to avoid 'The Scroll'

Before that, I was just trying to build up my writing habit by reaching out into nothingness, trying to ask myself to help myself out of an addictive behaviour.

Suddenly, I started to sense another possibility: that I could use writing as an addiction to replace other behaviours that aren't serving me as responsibly. So I decided: anytime I wanted to game, I would go to the keyboard first.

Even if nothing happened. I still went.

And so far, I've had some success. Just this week I managed to publish four new pieces of flash fiction and share them with the people in my community:

• Frost In Summer (April 22, 2026)

• Changing the Furniture Around (April 23, 2026)

• Soup's On (April 24, 2026)

• The Boy in the Water (April 25, 2026)

And it's not like I'm not still reaching for the game. It's not like overnight I find myself not feeling resistant to 'going there'.

But what I am finding is the habit and excitement and inertia building up on itself.

I'm also finding that when I replace the habit of gaming or scrolling just by degrees, that if I make use of my screen addiction and use it to write instead...I can do what I truly love.

And the guilt voice goes away.

And I can rest easy for the day knowing I'm doing what I always want to be doing.

Hope you can too!

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