DigitalDUAL-USE

Infinite Scroll

What it is

A feed that loads more content as the user approaches the bottom, removing the page break, the “next” click, and every other natural moment at which a person would decide whether to continue.

How it works

Stopping is a decision, and decisions need a cue. Pagination, a chapter end, an empty bowl, a closing credit — each interrupts consumption and asks, implicitly, “more?” Infinite scroll deletes the question. Aza Raskin, who built the first version in 2006 and has since said he regrets it, described the intent as removing the small friction of clicking “next page”; the effect is to convert a series of opt-in choices into a single opt-out that the user must initiate against the pull of the next item. The evidence for stopping cues comes from consumption research: Cheema and Soman found that partitioning a quantity into smaller units — even with nothing else changed — reduced how much people consumed, because each partition prompts a fresh decision. (The related “bottomless bowl” intuition comes from Wansink's lab, many of whose later papers were retracted; the partition work is the cleaner evidence.) Combined with a variable reward schedule and algorithmic ranking that surfaces the most engaging item next, the scroll has no end and no reason to end. Regulators have begun naming it: the EU Parliament's 2023 resolution on addictive design and several US state laws aimed at minors single it out.

Real-world examples

•Aza Raskin prototyped infinite scroll in 2006; it became standard on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, and in 2018 he told the BBC he had not anticipated how it would be used to extend time on site.
•TikTok's full-screen, swipe-to-next feed removes even the visual sense of a list; state attorneys general suing the company in October 2024 cited its endless feed among design features they allege are addictive for minors.
•Instagram added a “You're all caught up” marker in 2018 after criticism — a deliberate reinsertion of a stopping cue, and evidence that the cue is a design choice.
•New York's SAFE for Kids Act (2024) and the EU Parliament's December 2023 resolution on addictive design both target algorithmic feeds without natural end points for minors; the European Commission has since opened Digital Services Act proceedings that include feed design.

Ethical guidelines

Where the line is

Loading more of what the user asked for — search results, a subscription list, an archive — is a convenience; the line is crossed when stopping cues are removed from an algorithmically ranked feed specifically to extend time on site beyond what the user would choose with a clear head, and again when that design is aimed at minors.

●Provide a stopping cue: an end-of-feed marker, a page break, or a “you have seen everything new” state, and let the user set a session limit that the product respects.
●Do not remove friction from consumption while adding it to the exit; the asymmetry is the tell.
●Default to finite, chronological feeds for minors; the UK Age-Appropriate Design Code treats engagement-extending nudges aimed at children as a data-protection failure.
●Measure the product by whether users would choose the time they spent, not by the time spent.

How to defend against it

►Decide what you came for before opening the app and leave when you have it; the feed cannot end the session, so you must.
►Restore the page break yourself: use “following” or chronological feeds where offered, a feed-blocking extension (such as News Feed Eradicator) on the desktop, and an RSS reader for sites you actually want to follow.
►Set a hard stop that is external to the app — a timer, an app limit in Screen Time or Digital Wellbeing, or a rule to stop at the next natural break such as a meal or a train stop.
►Watch for the “one more” state: if you cannot say what you are looking for, you are not looking, you are being scrolled.
►For children, keep autoplay and algorithmic feeds off where the platform allows it, and prefer apps with finite content.

References

Cheema, A., & Soman, D. (2008). The Effect of Partitions on Controlling Consumption. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(6), 665-675
Experimental evidence that partitions and stopping cues reduce consumption by forcing a fresh decision at each break.
Sunstein, C. R. (2021). Sludge: What Stops Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do about It. MIT Press
The framing of friction as a design choice that can be placed to serve the user or the institution.
Eyal, N. (2014). Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. Portfolio / Penguin
The industry playbook in which trigger, action, variable reward, and investment are combined to build habitual use.

Last reviewed 2026-09-07

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