A practitioner’s guide to infinite scroll

Infinite scroll is a technique used by some online platforms and services to keep your attention and encourage you to stay on the service for longer. The platform aims to keep you engaged for longer using a design feature that provides content in a ‘never-ending’ stream of posts. The longer you browse, the greater opportunity to show you adverts and collect your data, resulting in more revenue for the service. It’s just one of many ‘persuasive design’ techniques employed by online services and device manufacturers to encourage you to spend more time with their products.

Persuasive design and infinite scroll

Infinite scroll and other persuasive design methods such as notifications, colour, variable rewards and pull-to-refresh have been carefully engineered using psychology to design more engaging interactions. This is based on what motivates us, the way our brains process information and prioritise our attention. Features like notifications, where your device will prompt you with sounds and visuals, are designed to bring our attention back to an app or device.

These methods encourage us to continue using a service through ‘variable rewards’. Scrolling through a social media feed might lead us to something exciting or surprising, but we never know when this might occur. The anticipation of seeing something interesting encourages us to keep scrolling, as does the removal of ‘stopping cues’ (such as the end of the page) that help us know when we have completed an activity.

These features stimulate our brains to produce dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter that rewards us for beneficial behaviours and motivates us to repeat them (Haynes, T., 2018, ‘Dopamine, Smartphones & You: A battle for your time’). Chasing this happy feeling can lead to excessive screen time, which has been shown to negatively affect aspects of everyday life such as sleep, physical health, and mental well-being.

As most sites and apps are free, they mostly make money through showing adverts. Apps may also make money through in-app purchases or using data they collect about their users. To show more adverts to users, app and website developers make use of design features to persuade users to keep coming back to the app or site, or to spend longer on it.

Further information on how persuasive design features can put children and young people at risk can be found in the ‘Pathways: How digital design puts children at risk’ report by 5Rights Foundation.

How can I support learners to manage the effects of persuasive design?

It is important to educate learners about what persuasive design is and the impact it can have on health and well-being, as well as support them to develop strategies to reduce these risks. For example, when teaching about information and communication technology your learners could study the technology behind persuasive design, such as the use of algorithms and interface design to influence user behaviour. Elements of persuasive design could also be embedded across the curriculum, supported by the aims of the Digital Competence Framework.

Educating learners about persuasive design techniques equips them with the knowledge and skills to be more resilient to their effects. Often, once you’re aware of such techniques, their impact on you is greatly diminished.

Where possible, raising awareness and signposting to advice for families is also key in supporting your learners with the online risks they face outside of school. For the latest advice on apps, social media and games for families see our 'In the know’ guides. Each guide includes a detailed overview of the app, outlining the age rating and key terminology families should know.

Some of the possible long-term effects of persuasive design (such as sleep deprivation or problematic use) can result in safeguarding issues, so it’s important to be aware of how these may occur and the procedures to follow if you have concerns about one of your learners.

Infinite scroll and other persuasive design features can be found in a wide range of apps, services and devices that may be used by learners. Take care when selecting these tools for use in school to ensure that any persuasive design features are not present or can be reduced. You may wish to refer to the ‘Education Digital Standards and Guidance’ for support, or if you’re unsure about any implications.

The Children’s Code

In the UK, the tech industry is being encouraged to increase its responsibility for the well-being and protection of children and young people and their data, including refraining from using persuasive design (also known as ‘nudge’ techniques) in services likely to be accessed by children and young people.

The Children’s Code, which came into force in September 2021, aims to ensure that children have a baseline of protection automatically by design and default, so that they are protected within the digital world rather than from it, thereby still offering them the opportunity to explore and develop online. It is a statutory code of practice enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and applies to online service operators and developers.

The code sets out 15 standards of age-appropriate design, including aspects such as:

• putting the best interests of the child first
• designing the service around the age range of the service’s audience
• setting privacy settings to ‘on’ by default
• minimising the collection of children’s personal data
• explaining to child users the purpose and nature of any parental controls present
• avoiding ‘profiling’ of children based on their data
• refraining from using nudge techniques to encourage children to give away unnecessary data or weaken their privacy protection
• ensuring connected devices and toys adhere to the code
• providing clear and accessible tools to help children exercise their data protection rights and report concerns.

Further educational activities about these issues can be found in the Common Sense Education materials available on Hwb.

Where can I get help and support?

Concerns about a learner’s use of technology should be reported, in line with your school’s safeguarding procedures, to the designated safeguarding person (DSP) to investigate, who will seek external support when required.

Educational practitioners requiring support with any online safety issues about learners, themselves or their organisation, including concerns about a learner’s excessive or problematic use of technology, can contact the Professionals Online Safety Helpline for more advice and suggested courses of action for managing online incidents involving members of your school community.

Further information and research on children’s technology and media use can be found on the Ofcom website.