About the author

Elliot Keane researches how social media is designed to hold attention and how that design shows up in ordinary days: the check that lasts longer than intended, the feed that continues when nothing has finished, the notification that interrupts a thought still in progress.

Scroll on Purpose grew out of that inquiry. Across twenty chapters, Keane examines feeds, recommendations, notifications, and the accounts people follow, drawing on research in psychology, cognitive science, and digital media studies — the same works listed in the book’s Notes and Sources. The aim is not to declare every reader addicted, nor to demand that anyone quit social media. It is to make the exchange between platform and attention easier to see, then to give that observation a practical form: a thirty-day sequence of diagnosis, cleanup, rebuild, and autonomy.

Methodology

The writing combines explanation with a usable sequence. Mechanisms come first—habit, recommendation, notifications, feed types—so that later choices are not guesswork. Sources are cited in the book and collected on the resources page.

Diagnosis: observe ordinary use before changing everything at once.
Cleanup: remove noise and redesign the easiest returns into the feed.
Rebuild: choose sources and alternatives you would select on purpose.
Autonomy: set realistic boundaries and treat relapse as information.