They Filed a Patent To Capture Your Attention. We Filed One To Protect it.

I almost always feel disappointed in myself when I receive my screen time report on my phone. I’m sure I’m not the only one. 

It’s almost painful to realize how many hours you’ve lost to mindlessly scrolling; barely remembering a single thing you saw. Yet somehow, after doing what felt like absolutely nothing, you're more mentally drained than you were before you picked it up.

But, you weren't doing nothing, you were making decisions. Hundreds of them, in fast succession: Watch or skip. Read or scroll. Like or don't. Open or ignore. 

Every single one of those micro-interactions is a choice processed through your prefrontal cortex, the same brain region responsible for your most important decisions about your work, your relationships, your life. 

You should know, it’s not your fault.

It’s not your fault that teams of people banded together and engineered systems to appeal to you directly, to hijack your attention, and to keep you there, engaged; ultimately depleting the cognitive resources you need to make decisions that matter. 

This isn't speculation about what tech and social media companies might be doing. It's in the public record, you can search for it yourself.

The Patents

In 2015 and 2016, several of the largest technology companies on earth filed patents with the United States Government. These are public documents, anyone can read them. 

One describes a system that measures how long content stays visible on your screen, whether you watched with sound on, how fast you scrolled, whether you paused or went back — feeding a system that determines what to show you next, and keep you there. The other calculates predicted engagement scores, monitors your actual engagement against those predictions in real time, and reschedules content if your engagement falls below a threshold. Two systems. The same goal: maximise the number of interactions you have on the platform.

Scarily, one of these patents indicated where systems could be extended further; incorporating gaze tracking, biometric signals, facial recognition of emotional responses, and even physical proximity to the device. We need to start taking back power before this becomes a reality.

Neither patent uses the word "decision." They don't have to. They use the word "engagement." 

“Engagement as its biological components = a sequence of decisions”

But engagement, when you break it down to its biological components, is a sequence of decisions. And that distinction matters, because of what's happening inside your head while you're engaging.

Your Brain On Likes

Your brain has a common neural currency for all rewards. The same circuitry used to process "reward" for getting a promotion, winning an award, earning money, also processes  likes on your social media post. That's not a metaphor. Researchers at UCLA put participants in a brain scanner and had them use an app designed to mimic Instagram. Every time a participant chose to like a photo, the brain's reward system lit up.

They also found that liking a photo didn't just activate reward circuitry. It also activates the brain's salience and central executive network, which includes your prefrontal cortex. These are the systems your brain uses for evaluation, decision-making, and cognitive control. The same architecture you use to weigh up a job offer, navigate a difficult conversation, or decide what matters most in your day.

"Your brain treats a Like the same way it treats money. Except you're spending it, not earning it”

So every scroll, every like-or-skip, every watch-or-swipe is recruiting the most metabolically expensive brain region (the prefrontal cortex), to make decisions. Glutamate — the brain's primary excitatory neurotransmitter — is the molecule responsible for generating the signal . Every time your prefrontal cortex fires to evaluate, decide, or inhibit a response, it's utilising glutamate to do so.

Which brings us to the cost.

This continued neuronal firing, specifically glutamate neurotransmission in the prefrontal cortex, results in an accumulation of the molecule. This accumulation is associated with reduced signalling efficiency, and therefore, downstream negative effects on decision making.

What can actually be done about it

I try to reduce this glutamate accumulation before I have any important decisions to make: so limited, or no use in the morning before and during my typical working hours. I help myself do this by periodically deleting apps, or setting a time block on there.

But this is where I need to be honest about something. 

When I’m feeling cognitively fatigued, the first thing I gravitate towards is scrolling. And suddenly I’ve re-downloaded the apps, or gone into my settings to remove the block I set 🤷. And as you now know, when scrolling, the brain is actively decision-making, utilising cognitive resources, and beginning to degrade our next decision. This is unfortunately the monster that was released from the cage when those patents were filed.

But we filed our own patent.

What I love, both personally and professionally, about Numin is that it’s a solution around this exact mechanism. It's not a general focus supplement like most other products in this space; Shawn designed the formula to target the neurochemistry we've just been talking about and to combat the specific condition of decision fatigue. And we filed a patent for it.

Personally, I’ve found that by taking Numin mid-morning, or with lunch, that I avoid that cognitive fatigue that makes me want to sit and scroll. And then by circumnavigating scrolling, I avoid any glutamate accumulation that would compound and result in decision fatigue. 

So my advice: do your best to put limits in place with your social media. Don’t scroll first thing in the morning. Limit your use before any important decisions you need to make. Abide by any time limits you set yourself on there. And when you need support doing it, that's what Numin is for.

They filed a patent to capture your attention, but we filed one to protect what it costs you.