Classification Notice for Infinite Scroll Return
The feed was left. Nothing was unfinished. Four minutes later, the feed was reopened. The feed has new content. The new content is the same amount as before.
CLASSIFICATION NOTICE RE: Infinite scroll return behavior TYPE: Unresolved variable re-engagement
The First Session
The feed was opened. Nine minutes of scrolling produced content. The content included approximately twelve posts of varying quality. Three were engaged with (reaction, comment, or save). Nine were scrolled past.
At the natural pause, the feed's current content had been seen. There was more below. There is always more below. The choice was made to close.
The Four Minutes
Four minutes of other activity: a reply to a message, a glass of water, a brief thought about something unrelated to the feed. The feed was not open. The feed was not actively considered.
At minute four, the app was reopened.
The Second Session
Two new posts at the top. The two-post increment represents four minutes of content production across the accounts followed. The two posts were read. One was engaged with. The feed below the two new posts was the same feed that had already been seen.
The session lasted ninety seconds before closure.
The Classification
The return was not driven by an expectation of significant new content. Four minutes is not a meaningful content accumulation interval. The return was driven by an unresolved desire for the thing the feed was supposed to provide but did not conclusively deliver: satisfaction, stimulation, information, connection, or something else that remains unnamed.
The thing was not provided by the two new posts. The app was closed again.
The feed will be reopened. The pattern is stable.