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The Doorway Effect Is Wasting Your Time
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December 18, 2025
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The Doorway Effect Is Wasting Your Time
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The Doorway Effect Is Wasting Your Time
Most of us end the day intending to rest, and then the phone pulls us back in.
One message leads to a reply, a reply leads to an app, and before we notice, the evening is gone. This article from Psychology Today starts with this familiar moment to show how modern life keeps us in constant motion.
The author, Carl Nassar PhD, argues that this is not just about phones, but about a culture that rewards speed and constant responsiveness. We are pushed to do more, answer faster, and keep moving. Over time, this pace feels normal, and slowing down begins to feel like a failure.
He explains this using something psychologists call the doorway effect: our minds hold onto a task as long as our surroundings stay the same. The moment we change environments, the brain resets. That is why you walk into another room and suddenly forget why you went there.
Phones create this same effect again and again. Every tap opens a new mental space. A message leads to an app, an app leads to something else, and the original reason you picked up the phone quietly disappears.
It is not carelessness. It is how the brain naturally works when the setting keeps changing.
The article compares this to living like the Hare from the fable: fast, reactive, always chasing the next thing.
The other option is the Tortoise, not slow for its own sake, but deliberate. Choosing to pause before reacting, to notice what is happening, and to move with intention rather than momentum.
Small pauses have big impacts. They can prevent sharp words, help us notice when someone needs attention, or stop an evening from disappearing into screens. Letās try and slow down?
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