Actor Arjan Bajwa, best known for his roles in 'Fashion', 'Rustom', and 'Kabir Singh', has spoken out against the growing culture of compulsive social media use, calling endless scrolling a habit that is quietly eroding attention spans and consuming people's time and energy. The actor shared his concerns in a recent interaction on 27 August.

The Addiction Problem

Bajwa did not mince words when describing the scale of the problem. 'Scrolling through social media has become a very bad addiction for everybody. I don't consider it healthy at all because everyone is on their phones constantly, trying to get information about what's happening in the digital world,' he said.

He went further, drawing a parallel to neurological reward cycles: 'Somehow, now I feel it is like a dopamine rush people get to keep checking social media.' This compulsive checking, he argued, has moved well beyond the original purpose of these platforms.

What Social Media Was Meant to Be

Bajwa acknowledged that digital platforms serve a legitimate informational function — one that has grown more important as print media has receded. 'Social media is supposed to give you information,' he noted, pointing out that with newspapers and magazines becoming less prominent, people are increasingly turning to digital platforms for news and updates. 'It is a big boon that you can watch the news and know what is happening anywhere in the world right on your phone screen,' he said.

However, he drew a clear line between purposeful consumption and mindless scrolling — a distinction he believes most users have lost sight of. 'It has to be informative,' he stressed, noting that habitual checking — 'right after getting out of bed or even before going to sleep' — signals something closer to dependency than information-seeking.

The Attention Span Cost

The actor's sharpest concern was about cognitive impact. 'But then it becomes an addiction, and your attention span also does not go beyond a few seconds,' he warned. He pointed to the volume of low-value content as a key driver: 'There is also a lot of unnecessary or completely random content that takes away your time, energy and attention as you keep scrolling throughout the day.'

Notably, Bajwa's remarks arrive at a time when global regulators and mental health researchers are increasingly scrutinising the design of social media platforms — particularly infinite scroll and notification mechanics — for their role in fostering compulsive behaviour. India, with one of the world's largest and fastest-growing smartphone user bases, sits at the centre of this debate.

The Broader Context

Bajwa is not the first public figure to raise these concerns, but his framing — balancing genuine utility against addictive design — reflects a nuanced position. He stopped short of calling for a boycott, instead urging users to be deliberate about how and when they engage with these platforms. Whether audiences heed that message is another matter entirely.