How to stop dooms scrolling on your sofa for optimal functionality

apartment living

During a meeting with a client we were talking about the functional goals for their living room. That is how do they use the space? Their living room is actually not in their kitchen and dining area, which is ideal. They want to use the living room for ‘chilling’, ‘watching TV’, ‘chats with guests’. But they were honest about mostly using the sofa and dooms scrolling. Here are my tips on how to stop dooms scrolling on your sofa.

What is a living room actually for?

Interior design is an organic discipline that evolves as our human behaviour changes. For example, before the TV, you would find families in the living room reading the paper, listening to the radio. Mother’s engaged in a hobby such as knitting or embroidery, kids played games, families gathered around the piano.

Then we introduced TVs into our space and that required a change in furniture layout. All pieces of furniture were in front of a TV to enable us to watch this new invention.

But now we actually have a number of devices to use and watch. From mobile phones, to tablets and even projectors. You could argue the TV is no longer the focal point of a living room any more.

For some people, the TV is on as background noise. While, they sit on their sofa and dooms scroll. For my clients they wanted to change that habit. So we talked about an important interior design principle such as flow of movement.

Interior design changes behaviour and habits

As interior design impacts how we live, in theory we can use interior design to stop dooms scrolling. A floor plan, a furniture layout are all tools to helps us with our behaviours.

To avoid dooms scrolling on your sofa a possible solution is to place your mobile phone in a dump zone. One thing we talked about with my clients are habits.

Most people will habitually enter a house and dump stuff. Whether it’s jackets, bags, shoes or keys. So why not dump your phone in this zone as well.

By placing your mobile phone in the dump zone, near the entrance of your house, you are leaving it behind. It’s no longer with you in other areas of the house.

Making it easier not to dooms scroll at home. That way you can actually talk to your family around the dinner table. Actually watch a proper show on TV, rather than have noise on in the background.

I love this idea. Especially for people who don’t work from home. Place your phone in a dump zone as you enter the house. It’s an easy new habit to adopt.

Cover Photo by Steinar Engeland on Unsplash