In many ways I see it as my enemy, but perhaps that language is too strong.

I’ve just had a quick look on t’web to see if other folks have issues with infinite scroll and certainly some do. Technical quibbles, bookmarking, locating footer information – but very little mention of why I’m not a fan.

Primarily, I see it as a device for capturing and maintaining the user’s attention beyond the thing they were looking for in the first place. On LinkedIn, I might connect with someone and then find myself idly making my way down the other suggestions. With any feed that is no longer chronological, it’s hard to stop browsing when there’s always more, more, more content that you just scroll a little further for.

I’m not a casual browser for the most part, which is perhaps why I find this behaviour quite frustrating. I have an objective, usually a time I want to accomplish it in, and a lot of other things to do. Infinite scrolling makes it all too easy to stay passively engaged in time wasting at the cost of actively pursuing the things you want to do.

With paginated results, I can indulge at least a little by saying “just one more page” and then get back on track!