Beyond Zombie Scrolling: Reclaiming Attention Before Ramadan
– A faith-conscious framework for governing attention in the age of infinite scrolling
PREFACE
I’m resuming this newsletter after a six-week pause. In next week’s edition, I will share what I learned during that pause.
One visible shift: I am orienting this newsletter around the Hijri calendar. For me, sacred time carries meaning and alignment.
This edition marks the 4th Tuesday of Shaʿban, with our usual 4th Tuesday theme:
Faith-Conscious in Practice: translating principles into tools, case studies and lived application.
Let us begin.
YOUR PHONE IS NOT NEUTRAL
Recently I listened to a conversation on the Blogging Theology podcast, hosted by Paul Williams, featuring Subboor Ahmad, author of the book, Zombie Scrolling.
The podcast episode title, Your Phone Is Not Neutral: The Truth About Zombie Scrolling hooked me in!
The “infinite scroll” mechanism was engineered (by Aza Raskin, who later regretted it) using slot-machine psychology. It removes cues for stopping. It keeps the thumb moving. It rewards unpredictability.
Indeed, design influences behaviour. Digital environments shape spiritual states.
So a faith-conscious leader must ask. What is this environment shaping within me? Where is my attention being trained?
THIS IS ABOUT ATTENTION
Not all phone use is the same.
Purposeful research, communication, structured learning — these are intentional.
Zombie scrolling is directionless (ghafla), compulsive engagement. Awareness fades and time dissolves.
Neuroscience suggests rapid, unpredictable content creates dopamine spikes. When stimulation becomes frequent, baseline motivation shifts. Ordinary tasks feel heavier. Deep reading requires effort. Salah (prayer) requires presence that feels harder to access.
This touches something deeper than productivity.
Attention is amanah (sacred trust). The heart follows where attention settles.
A CRISIS OF MEANING
On-the-surface solutions circulate widely: delete the app, install a blocker, or reduce screen time.
Structure can help. I’ve tried.
Subboor Ahmad proposes that it is direction that determines sustainability. When purpose clarifies, behaviour follows.
If you have a journey to catch in the morning, preparation shapes your night; you won’t be scrolling past midnight.
If you are entrusted with responsibility, your schedule reflects it.
Subboor describes zombie scrolling as a crisis of meaning. That language resonates deeply within our tradition. Allah says:
“And the worldly life is not but amusement and diversion; but the home of the Hereafter is best for those who fear Allah. So will you not reason?” — Qur’an 6:32
The Qur’an speaks of amusement and diversion as temporary engagements that can eclipse higher purpose.
Entertainment occupies a place.
Orientation determines its weight.
Diversion expands when purpose thins.
Shaʿban invites recalibration.
SUBBOOR AHMAD’S 3D’S: DESIRE, DIRECTION, DISCIPLINE
Subboor references an analogy popularised in the book, Switch: How to Change When Change Is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath.
The mind can be described as an elephant and a rider. The rider represents reason. The elephant represents emotion.
Emotion carries weight. It moves first. It resists force.
Transformation requires engaging the elephant.
You guide desire through higher desire. You elevate attention through meaningful attachment.
A PERSONAL REFLECTION
Let me make this personal.
If you can’t view the video above, click here.
Those earlier interventions gave me language and structure.
Alhamdulillah, they helped me reclaim hours. They did sharpen my thinking.
However, it was when I encountered Subboor’s framing of zombie scrolling as a spiritual misalignment that found me understand the mapping of my earlier research and efforts to what is deeper.
Behavioural tools meet theological grounding!
Now focus becomes amanah (sacred trust). Work becomes rizq (sustenance, provision). Effort becomes accountability before Allah. Discipline begins to feel integrated.
Alignment sustains what technique alone struggles to maintain.
RIZQ AND ORIENTATION
A coaching experience illustrates this further.
An entrepreneur I worked with struggled with bingeing on a streaming platform. She carried the desire to grow the income from her business. Yet her evenings slipped away.
We explored orientation.
Her original concept of business shifted in her understanding. It became a channel of rizq.
Rizq encompasses provision in many forms — financial flow, relationships, support, influence, clarity, opportunity.
“Allah holds the key to all rizq!” This was her breakthrough realisation.
Her role transformed. She focused on becoming the passionate giver. Service became primary. Contribution structured her day. She hardly used the word business anymore.
Her routines changed. Her mornings carried intention. Her work-blocks carried clarity. The bingeing dissolved.
Direction reshaped desire.
PRACTICAL SUPPORTS
Structure supports orientation.
Black-and-white phone settings reduce stimulation. Devices outside the bedroom protect winding down and waking up. Intentional learning replaces passive consumption.
Structured practice falls apart when not grounded with heartfelt belief.
When spiritual meaning anchors behaviour, structure feels lighter.
SHAʿBAN AS TRAINING
At the time of this writing, it is 22nd Shaʿban 1447 in Malaysia. Shaʿban prepares the heart. Ramadan approaches. Attention trained in Shaʿban carries into Ramadan.
Digital habits influence spiritual presence. Your phone influences your focus. Your focus influences your heart.
I repeat: attention is amanah. Where is yours being invested?
EDITION #20
During my six-week pause, something unsettled me, then I settled my inner self. When activity decreased, signal-to-noise ratio increased. When productivity stabilised, questions emerged.
I examined what I was building and I examined what was building me.
Next week, I will share what surfaced when I cruised along the pause.
Shaʿban is a bridge month. A bridge reveals what the road concealed.
CLOSING INVITATION
If this reflection on attention and orientation resonates with you, I invite you to join our next online gathering of Faith-Conscious Professionals.
📅 Wednesday, 18 February 2026
⏰ 2:00pm – 3:00 pm (Malaysia time)
🔗 LinkedIn registration:
https://www.linkedin.com/events/7422292989311565824/
We will explore what it means to integrate faith, focus and professional responsibility, especially for Ramadan.
It is a space for leaders, entrepreneurs and advisors who want their work to flow from intention, not impulse.
Come present. Come reflective. Come ready to recalibrate.
Insha Allah.
Next newsletter edition: 5th Tuesday (Shaʿban 1447) – Unscripted
Previous newsletter edition: Unscripted
The Faith-Conscious Leader newsletter delivers weekly insights to Muslim leaders who want to integrate faith, strategy and impact in their professional lives.
Each Hijri month cycles four themes (plus one, unthemed) designed to balance inspiration with practice:
- 1st Tuesday – Faith-Inspired Strategy: applying Qur’anic and Prophetic wisdom to vision, decisions and direction.
- 2nd Tuesday – Leadership with Ihsan: leading people and shaping culture with excellence, fairness and compassion.
- 3rd Tuesday – Inner Mastery & Renewal: building resilience, patience, and clarity through intention and spiritual grounding.
- 4th Tuesday – Faith-Conscious in Practice: translating principles into tools, case studies and real-world applications.
- 5th Tuesday (when there is) – Unscripted: flows without a fixed theme – faith-conscious insights, spiritual stories and leadership lessons in raw form.
