4 min read AI

Swap the Infinite Scroll for the Infinite Prompt

Have you ever looked up from your phone to find your child staring at you, waiting for an answer to a question you do not remember hearing?

It is a horrible feeling. That sudden, sharp pang of guilt, followed by a wave of frustration. The self-loathing for knowing you have just been sucked into a hypnotic, twenty-minute scroll through (what is basically just adverts now), served up by an algorithm designed to keep you there.

This state of passive consumption has become our default. It is cognitive junk food, and it is dulling our creative appetites. But what if we could use that same pocket of time not to consume, but to create?

I propose a simple switch: swap social media scrolling for AI playing.

From Consumption to Creation

Instead of passively receiving a feed, you actively direct a powerful tool. “AI playing” is not about work. It is about low-stakes, curiosity-driven creation:

  • Drafting the first paragraph of a sci-fi story you would never otherwise write.

  • Generating a photorealistic image of a “brutalist lighthouse on Mars.”

  • Asking it to explain quantum physics in the style of a pirate.

  • Outlining a completely ridiculous business idea just to see what it looks like on paper.

  • Instead of watching cat videos, use Veo3 or Kling AI to make your own.

Each of these acts, no matter how trivial, requires something from you that scrolling does not: a spark of imagination. There’s real value in the pace of AI itself — those thinking pauses create space for exactly this kind of deeper engagement.

What’s more, it doesn’t have to be limited to solo-creating

I love creating AI things with my son: from converting his drawings into photo-realistic monsters, to making up silly songs on Suno, and asking it to explain complex subjects for a 5 year old.

My son’s drawing made “real” by Chat GPT

But Isn’t AI Just a “Yes Man”?

A common critique of Generative AI is that it is an agreeable parrot, a “yes man” that simply confirms our own ideas. I would argue that in the context of creative play, this is its most powerful feature.

The AI is a judgement-free creative partner. It has no ego. It will not laugh at your silly idea or tell you your prompt is not sophisticated enough. This lack of friction removes the single greatest barrier to personal creativity: the fear of a bad idea. It gives you permission to be absurd, to experiment, and to follow a fleeting thought to its conclusion.

The Real Benefits of AI Play

When you swap the scroll for the prompt, you are doing more than just passing the time. You are:

  • Activating Your Mind: You move from a passive state of receiving information to an active state of questioning, directing, and building.

  • Exercising Your Imagination: Social media shows you what already exists. AI asks you to imagine what could exist. It is a workout for your creative muscles.

  • Building a Valuable Skill: Scrolling is a habit. Prompting is a skill. Every moment spent “playing” with AI is a micro-lesson in how to communicate with these powerful new systems - a skill that is rapidly becoming a professional necessity.

The choice is becoming clearer. We can spend our downtime being served algorithmic slop that dulls our senses, or we can engage in a creative dialogue that sharpens our minds.

So, the next time your thumb instinctively moves towards that social media app, I challenge you to open an AI tool instead. You might be surprised by what you create.

What have you created just for fun with AI recently?