But why do you use Instagram to view cat pictures?
Just use google image search to view as many cat pictures you want. Yes, google also serve ads - but it doesn't prevent you from viewing images. And ads can be easily blocked with an ad blocker.
Social media, specially the FB family, is all about dark patterns. Avoid using them - at least for viewing cat pictures.
Paying attention to more than one thing "at the same time" - is not humanly possible. So when you are simultaneously doing two tasks that demand attention, what you are actually doing is rapid context switching. The thing to understand is that - “attention has inertia”. Context switching has two implications:
1. It drains your energy - You have limited energy available every day. If you spend most of your energy in context switching, very less is available for actual work. And if you over-work, you cause real physical damage to yourself.
2. You can’t do any deep work - Deep work requires attention on a single thing for a sustained period of time.
The idea is to work with your attention - not against it. The best way to do that is to reduce context switching and eliminate attention residue. Here is how:
1. Short-duration tasks - When you pick a task, finish it completely before moving on to the next one. Have distraction-free slots for work and batch similar tasks together.
2. Long-duration tasks - Pause-and-resume approach. When you pause a task, take a mental dump of its current state. This helps in two ways - first, your attention will not linger when you move to the next task and second, it will be easier to pick up when you resume that task.