Giesse and other computer engineers in the early days of graphical interfaces modeled the concept of "scrolling" directly after ancient physical papyrus scrolls.

A closer look

Giesse and other computer engineers in the early days of graphical interfaces modeled the concept of "scrolling" directly after ancient physical papyrus scrolls. Early word processors actually rendered text as one continuous vertical block, forcing the user to "unroll" the digital parchment to see what was at the bottom, mimicking an ancient reading technology that had been obsolete since the invention of the book. It is hilariously depressing that we abandoned the concept of turning pages just to regress to a reading format used by ancient Egyptians. Thanks to this foundational design choice, we are now permanently cursed with "doomscrolling," infinitely sliding our thumbs up a glass screen as the algorithm feeds us an endless stream of psychological torment