<b>"Nobody scrolls past the fold." [BUSTED]</b>

<b>"Nobody scrolls past the fold." [BUSTED]</b>

The myth: engagement falls off a cliff below the first screen.

Why it spread: ancient heatmaps from an era of slow mice and no infinite scroll, plus people quoting "80% above the fold" without reading what it measured.

The boring truth: modern scroll data shows the opposite, the <i>most</i> engaged region is often just below the fold, because people instinctively scroll a little to start reading. A whole screen of "above fold real estate" anxiety is solving a 2010 problem on 2026 behavior.

The nuance: there's a real effect, but it's a continuous decay, not a wall. Put your strongest hook at the top to <i>start</i> the scroll, then front-load value at each section because attention leaks gradually, not all at once at 600px.