Understanding Doomscrolling
What is doomscrolling?
When you're surrounded by bad news, it’s tempting to go one of two ways: Avoid all mentions of it or obsessively read about every little detail—and so many people are doing the latter lately, that there's even a word for it now: "doomscrolling."
According to psychotherapist and coach Tess Brigham: doomscrolling is mindlessly scrolling through negative news articles, social media posts, or other content-sharing platforms.
Essentially, it's reading one negative story after another. One Canadian study has even called this phenomenon “social media panic.”
How doomscrolling affects your health?
“Doomscrolling can be a harmful habit, and detrimental to your mental and even physical health,” explains Stephanie J. Wong, clinical psychologist. Unfortunately, consuming more negative information, can reinforce that anxiety and depression in a vicious cycle.
Now, with news coverage on disease, deaths, violence, and political issues, doomscrolling adds another layer of damage to overuse of social media. The mental health effects are serious:
Doomscrolling reinforces negative thoughts and feelings. When you feel depressed or anxious, there is a tendency to seek out news and information to confirm those feelings. It’s a harmful cycle that keeps you feeling low.
It worsens mental illness. This habit of turning to negative stories can trigger an episode or worsen symptoms.
Doomscrolling increases panic and worry. Scrolling through negative news stories leads to rumination, make you feel panicky and may even trigger panic attacks.
Doomscrolling interferes with your sleep. Many people tend to scroll through their feeds before bed, which increases anxiety when you’re supposed to relax. This leads to poor sleep cycle and increase risk of mental health issues.
Conflicting posts sow unease. Social media sites are notorious for allowing all kinds of posts, true or not. Reading one post and then another contradictory post is confusing and upsetting.
Social media and doomscrolling trigger stress hormones. Too much time on social media increases levels of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline. This leads to increase stress, mental and physical exhaustion.
How to curb harmful doomscrolling
Like any habit, if you can start it, you have the power to stop it.
Here are some concrete steps you can take to ensure you set up a healthier routine towards news consumption.
Set Limits, and a Timer: To avoid the endless cycle of doomscrolling, set time limits keeping your scrolling to just specific times of the day. Utilize the time limit function on your device or set a timer for when you scroll, when the timer goes off, you’re done.
Keep Devices Out of the Bedroom: Have your phone placed in another room, or out of your immediate reach to eliminate the temptation. Read a book in bed instead when unwinding for the day.
Apply Mindfulness to Scrolling: When scrolling through socials, pay attention to how it makes you feel, both mentally and physically. Greater awareness takes practice, and with time you’ll have better control over your scrolling habits.
Focus on the Positive: There are many positive things about social media and staying up to date on news. Focus on these instead of the doom and gloom. Block accounts whose posts upset or overwhelm you. Participate in positive discussions, engage in posts that make you feel good. Spending more time in positive communities or pages leaves less time for doomscrolling.
Disconnect: Unplugging completely from computers, tablets, and phones is beneficial for mental health. Take some time away from devices every day, go for a walk, have a safely distanced coffee with a friend, play with your dog, or read a book. Make the decision to set time for authentic connection by putting your devices away.
Practice gratitude: Doomscrolling can increase pessimism for the future. The way to reverse this is to “list a few things you're grateful for each day”. Research actually shows that having a daily gratitude practice can help foster a sense of optimism and calm in unstable times.
Doomscrolling is an unhealthy trend, and one that most of us can understand. It’s easy to get sucked into the news cycle and to be unable to turn away from the terrible stories. For your mental health, take time off this habit, practice mindfulness, and be ok with setting your devices aside.
If you find that, despite these efforts, you just can’t look away and continue to doomscroll, consider getting professional help. Addiction to devices and negative news can worsen your mental health and outlook. Seeking professional help can help you learn to manage your behaviors towards mental wellness.
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