What is doomscrolling?
Have you ever been scrolling through social media, or browsing the Internet, and all of a sudden, you see a news article or a story that makes you feel upset or distressed? This endless stream of bad news is something that’s become all too common, especially since the start of the pandemic. It’s almost impossible to avoid because it’s everywhere: on social media, in major headlines, and even on the radio.
Almost all of us have experienced the dejection that comes with seeing bad news pervade everywhere. Once you hear about one piece of bad news, you’re more likely to actively seek out more bad news without even consciously realizing it. This creates a negative cycle of hopelessness, leading to unnecessary anxiety and worries.
There’s a word for this, the endless, often mindless, scrolling through one piece of bad news after another: doomscrolling. Quite literally, scrolling to your doom. Well, that’s an exaggeration, but you get the idea. So many of us fall prey to doom-scrolling, and once you start scrolling, it’s hard to stop. It can get very negative very fast, and we don’t even realize until we’ve been scrolling for far too long.
Why is doomscrolling bad?
So why is doomscrolling bad? Shouldn’t we be aware of what’s happening in the world around us, whether it is good or bad? Well, yes. But like everything, that awareness needs to come in moderation: you shouldn’t just take in all the bad news you can possibly read at once. It shouldn’t ever get to the point where you are consuming a lot of negative, disheartening news and no good or uplifting news at all. If you get to this point, that’s when the real harmfulness of doomscrolling begins. Besides the more obvious harms of doom-scrolling, like heightened anxiety and worries about even the things that are out of your control, there’s another harm that often isn’t so obvious but can actually lead to more doomscrolling in the future. And that harm is desensitization. When you consume a lot of bad news, at some point, you become numb to that news and don’t feel anything when you hear or read about it. This can lead you to adopt a mentality that normalizes things that shouldn’t be normal because you are constantly surrounded by and exposed to those things through doomscrolling, and you might even end up doing more doomscrolling because it becomes easier to do so when you are numb to what you read or hear. Doomscrolling can also negatively impact mental health and exacerbate mental illnesses like anxiety or depression.
How to avoid doomscrolling
Now that you know what doomscrolling is and why it’s harmful, you’re probably thinking, “How do I stop doomscrolling?” Well, the first and most important step is to know your boundaries. You can’t ever completely avoid bad news: not being aware of the issues in the world around you doesn’t do you any good. So you can’t ignore it, but you can take it in small doses. It’s all about finding the right balance between staying informed and taking care of your mental health, and this is where boundaries come in. When you start feeling anxious, that’s when you know it’s too much. Listen to your instincts, and recognize that it’s okay to take breaks from the news and it’s okay to disconnect for a bit. Pay attention to how much bad news you can take before it starts to feel overwhelming. The second you feel overwhelmed, you’ve reached your boundary. If you feel like it is difficult for you to find your boundaries on your own, most devices allow you to set screen time limits for apps, and you can do so for news and social media apps to remind yourself to stop and take a break if you spend too much time scrolling.
If you happen to read a bad news article and spiral into doomscrolling, try visiting a website that reports good news, and read one of their articles to balance out the bad news. A good website for this is goodnewsnetwork.org!
You should also set aside time each day to go outside. and do something you enjoy. This way, if you ever do end up doomscrolling, you will always have that time to take a break and get your mind off of the bad news. It’s good to have this time even if you don’t doomscroll, so you should go ahead and make that time a part of your daily routine.
Additional resources
Check out this article on doomscrolling in relation to COVID-19:
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/doomscrolling-during-covid-19-how-you-can-avoid-it
Sources
https://rightasrain.uwmedicine.org/mind/mental-health/how-stop-doomscrolling-and-why-you-should
https://happiful.com/tips-to-stop-doomscrolling/