“I should stop.” Have you ever said those words to yourself as you scrolled through one depressing social post after another?
Maybe you planned to do something else — hit the gym, clean the house, spend quality time with your kids or enjoy the outdoors. Instead, you lost the opportunity because you were glued to endless disheartening social media posts and information, a phenomenon popularly known as doomscrolling.
You may wonder: Why is it so difficult to stop doomscrolling once you start? More importantly, what can you do to break free from the negative spiral? Craig N. Sawchuk, Ph.D., L.P., a psychologist with Mayo Clinic, offers some insight.
What is doomscrolling?
“When you think of the word doom, it has an evocative emotional response,” Dr. Sawchuk says.
That lines up with the term’s origins in 2020.
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us were stuck at home, where we leaned heavily on our phones, computers and television sets to entertain us. However, these devices exposed us to an abundance of negative information about lifestyle restrictions, protests over those restrictions, supply chain issues, empty grocery store shelves, people behaving badly and, of course, the ever-increasing death count.
During these early days, there was a lot of uncertainty, which drove many of us to seek out this information continually. However, no amount of information quelled the uncertainty, keeping us stuck in a never-ending loop of searching, finding negative information and searching for more.
Although the early days of COVID are long behind us, many people still struggle with doomscrolling, and find themselves thumbing through the flood of negative news shared on social media channels about various topics.
Why do people doomscroll?
All behavior and emotions serve a function, says Dr. Sawchuk, and that includes doomscrolling.
Often, doomscrolling starts with a goal of becoming more aware of a situation so you can understand what’s happening and prepare yourself for it.
During COVID, for example, you may have initially searched for information to answer questions like:
- Where’s the best place to find toilet paper?
- Should I wipe down my groceries with antiseptic?
- Do I need to wear a mask when I walk my dog at the park?
However, with doomscrolling, this search for answers becomes obsessive and unproductive. Rather than helping you to learn useful information, you waste time as you surf from one outrageous story to another, all the while feeling worse about the world, the people in it and your ability to cope.
Doomscrolling is likely motivated by more than curiosity.
According to Dr. Sawchuk, our brains are hardwired to orient us toward novelty and threat. Throughout human existence, this wiring helped keep humans alive. A brain that noticed threats — especially novel threats — was a brain that got you out of harm’s way before it was too late.
This protective tendency, however, can backfire when it comes to the internet.
The role of social media platforms and doomscrolling
Before the age of the internet and social media, our natural search for information was typically limited to the length of the evening newscast and the number of sheets of the morning or evening newspaper. Even when the news dominated our television sets — for example, in the days after September 11 — the 24/7 coverage eventually ended, and we returned to our lives.
However, with social media, that’s not how things work.
First, unlike our televisions, our phones are mobile, which allows us to search for doom and gloom at all hours of the day or night. Second, social media never ends. New posts pop up constantly — and many of them are loaded with what the brain craves: novelty and danger. Finally, social media platforms learn from your behavior. If you consume negative content, they’ll deliver more and more of it, creating an endless loop.
The effects of doomscrolling on mental and emotional health
According to research completed during the pandemic, the more time people spend consuming negative social media content, the more distressed they feel.
Perhaps you’ve noticed these mood changes yourself.
You might feel okay when you first pick up your phone. After several minutes of scrolling, however, you feel more anxious, angry, disheartened, disgusted or helpless. Once this negativity arises, it functions like a lens, causing you to pay more attention to stories and posts that justify and accentuate your feelings, says Dr, Sawchuk.
Doomscrolling also may worsen mood in other ways.
Sleep procrastination. If youdoomscroll in the evening, you may struggle to stop, consequently staying up long past your bedtime. This loss of sleep can affect your mood the following day.
“Sleep disruption doesn’t make us the nicest to be around. We’re less tolerant and more impatient the following day,” says Dr. Sawchuk.
Worsened social health. Time spent with friends and family tends to be restorative. However, when you doomscroll, you may spend so much time on your phone that there’s little left to spend with other humans.
Less exercise. Exercise, sunlight, and nature can all help buffer stress and support mood. However, doomscrolling tends to be a sedentary activity done indoors.
How to stop doomscrolling
To counter your brain’s bias to seek out the negative and novel, consider these questions:
- Can you do anything about the day’s news? In other words, does this information truly help you plan for the future? Or is it merely triggering negativity about a cause or event that you have no power to influence?
- How much information do you genuinely need to plan and make decisions? In most situations, some information is likely helpful, allowing you to weigh pros and cons and plan for the future. When most people doomscroll, however, they acquire much more information than they truly need to plan or make decisions, says Dr. Sawchuk. Instead, their information gathering leads to indecision, a sense of helplessness or increased negativity for no beneficial reason.
- How is time online affecting you? After you’re done scrolling, do you tend to feel better than before you started? Or worse?
- What are you missing out on because of your time spent scrolling? How does doomscrolling impact your sleep, relationships, work, mood and physical health?
Once you understand how doomscrolling affects your health and your life, consider adding some limits.
Check in with your mood. Every 5 to 10 minutes, tune out of your social feed and into your mood. Are you feeling better than before you started scrolling? Or worse?
“If you feel worse, pay attention to that,” says Dr. Sawchuk.
It doesn’t mean you have to stop scrolling right away. You might scroll another five or 10 minutes and do another check-in. If you feel even worse, that’s telling you something.
Set a time limit. Based on what you learn from your mood check-ins, decide how much time you will spend online. For example, you might agree to limit your scrolling to 15 to 20 minutes on social media twice daily.
Use a reminder. Apps like ScreenZen and others monitor your scrolling and limit your access to apps after a set period of time. Another strategy is to set a timer to alert you when your allotted time has elapsed.
Replace scrolling with healthy activities. What day-to-day behaviors have you allowed to lapse because of the time you spent scrolling? Would you benefit from more time with friends, outdoors, sleeping or at the gym?
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