How To Stop Doomscrolling: Recognizing Its Impacts On Mental Health
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when the term “doomscrolling” first became popular, many found themselves unable to stop scrolling through one negative story after another on news sites and social media platforms. Although this negative content related to the pandemic and other topics made readers feel angry, sad, or scared, many continued to engage with it continuously anyway—often feeling unable to stop. This phenomenon is referred to as doomscrolling, and it continues to affect many people today. Here, we’ll discuss how to recognize this behavior, why people might engage in it, its potential effects on mental health, and finally, how to stop doomscrolling.
What is doomscrolling?
Although this may not be a new concept, the term gained popularity in 2020 when people found themselves continuously absorbed in news of the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread civil unrest, the 2020 US presidential election, and international war.
Doomscrolling can mean consuming negative news in the form of articles, social media posts, videos, or other formats. When doomscrolling, you may find yourself engrossed in tragic or distressing stories and suddenly realize you’ve been doing so for much longer than originally intended. According to one study on the topic, doomscrolling is more about the way in which you consume negative news rather than the quantity—namely, that you find yourself doing it continually or even compulsively without healthy limits, despite its negative effects on your well-being.
Causes of doomscrolling
If continually engaging with negative content for long periods at a time causes distress, why do we do it? Here are a few reasons people may find themselves engaging in doomscrolling.
Wanting to stay informed
While staying informed isn’t a bad thing, doomscrolling often goes beyond reading simply to understand. Instead, a person might feel compelled to learn as much information as possible so they feel better prepared for what’s to come, even if there isn’t realistically anything they could do to help or prevent a certain situation.
Neuroticism
Neuroticism is one of the five personality traits identified in the “Big 5,” one of the most widely accepted personality theories today. Someone who leans towards trait neuroticism might naturally feel more worry and fear around stressful situations. Doomscrolling might make these individuals feel as if they have some control over negative situations even if they do not, potentially resulting in some level of soothing or comfort.
Anxiety disorders
Anxiety disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in particular, could make someone more likely to engage in doomscrolling. Similar to the situation with neuroticism, a person with an anxiety disorder might doomscroll to feel some sense of control over stressful situations.
Algorithms
Social media algorithms are designed to feed you more content related to what you’ve shown interest in previously. If someone continuously engages with news stories and commentary—particularly about negative or tragic news—social media platforms might automatically curate their feed to show them similar topics.
Fear of missing out
A 2023 study suggests that the fear of missing out (FOMO) is positively correlated with doomscrolling. In order to stay “in the know” with what’s going on in the world, someone with FOMO might consume as much information as possible, even when the subject matter is sad or stressful and negatively impacts their well-being as a result.
Negativity bias
The theory of negativity bias suggests that humans are more likely to remember negative experiences and react more strongly to negative stimuli, which could result in doomscrolling and related behaviors. That said, a person might also believe negative news stories to be more important than positive ones, leading them to intentionally seek out and pay more attention to distressing content.
Potential impacts of doomscrolling on mental health
Continuously seeking out and consuming negative news stories can affect mental health in various ways, such as by:
- Increasing stress levels. Regularly consuming negative news stories can lead to increased stress. Over time, chronic stress can lead to a host of negative health outcomes.
- Amplifying psychological distress. Prolonged exposure to stressful news or events can distort a person’s worldview, leading them to believe that there’s no positivity and no hope left. This may result in significant psychological distress and difficulty functioning.
- Decreasing sleep quality. Compulsive doomscrolling and fixating on stressful situations could hinder a person’s ability to relax and get a good night’s sleep. Lack of sleep can exacerbate mental health challenges, increase one’s risk of developing a mental illness, and contribute to other health problems.
- Increasing risk of anxiety disorders. Doomscrolling could cause or intensify symptoms of an anxiety disorder.
- Increasing risk of depression. An individual could develop major depressive disorder as a result of continuous exposure to negative news stories.
- Lowering life satisfaction. Research suggests that increased stress levels due to doomscrolling could lead to lower mental well-being and life satisfaction.
How to stop doomscrolling
Completely unplugging or checking out from the news forever isn’t possible or desirable for everyone. That’s why it can be helpful to engage in some of the following healthy behaviors to help protect yourself from the potentially harmful effects of doomscrolling.
Recognize when you’re doing it
Once you realize you’re in a loop of consuming the kinds of stories that make you feel bad, you might use that as an opportunity to close out of the website or app you’re on and look for another activity. While it can be difficult to build this habit, it may help to remind yourself that it’s in the interest of your own well-being to take a break.
Set time limits on technology
When you set a time limit for the use of your phone, computer, or certain social media platforms, you’re restricting the time you could potentially spend doomscrolling. Many phones and apps have built-in timer features that you can use for this purpose. It could also help to have a partner or friend help hold you accountable to the limits you decide to set for yourself.
Set up content filtering
Many social media platforms offer the ability to mute certain accounts and filter out specific words or phrases from the posts that appear in your feed. By removing accounts that post negative news content and filtering out words associated with sad or stressful situations, you might find that your feed is filled with more positive content and that it isn’t as tempting to begin doomscrolling.
Scroll past the negative
As discussed, social media algorithms are trained to give you more of what you interact with. By forcing yourself to move past negative posts without engaging, you might avoid the temptation to doomscroll in the moment and retrain your algorithm to give you different, potentially more positive pieces of content in the future.
Seek out positive content
If your feed is mostly doom and gloom, you might look for more positive accounts you can follow instead or in addition to these, such as pages related to humor, animals, nature, or your hobbies. If you do find yourself reading negative news stories, it can be helpful to balance them out with lighter stories as well.
Take a social media break
One study suggests that deleting social media apps from your phone—whether for a few hours, a few weeks, or permanently—can have positive impacts on your mental health. During the break, you might find yourself more removed from negative news stories, more balanced emotionally, and more involved in fulfilling offline hobbies. Either way, taking regular social media pauses may help you break the doomscrolling cycle.
Spend time outdoors
Reconnecting with nature and experiencing the world around you without the distraction of the internet and negative news may help you focus on the positives of life. It can be easy to get caught up in all the distress online, but sitting underneath a tree, walking in the park, or feeling the sun on your face can help remind you that the world isn’t all bad.
Practice gratitude
Focusing on happy memories and practicing gratitude for the positive parts of your life may also help you counteract the negativity you might see online. Journaling, looking at family photos, or listing the things you’re grateful for can help ground you in the present instead of letting yourself fixate on things you might not be able to control.
Spend time offline
Participating in activities that don’t involve the internet can help prevent you from doomscrolling and may have positive effects on your mental health in other ways, too. They can give you a more pleasant outlet for your energy and attention, bring you joy, and help you connect with others in a positive way, in some cases. Examples could include reading a book, drawing, joining a sports league or volunteer group, gardening, or hiking.
Spend time with friends and family
Surrounding yourself with the people you care about can make it more difficult to get lost in the negativity that’s so pervasive online. You might plan a dinner with your friends, visit family members you haven’t seen in a while, or organize a group outing to give yourself an internet break and take your mind off of stressful situations.
How therapy may help
Therapy can be a beneficial tool in learning to recognize and mitigate potentially unhealthy behaviors such as doomscrolling. Additionally, a therapist can help you identify and work through any mental health impacts that the negative news cycle might be having on you. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in particular may be helpful. It’s a form of therapy designed to help the individual learn to recognize unhelpful thinking and behaviors and find ways to change them in order to improve mental health.
Seeking out and traveling to in-person therapy may feel out of reach if you have a habit of doomscrolling, as it might feel difficult to get the motivation to leave the house when you’re flooded with so many negative emotions. Online therapy could be a helpful alternative to face-to-face care in such cases, as it allows you to meet with a licensed therapist from home or anywhere with an internet connection. Research suggests that virtual CBT can be as effective in treating mental illnesses like depression and anxiety as in-person CBT.
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