If you’re one of the millions of Americans hooked on reading negative news and information online the good news is you’re not alone. The bad news is that you’re probably affecting your emotional and mental health far more seriously than you think. Doomscrolling– habitually scrolling through news feeds and social media for the latest bad developments–has now been clinically shown to increase anxiety, worsen depression and affect the quality of your sleep. Those are powerful negatives for a term that didn’t even exist 5 years ago. We can thank COVID-19 for its introduction. While the tendency to seek out distressing news is nothing new, the coming together of daily death counts and the boredom of lockdown created behavioral habits that are just now being studied.
Who doomscrolls the most?
Survey data suggest that nearly one third of American adults say they doomscroll either “a lot” or “some of the time.” The number is higher for Millennials and Gen Z; 46% of Millennials and 51% of Gen Z adults say they doomscroll on a regular, often daily, basis. It’s also more prevalent in people already struggling with anxiety and depression. “Doomscrolling feeds on itself,”says Dr. Neil Newman, a Clinical Psychologist in New York, “making it particularly troublesome for people with Obsessive Compulsive tendencies and people with ADHD. Doomscrolling sends you down a rabbit hole that can be hard to get out of. Anxiety can alert us to danger but repeatedly reading bad news increases that anxiety so that it’ss no longer a signal of danger but overwhelming fear. “
What actually happens when you doomscroll?
Your anxiety and stress levels rise. Research during the COVID lockdowns found that increased consumption of pandemic-related news was associated with higher levels of anxiety, stress and symptoms of depression. And the effects can last. Studies have also shown that doomscrolling doesn’t just make you feel worse in the moment; it can have lasting effects on your world-view in general.
In addition to increasing your anxiety and stress, doomscrolling can mess with your sleep. The high levels of blue light emitted by screens can significantly repress melatonin production–your body’s main signal to get ready for sleep.
And if bad sleep and a worsening attitude aren’t enough, consider the dent that doomscrolling makes in your productivity, and not just because it’s such a time sink. Research shows that doomscrolling increases procrastination, can disrupt your ability to focus, and also lowers your energy levels.
You can blame your brain
Doomscrolling feeds off our brain’s natural bias for negative information, which is key to survival. When we detect something negative the amygdala (the brain’s emotion processing center) responds to the stress by releasing cortisol and increasing your heart rate putting your body in fight or flight mode. The problem with doomscrolling is that your amygdala is constantly being triggered, which is bad both emotionally and physically. What’s worse is the behavior shares many similarities with models of addiction: intermittent spikes in dopamine, “the reward chemical”,quickly makes the behavior habit forming and hard to break even when you know how it’s affecting you.
How to stop doomscrolling
Like any habit, the first step in reducing the behavior is becoming aware that you’re doing it. If you’re trying to stop, or at least taper down, start by tracking your online habits. Prove to yourself in black and white how much time you’re spending each day surfing through negative content.
Next, set some boundaries for yourself. Once you know how much doomscrolling you’re doing, do less of it, even if just a little. Most devices and apps have a built-in feature for monitoring and limiting screen time. Get familiar with it. Showing yourself that you can measurably doomscroll less is the kind of positive reinforcement you need to know it works.
Once you’ve demonstrated to yourself that you can, indeed, doomscroll less when you choose to, set some screen time limits for yourself. Giving yourself a “designated news time” to check news updates, instead of whenever you feel like it, automatically cuts back the amount of time you’re exposed to negativity. You can also cut back by creating “tech-free zones” where digital devices are off limits, such as during meals and at bed time.
Some platforms also give you the ability to adjust the algorithms used in populating your news feed. Giving more “bad news” articles the thumbs down when you’re reading is a good way to move the news mix toward a lesser degree of negativity.
Get some exercise. Pursue your hobbies. And try a social media “detox.”
Physical exercise is a very effective way to improve your mood and lower your stress levels. Something as simple as incorporating a 15 minute outdoor walk into your daily schedule can significantly counterbalance some of the bad mood-inducing content you’re taking in. Another foolproof way to lower your doomscrolling is to spend more time offline. Make it a point to engage in IRL activities you enjoy. Challenging yourself to a social media “fast” is also a good way to reset your emotional baseline from too much negative input.
What about professional help?
If none of the above is able to make a dent in your doomscrolling habit, you might want to consider seeking the help of a trained therapist or counselor who can teach you techniques for quieting anxiety and negative thoughts. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been shown to be particularly effective for this.
The takeaway? You can stop doomscrolling. And that’s positive news you can start with.
