You might have heard the term doomscrolling. It refers to an obsessive tendency to look for bad news online. During the pandemic and the 2020 U.S. presidential election, some people were glued to their phones, searching social media for the latest updates. Doomscrolling gets worse during major events like these, but there’s usually more than enough bad news to keep even the gloomiest doomscroller occupied.
There are several factors that might help explain the appeal of doomscrolling. One is simply the fear of missing out (colloquially known by its acronym “FOMO”). If we’re not checking our phones for the latest updates, we’re afraid that we might miss some important development. Of course, the algorithms used on social media can make doomscrolling worse. Social media platforms tend to boost posts that get more engagement, and they show users more of what they click on. If we pay more attention to bad news on our feeds, the algorithms will make sure we get a steady supply of it.
There might even be an evolutionary explanation: some psychologists have argued that we are predisposed to search for danger. As humans evolved, those who were more attuned to threats were likely able to stay safe. Maybe doomscrolling is the modern-day equivalent of scanning the landscape for predators.
We have reasons to be worried about doomscrolling. Mental health experts have raised red flags about spending too much time on social media because it can increase anxiety and depression. Doomscrolling can also get us stuck in an unhealthy cycle: the more we search for bad news, the more anxious we feel. We then try to alleviate our anxiety by searching for more updates.
All the advice around doomscrolling is about how to stop it. Take breaks from your phone, go outside, stretch, drink some water, and maybe send a funny meme to a friend. All of these things are supposed to help you break the cycle.
I’m wary of the way we talk about doomscrolling because it’s similar to the way we talk about negative emotions. If you feel angry, sad, or anxious, everyone gives you advice about feeling better. But we’re often angry, sad, or anxious for good reasons. What if I’ve gotten notice from my job that I’m getting laid off? If I’m going through a difficult time in my life, it’s perfectly reasonable for me to experience negative emotions in response.
You’re not supposed to “get stuck” in your bad feelings, but sometimes, the difficult times in our lives last for a while. Losing a job, the death of a loved one, a divorce—none of these events can be resolved overnight. We might feel angry, sad, and anxious for months or even years.
People often assume that if you feel bad for long stretches of time, it must mean that you’re not living a normal life. This can’t be right; think of all of the people who are grieving. They eventually go back to work and resume their normal activities, but it doesn’t mean they’re healed. We can have a normal life and feel terrible at the same time. Anyone who has ever gone through a rough patch knows this.
When you’re living through tough times, your emotions will respond accordingly. If the news we see is bad, it makes sense that we would react to it in the same way we respond to trying times in our lives. Why should we expect not to be affected by the sad, scary, or upsetting events happening out there in the world? People may warn you not to get obsessed with searching for bad news, but would they say the same thing about kitten videos or knitting tutorials?
Getting too hyperfocused on any one thing might not be the best idea, but people seem to be more worried when we focus on things that make us feel bad. Lying behind this worry is the assumption that feeling bad for too long will somehow hurt you. But we know too many people who have lived through rough patches and felt bad for long stretches and who have come out the other side.
When hard times happen in our lives or in the news, feeling bad about them is just facing facts. Your emotions respond to the world around you, and if that world is bleak, your feelings will see it. So maybe you’re not doomscrolling after all. Maybe you’re just scrolling and recognizing that we live in difficult times. That doesn’t have to mean that there is only darkness in the world, but we don’t have to pretend to see only the bright spots.
Are You Doomscrolling or Just Scrolling?
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06.04.2024
You might have heard the term doomscrolling. It refers to an obsessive tendency to look for bad news online. During the pandemic and the 2020 U.S. presidential election, some people were glued to their phones, searching social media for the latest updates. Doomscrolling gets worse during major events like these, but there’s usually more than enough bad news to keep even the gloomiest doomscroller occupied.
There are several factors that might help explain the appeal of doomscrolling. One is simply the fear of missing out (colloquially known by its acronym “FOMO”). If we’re not checking our phones for the latest updates, we’re afraid that we might miss some important development. Of course, the algorithms used on social media can make doomscrolling worse. Social media platforms tend to boost posts that get more engagement, and they show users more of what they click on. If we pay more attention to bad news on our feeds, the algorithms will make sure we get a steady supply of it.
There might even be an evolutionary explanation: some psychologists have argued........
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