What is doomscrolling?
With all the uncertainty in the world, you may find yourself on your phone continuously scrolling through social media posts or news content that feels sad or distressing. This is doomscrolling, and you are not alone. The term doomscrolling was popularized in 2020 when it was one of Oxford English Dictionary’s words of the year, and remained in our lexicon ever since. Many people find themselves utilizing this coping mechanism even though the research shows that we often don’t feel better from this activity. So why do we do it, what helps us do it less, and what other coping mechanisms might be more helpful?
Why do we doomscroll?
While motivation for this activity can be different for each person, it is often a part of our stress response trying to scan our environment for threats. We become stressed and worried, so we look for possible threats, then we see distressing news or posts which causes us to look for more threats feeding the continued need to scroll more. We also may get a sense of safety from this activity, feeling as if the more we read, the more information we will glean and the more control we can find. But information does not equal control, so we never feel truly safe from this activity.
How does it impact us?
Reading news and posts that help us stay informed can be helpful, but what happens when we notice it becoming too much? Doomscrolling has been shown to have a negative impact on our sense of well being both mentally and physically. Developing a tolerance for uncertainty, unfamiliarity, and ambiguity can help us cope better when we notice the tendency to gravitate towards doomscrolling.
Tips to help
Developing behavioral habits and changes can impact the frequency and time spent doomscrolling. This may involve putting your phone in another room at times when you are most likely to doomscroll, opting out of notifications, and developing a curated list of news or posts that offer feel good tones. You might also begin noticing times when you’re feeling a sense of worry from uncertainty, ambiguity, and unfamiliarity. As you notice this, you might practice offering yourself compassion, labeling emotions, and taking time to be present with what is arising rather than attempting to change your feelings through activity. Most importantly offering the part of yourself that feels a need to doomscroll a deep sense of compassion and gratitude recognizing that this act of doomscrolling is born out of an attempt at protection and safety.
You are not alone in these feelings, and the counselors at Gaithersburg Counseling Center are highly skilled, non judgmental and want to help you understand these behaviors and develop coping mechanisms that can work for you. Learn more about therapy for anxiety. If you have questions, our phone and email are open for communication. You can reach out anytime at 240-274-5680 or contact us.