What to Consider When Considering Doomscrolling

You pick up your phone to check one thing. One. Somehow, twenty minutes later, you’ve absorbed three global crises, five angry opinions, and one post that makes you question humanity entirely. Congratulations—you’ve been doomscrolling.

Doomscrolling is the habit of endlessly consuming negative news and content online, even when it clearly makes us feel worse. It’s incredibly common, surprisingly addictive, and—despite what our brains insist—not actually helpful.
Let’s talk about why it happens and how to stop it.

Why Doomscrolling Is So Weirdly Addictive

Doomscrolling isn’t about liking bad news. It’s about hope disguised as anxiety. Your brain keeps thinking, Maybe the next post explains things. Maybe there’s an update. Maybe this one won’t be so bad.

A few reasons it grabs us:
• Negativity bias
Our brains notice threats faster than positive information. Great for survival, terrible for bedtime scrolling.
• Algorithms feed strong emotions
Anger, fear, and outrage keep people engaged, so platforms push more of it.
• “Being informed” pressure
Many of us feel guilty stopping, as if looking away equals not caring.
• Endless feeds
No stopping point means no natural exit ramp.

What Doomscrolling Does to Your Mood

And this is something I find very important, think about it, what a simple habit of scrolling through our phones can do to us, how much damage it causes, damage that we carry around, that we spread around.

A steady diet of bad news can quietly mess with your mental health. Over time, doomscrolling can:
• Increase anxiety and stress
• Disrupt sleep (especially late-night scrolling)
• Make the world feel far more dangerous than it actually is
• Create emotional numbness or helplessness
• Drain motivation for real-world action

The worst part? It often feels productive while doing none of us any favors.

Replace, Don’t Just Remove: The Power of Positive News

Here’s where most advice gets it wrong: you can’t just quit doomscrolling without filling the gap. Your brain still wants stimulation and information—it just doesn’t need constant catastrophe.

Instead of only cutting back on negative news, try intentionally adding positive, fun, and constructive content, such as:
• Stories about solutions, not just problems
• Science and health breakthroughs
• Acts of kindness, community wins, and good news journalism
• Educational, fun, or curiosity-driven content
• Creative inspiration: art, writing, design, or music

For me, it’s nature. Stories, fun or interesting facts, videos, and photos of animals, gardens, or anything else with a nature subject does it for me, puts an instant smile on my face, and often a sense of admiration, because how amazing it is to be a part of something that wonderful. This is where we come from, this is a part of us, and we are part of it, and that is the reason why it makes us feel so good. It is simple, and it is true – no fake anything.

Remember that positive news (in any form) doesn’t mean fake optimism. It means reminding your brain that progress, kindness, and competence still exist—often quietly.
A balanced feed helps counteract the “everything is terrible” illusion that doomscrolling creates.

Practical Ways to Scroll Smarter

Try a few of these:
• Set news check-in times instead of constant grazing
• Follow at least one positive-news account for every hard-news source
• Mute outrage-only accounts that offer heat without insight
• Switch formats – long-form articles and podcasts feel less frantic
• Pause before scrolling and ask: Am I choosing this, or just reacting?

Awareness Beats Overload

Doomscrolling convinces us that more information equals more control. In reality, clarity comes from balance, not overload.
You don’t need to stop caring about the world – you need to stop letting it shout at you nonstop. Replace some of the doom with proof that things can improve, and suddenly scrolling feels a lot less heavy.
And yes, the news will still be there later. Your nervous system will thank you for the break.

Doomscrolling isn’t passive; it’s an act of absorbing the world’s chaos.

– Unknown