Doomscrolling: Why We Get Stuck and How to Untangle from It
It's 8pm and you've just finished eating dinner, cleaning up the kitchen, and your kiddos are sound asleep. You collapse on the couch and open Instagram, where you see someone you follow post about the latest tragedy or story about political unrest. You click on the post or reel, and the next thing you know, you've been watching videos for the better part of an hour. Your eyes are burning, your anxiety is heightened, and you're feeling significantly worse than you did before you picked up the phone. But, for whatever reason, you still can't stop consuming content and media. That's "doomscrolling."
Doomscrolling refers to the habit of consuming negative news online repeatedly to the point where it starts to significantly impact our mental health and overall wellbeing. It's easy to fall into this trap, and you might be convincing yourself that if you gather more information, you might feel better. Instead of feeling better or finding the closure you are looking for, you're often left feeling powerless, overwhelmed, and anxious.
The term doomscrolling became popular at the height of COVID-19 and other big global events, such as social distancing, political unrest, and natural disasters. (Türk-Kurtça & Kocatürk, 2025). Approximately 1 in 6 people (16.5%) show signs of problematic news consumption severe enough to impact their stress, anxiety, and overall health (McLaughlin, 2023).
During the early days of the pandemic, digital news consumption jumped up to about 35%, and social media use went up by 47% (Güme, 2024). While being stuck at home, with little physical access to the outside world, it makes sense that a large number of individuals turned to their devices to feel connected and stay up-to-date on important information.
Why Do We Doomscroll?
The reason you keep doomscrolling, even when you know its causing significant stress or making us feel hopeless, is because our brains are wired for it. Our psychological habits mixed with our instinct for survival make it difficult to look away from the news or social media - especially when we are feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or out of control.
When there is a tragedy or crisis happening in the world, our natural drive to seek information and understand what's happening grows stronger. We feel an urge to make sense of what's happening to feel prepared or less helpless (Güme, 2024; Kaye & Johnson, 2024; Sekhon, 2024; Türk-Kurtça & Kocatürk, 2025). This is rarely the outcome of doomscrolling, and it often leaves us feeling more anxious or emotional.
Another key factor in why we doomscroll is something called negativity bias. Negativity bias refers to our brain's tendency to pay more attention to bad news vs. good news. News outlets and social media platforms capitalize on this by pushing out dramatic headlines that are hard to ignore. After we are exposed to distressing content or a news story, we keep searching for more, often looking for something that feels hopeful. This cycle of negative exposure can lead to increased anxiety, feeling immense sadness, or even what some researchers call "scary world syndrome," or a distorted sense that the world is more dangerous than it really is (Türk-Kurtça & Kocatürk, 2025).
Impact on Mental Health
In addition to the challenges mentioned above like heightened anxiety and emotional depletion, doomscrolling can also cause:
Disrupted sleep by reading upsetting news before bed
Raise next-day anxiety
Cause physical distress symptoms like restlessness and panic
Difficulty focusing
Mood disturbances
How to Stop
The first step is noticing when you are engaging in unhelpful behaviors and doomscrolling. It's common to lose track of time and not be aware of how consuming the negative information is impacting you and your mental health. Below are some practical tips to help reduce your doomscrolling habit:
Set Limits
Dedicate time each day to one social media or news platform and spend a limited amount of time on it. Fifteen minutes is plenty of time to get caught up for the day. If you have an iPhone, you can set time limits on specific apps, or utilize something like a Brick to lock yourself out of various apps on your phone. You could also keep your phone in another room or out of your view in order to resist the urge to pick it up.
Silence Notifications
If you have notifications on for news sites and social media apps, you might want to consider turning those off. Disabling these notifications can help you resist the urge to check your phone or be exposed to distressing information when you are not expecting it.
Balance Out Your Consumption
If there are sources that tend to be biased or over-sensationalize stories that exacerbate your anxiety, unfollow those or avoid their content. You might also try something like "hopescrolling" where you consume good news or positive stories.
Get Involved
One of the biggest reasons doomscrolling about global issues makes us feel helpless is because we aren't sure what to do about a tragedy or pressing issues. Putting down the phone and getting involved with your local community or charity can make us feel more connected in an increasingly isolated digital world. For example, if you find stories about climate change or natural disasters distressing, get involved with your local climate organization.
In Conclusion
Being impacted by tragic news is natural and part of being human. However, if consuming that news has you feeling stuck in fear or despair, it's important to take a break and take care of yourself. In addition to the strategies outlined above, grounding techniques like box breathing, mindfulness, or changing up your environment by stepping outside can help bring you back to the present. Over time, these mindful actions can transform your relationship with the news, your levels of consumption, and i improve your overall well-being.
Below, please find some additional resources, including the article that inspired this blog post:
Comments