Doom Scrolling

With the advent of the internet and the proliferation of news feeds and social media we now have a massive amount of information available to us. Of course, not all of it is accurate or reliable and it can be quite a challenge to sort out the wheat from the chaff, but that is a topic for another time. For now, I want to talk about the sheer mass of negative information and how we allow it to affect us if we are not careful about our exposure. Whether a source is reliable or not, we can still succumb to the practice of Doom Scrolling, so what does that term mean?

Doom scrolling is the practice of continually scrolling the internet, news feeds and in particular social media for negative news. This may be the most recent natural disaster, a social media rumour or scandal, news about a conflict or violent event, health issues or the old favourite, crime and crime rates. Doom scrolling is not just confined to the internet and social media but has also affected how we access traditional news sources and what they offer us. In an effort to remain relevant to those who have become used to increasingly negative and truly awful stories, traditional news sources are increasingly using shock horror journalism too.

As we are exposed to negative events, we may get a vicarious thrill of excitement generated by anxiety, anger or fury about what we are seeing and hearing. We are drawn in by this and want more, perhaps we are concerned about our safety or the safety of loved ones, perhaps we are outraged at humans’ behaviour toward each other or the environment. Whatever the reason, it seems the more horrible the event the more likely we are to give it our attention and begin doom scrolling.

The end result of this endless supply of dramatic negative information is that we become inured to the violence and gradually require more and more extreme examples to gain our attention.

The effects of Doom Scrolling are numerous and include increased anxiety, social isolation, a sense of foreboding and disconnection with those around us, often resulting in severe depression. We can begin to see the world as inherently a dangerous place and the people within it as essentially bad. We cannot maintain our wellbeing unless we start choosing to turn the tsunami of negative information off at the source. By all means be informed but turn the flood off once you are.