In recent years, “doomscrolling” has become a term that’s widely used to describe the habit of constantly consuming negative information online. People may often check social media with the intention of staying up-to-date on what’s going on, but nevertheless experience increased stress, anxiety, or emotional exhaustion as a result. This raises a question—why do people continue to seek out negative information even when it makes them feel upset? This answer is complicated and involves a mix of psychology, brain chemistry, and how social media platforms are designed.
One explanation for doomscrolling comes from a psychological tendency known as negativity bias. Negativity bias is essentially the brain’s tendency to focus more on negative information than positive information. This mechanism might seem strange, but it originally developed as a useful tool for survival. For thousands of years, people needed to quickly recognize and react to dangers such as predators, hazards, or potential enemies. People who paid more attention to the threats were more likely to survive and pass on these traits. As a result, the brain evolved to prioritize negative information that may pose a danger to the person. Researchers have described this pattern as “negative memories being more powerful” since humans were focused on surviving [1], and it is something that still affects human behavior today. Negative headlines and news stories activate attention systems in the human brain more strongly than content that’s either neutral or positive. Because of this, people may feel impelled to keep reading this negative content despite knowing that it’s making them feel upset.
Negativity bias aside, it doesn’t help that social media platforms are intentionally designed to keep you hooked. Apps use algorithms that continuously deliver new content, allowing the user to endlessly scroll. The user can keep refreshing the page without ever running out of content, which is problematic for the brain. Every time a person scrolls to new content, the brain anticipates the possibility of discovering something important. This anticipation activates the brain’s dopamine reward system, which plays a big role in controlling habits and motivation. Part of why the brain easily makes doomscrolling a habit is that the rewards are so unpredictable. Sometimes scrolling tells you important information, while other times it doesn’t at all. Nonetheless, the possibility of finding new updates keeps people scrolling and scrolling, making it hard for people to stop once they’ve started. Nowadays, profit seeking social media platforms take advantage of this kind of variable reinforcement, since it can cause you to scroll endlessly [2].
Doomscrolling is associated with negative effects on mental health. When people consume negative information over and over again, the brain interprets the constant stream of negative information as a threat, which triggers a stress response from the amygdala—a structure in the brain involved in detecting threats and generating specific responses such as fear and anxiety. Stress is associated with fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and having a hard time focusing, which are very relevant problems for students trying to manage their academic lives [3]. Instead of helping people feel more aware and prepared for what’s coming, doomscrolling keeps them drained and stressed out.
A strategy that’s often recommended for reducing doomscrolling is mindfulness, which means paying attention to the present moment without any judgment. Mindfulness has significant positive effects on brain function, increasing the engagement of the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in decision-making, self-control, and regulating emotions. Mindfulness can help break the doomscrolling cycle by strengthening the brain’s ability to notice volatile emotions and manage them before they become even worse. Additionally, practicing meditation can also increase awareness of habits that normally happen automatically, helping you cut out or reduce the time you spend on those habits. When a person realizes that they’re scrolling because of their own anxiety rather than the purpose of being informed, they can create a disconnect between their first impulse and their real action. This disconnect can make it significantly easier to stop scrolling and focus on other, more productive things in your life. Research suggests that mindful meditation can even reduce stress reactivity and improve emotional regulation by changing how attention and emotion networks in the human brain interact over time [4].
Specific strategies of mindfulness include setting specific times to check the news, turning off your notifications, or pushing yourself to take breaks from social media. All of these habits can help you make your attention become intentional again rather than being consumed in endless scrolling. You’ll find that you’re more engaged in your schoolwork and can more easily transition to working on it.
Doomscrolling is more than some addiction that everyone struggles with. Your brain has a tendency to be drawn towards negative information and social media platforms exploit this behavior through dopamine reward systems [1, 2]. Being exposed to continuous negative information can increase stress and emotional dysregulation [3]. However, practicing mindfulness, setting screen time limits, and becoming more conscious about media consumption can help break the cycle and effects of doomscrolling [4]. In an era where different social media algorithms compete for our attention, being aware of how to stay informed without stressing yourself out can help protect your mental health more efficiently and increase your productivity.