Don’t doomscroll—it just makes you anxious

Stop doomscrolling—it’s messing with your mental wellbeing, not surprisingly perhaps.

Doomscrolling is when we scroll through traumatic news on social media sites, and it’s something most of us do—and it’s very addictive, say researchers from Flinders University.

It doesn’t do us any good. Doomscrolling can make us feel suspicious and distrustful of others, and make us feel that life has no meaning, especially when we focus on stories of random shootings and terrorism.

It can also mess with our mental wellbeing, leaving us anxious and despairing.

The researchers surveyed 800 students from two different cultures—from Iran and the US—to discover the impact of doomscrolling.  Both groups had similar feelings of existential anxiety, but the Iranians had stronger feelings of misanthropy, or dislike of people.

“People should pay attention to how much time they are spending on social media and to be aware of the impact it is having on their emotions, thoughts and feelings, especially when it comes to negative news and events,” said lead researcher Reza Shabahang.

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