doomscrolling: how negative news feeds take a toll on health and well-being
6 minute read
if you notice that doomscrolling may be becoming an issue, seek out the help of a professional “in cases where the phone is really hard to disentangle from.”
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if you use social media, you’ve probably found yourself scrolling through post after post and wondering what’s going on with all the bad news. for some reason, though, you can’t seem to put the phone down. it’s like seeing something horrific happen, like a traffic accident on the highway, but you can’t shift your eyes away even though you know it’s not making you feel good to look.
that is doomscrolling, and according to recent statistics from the united states, as many as 64 per cent of the american population doomscroll regularly. that same data isn’t available for canadians, but it’s assumed that many people on this side of the border are also engaging in the activity because of the negative impacts social media has had on canadians in the past.
dr. alexandra gold, licensed clinical psychologist and member of the faculty at harvard medical school and massachusetts general hospital, notes that it’s not looking at social media that qualifies as doomscrolling. it’s the content.
“we know that people are just in general on their phones a lot, but the term doomscrolling is really specific to the negative piece,” she said.
she notes that the term doomscrolling gained traction when the covid pandemic began, as the headlines were almost exclusively negative at the time, due to “depressing and sad things were happening.”
“now, in our world, unfortunately, there’s some aspect of that in different ways that continues (with) the challenging headlines.”
the negative health effects of doomscrolling
spending too much time focused on the negative happenings in the world isn’t just going to cause you to become temporarily sad due to empathy or compassion. it actually has the power to become deeply ingrained in your psyche.
“this is understudied in terms of what the long-term effects of doomscrolling are, but we do know that it could cause more anxiety, more stress, more depression,” said dr. gold.
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she also notes that while doomscrolling can make mental health worse, it’s not the only player in the game when it comes to social media fostering mental health decline, as negative self-evaluation, comparing oneself to others’ highlight reels, and seeing content that drives poor mood.
that said, doomscrolling is a new and more content-driven beast at the helm of declining mental health.
according to harvard health publishing, doomscrolling is associated with several negative impacts, both physical and psychological, particularly in women and those with a history of trauma. they include:
- headaches
- nausea
- muscle tension that leads to neck and shoulder pain
- low appetite
- difficulty sleeping
- elevated blood pressure
- a decreased feeling of life satisfaction
- feelings of existential anxiety
- reduced productivity or engagement at work
- emotional fatigue
popcorn brain, which presents as feelings of the brain popping due to overstimulation from online sources, can also develop in people who doomscroll, making it more challenging for them to engage with the real world.
dr. gold notes that it can lead to these issues because it tweaks the stress response in a way that’s not how it’s naturally supposed to be.
“our body response is meant to be prime for these moments of escaping danger. it’s not meant to be in a constant state of arousal and high alert,” she said. “so, when you’re constantly doomscrolling and you’re having that stress response, what does that do to your body over time?”
however, more research is needed to really determine how all this doomscrolling will unfold for people in the next five to ten years because it’s such a new phenomenon, it’s hard to “know exactly what the long-term effects are.”
just put the phone down? it’s not that easy
many may believe that the solution to doomscrolling is simply to put down the phone, but it’s not that easy. in the short term, it offers a modest level of benefit that keeps people hooked.
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“people, in a world that’s uncertain and stressful, they feel a sense of control (when doomscrolling). maybe it’s not really having more control because it’s not actually giving you more control over outcomes … but it feels that way,” said dr. gold. “i have more of a sense of control over what is happening. i have less uncertainty because i’m reading this headline. that quick positive boost makes people want to keep looking at this.”
that’s the psychology piece, which tells people to continue scrolling, or pick up their phone to look again, even if they’ve just put it down to perform another task.
but it’s not just psychological. it’s biological as well. dr. gold says that it works much like the addiction cycle that’s associated with illicit and mind-altering substances, or other activities that can lead to addiction.
“dopamine is this feel-good hormone that is involved in the reward system, and it can be involved in many different things like eating, sex, and activities that we do for pleasure. and dopamine makes us feel good when it’s released,” she said. “dopamine is released when you get those quick hits of information that reduce feelings of uncertainty, making that cycle continue.”
it’s also challenging to escape the cycle simply because of the way the world is today, and because social media algorithms are set up in a way that feeds you more of what you’re interested in based on your activity.
“we’re in a world now where there’s a lot of negative stuff that’s been happening, so on one hand, that’s kind of just what’s out there,” said dr. gold. “on the other hand, it’s the curated social media experience because … more people are feeding into that algorithm by responding to it in some way.”
how to curb doomscrolling to protect your health
there are a few ways to combat the effects of doomscrolling, the first being able to recognize that the content you’re consuming is causing you harm. according to dr. gold, it’s challenging, especially for teens and children, to look inward and assess the impact of negative posts and headlines on themselves, and that’s where parents come in.
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“parents can be really useful, like, ‘hey, what are you looking at on social media?’ let me talk to my kid about this. let me learn what they’re paying attention to so i can help them create more guardrails or limits to that because it’s not healthy for someone to be constantly looking at negative content,” she said. “helping them realize what it is they’re looking at and how that affects their emotional state (helps).”
limiting screen time or reducing screen time is another effective approach, which can be achieved by setting limits using apps on phones that restrict access to social media at specific times or during designated windows.
dr. gold suggests turning it on at the end of the day because not only will it reduce doomscrolling, but it can also mitigate the negative effects that phone use can have on sleep, such as blue light exposure.
“teens need sleep,” she said. “the blue light affects the production of melatonin, which helps people sleep, and also reading depressing, sad things is making it really hard to get to sleep. so, i think there’s two-fold elements here.”
lastly, if you notice that doomscrolling may be becoming an issue, seek out the help of a professional “in cases where the phone is really hard to disentangle from.”
“parents are not therapists, and not meant to be clinicians, and kids can’t necessarily do this by themselves, and that’s normal and that’s okay.”
dr. gold also wants parents to know that social media isn’t entirely evil. it can provide various benefits, including connection with others and a sense of belonging, especially for teens and children. but “moderation is the key.”
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