‘Doomscrolling’ new phenomenon and is not only bad for your mood
Just bad news that you scroll through. It’s called doom scrolling and we all do it. It’s just not very good for you.
We are all experiencing more stress after the pandemic lockdowns. Now the war in Ukraine is also added and that is not good for our mood. Add to this the climate crisis and the rising cost of living. It seems like there is no more good news at all.
There is, of course, also good news. But if we’re doomscrolling and thus spending a lot of screen time reading negative news, we can get stuck in a negative spiral.
Doom scrolling can promote feelings of anxiety and depression. For example, think about how sad and exhausted you can feel when you watch a drama with tragic events and sad music in the background. Such conditions can have a huge effect on our mind over time, leading to actual cognitive impairment, such as impaired attention or problems with memory and reasoning. And when we constantly take in negative news and negative memories, we feel even more down – creating a vicious circle.
Solution
It’s important to avoid obsessive doom scrolling. To do that, you need to have some positive moments of rest. So try to plan something that you enjoy and that relaxes and de-stresses you on a daily basis, such as reading a good book, watching a nice movie, visiting friends and family or a mindfulness training. Exercise or learning something new, such as a different language or musical instrument, can also be good.
Another way to get the situation under control is to take action, such as joining a charity or playing sports. If you are still bothered by doom scrolling, you can contact a clinical psychologist who can help you. If it really gets out of hand then hey.
