Doomscrolling: Why we do it and how to break the cycle

After a long day at work, lying down on my bed while scrolling through an endless feed of content on social media feels like a slice of heaven. 

But when the hour I set aside for scrolling on TikTok stretches into another, and then extends into the wee hours of the night, the feeling I get in the morning while getting ready for work and grappling with my life choices from the night before is not so heavenly.

Despite promising to end the cycle each morning, I fall back into the same habit of doomscrolling every night. What’s even worse is that I’m aware of the hours passing me by while I’m scrolling away mindlessly, but I just can’t seem to stop.

With my sleep habits in shambles, I reached out to three therapists to explain why doomscrolling happens and how to turn this nasty habit into something more positive for my mental health. 

The appeal of bad news

Traditionally, doomscrolling refers to the habit of compulsively and continuously scrolling through upsetting or depressing news even when we know it’s making ourselves feel worse, according to Ms Fion Liew, lead therapist at Awaken Counselling Centre. 

It comes as no surprise that this term, or doomsurfing, emerged during the early days of COVID-19 in 2020, when everyone was on high alert, awaiting updates for the quickly-evolving pandemic. 

Ms Liew says, “In times of crisis, it’s a natural human instinct to seek information in order to make sense of the chaos around us.”

Moreover, negative content is inherently more likely to grab and retain our attention as compared to happy news. 

Ms Belinda Lau, principal therapist at The Lighthouse Counselling, says that we’re drawn to news that evokes a sense of danger. The urgency and immediacy of negative information can make us more alert and responsive, which plays to our natural survival instincts.

Besides our intrinsic biological response to pay attention to threats by means of collecting information, the urge to doomscroll can also stem from the need to validate our own feelings. 

According to Ms Liew, if we’re already feeling anxious or fearful in the first place, seeing news that reflects our worries can make us feel understood and, in a strange way, justify our inner turmoil.

Here, our confirmation bias plays out because we believe that consuming or keeping a lookout for bad news will affirm whatever suspicions or theories we have about the state of the world.

Consuming bad news essentially satisfies our primal urge to stay alive and feel comforted.

How social media is enabling you

These days, doomscrolling has taken on a broader meaning and is now a catchall term for compulsively and passively consuming content, beyond just bad news — brainrot, if you will. 

The Safe Harbour Counselling Centre psychotherapist Cassandra Chiu, believes that doomscrolling is a maladaptive coping mechanism people use to avoid facing painful realities in their lives.

In her practice, Ms Chiu finds that people who are anxious, depressed, experiencing relationship difficulties or have experienced betrayal are more prone to doomscrolling. Others also include the socially isolated, who rely on social media for connection.

But if we’re not careful about our social media consumption, what begins as a simple distraction can turn into something far more addictive and sometimes harmful, thanks to social media algorithms. 

Ms Lau says that “social media algorithms intensify and accelerate similar content once a user clicks on a particular type of content”.

The never-ending feeds and stimulating visuals also make it harder to stop scrolling once you start — each swipe uncovers a new piece of content, which provides a rush of stimulation. I’m sure we’ve all had moments where an unintentional click on a piece of content led us down a rabbit hole we never set out to explore. 

As social media continues to feed our addiction to novelty and stimulation, it can become significantly harder to break the cycle of doomscrolling. 

“The exposure to an overwhelming number of opinions on social media can also affect our ability to think critically,” says Ms Lau. 

She explains: “Doomscrolling can lead to a more negative outlook on the world and even on one’s own future. 

“We can easily be misled after consuming too many opinions on social media, which can create confusion about our own original beliefs.”

Striking a healthy balance

Despite this, Ms Lau doesn’t think it is a good idea to go cold turkey and cut out social media consumption completely. 

“I believe we need a healthy balance. While excessive scrolling can contribute to social isolation, a reasonable level of connection with the digital world helps us stay informed and connected with others,” she explains. 

Ms Liew says that it might be helpful to understand the emotional needs behind doomscrolling. Are you scrolling to feel validated and comforted? Or are you doing it to avoid dealing with something in real life?

Once you identify why you doomscroll, you might be able to find more nurturing ways to meet your needs without causing harm to your mental health. 

One way to curb doomscrolling is to set healthier boundaries with phone and social media usage. Easier said than done, you could probably start by setting a timer for social media use on your phone and putting it away somewhere far from your bed.

If you’re looking to distract yourself, try to establish other fulfilling activities outside the digital space in your daily life. Things like exercising, scrapbooking or reading physical books can be beneficial to take your mind off of things while keeping busy mentally and physically. 

Last but not least, you can also try sharing your thoughts with a trusted friend or therapist, who might help you see a different perspective and unstuck the negative thought loop.