Doomscrolling: The dark world of social media
The Covid-19 pandemic followed by global haphazards such as wildfires, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, terrorist attacks, riots, protests etc has left behind a disturbing picture of grave loss of life and resources and has been a central reporting point of social media, new rooms and publishing houses across the world. In the 21st century where everything is available at a single click, people have been excessively looking to negative news and stories across various social media apps and platforms. Such has been the meteoric rise in reporting and viewership of negative news that the phenomenon has now earned itself a name of its own — ‘doomscrolling’ or ‘doomsurfing’.
It is simply the habit of mindlessly scrolling across from one bad news to another be it in a magazine, website or social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
The following paras highlight how the widespread reach of social media in the past decade has led to the meteoric rise in negative news reporting and its wildfire spread across faraway corners of the world impacting the consumers like never before.
A. Health effects: the dark side of doomscrolling
The doomscrolling has a far-reaching impact on the conscious and subconscious minds of the viewers and readers without their realisation.
As per a study conducted by Huffington Post in collaboration with psychology experts, participants consuming 3 minutes of negative news in the morning are highly likely to expect a bad day as high as 27%, after 6–8 hours of consumption of bad news. When compared with the consumers who are absorbing solution-based media, they are likely to experience a good day almost 88% of the time.
- Psychological effects:
The psychological effects of doomscrolling vary across the world due to different generations of consumers, consumption habits of the readers and viewers and their mindset.
Doomscrolling can result in heightened levels of anxiety, depressional thoughts, stress building and feeling of being isolated even in case of mundane negative news. It can also draw the reader into the vicious cycle of a depressive thought process.
According to the psychology professor at the University of Sussex, Graham Davey, being exposed to bad news can make personal issues more worrisome for the people and can cause — “acute stress reactions and some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder that can be quite long-lasting.”
2. Physical effects:
Doomsurfing can cause disruption in the attentiveness power of individuals. It can also affect the sleeping pattern and may result in overeating habits.
One of the drastic side effects of such negative news media is the weakening of a person’s ability to process the trauma which ultimately leads to a state of denial against traumatic experiences.
Doomscrolling also caused heightened levels of stress and anxiety, kicking one’s body into overdrive and releasing stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. The release of such hormones powers a person's fight-or-flight response wherein they are often performing at levels not usually seen within normal situations. However, continued long term release of these hormones may result in burnout. The continued activation of the fight-or-flight response of an individual may result in several problems ranging from digestive issues, weight gain, obesity headaches, heart disease, sexual side effects and high blood pressure, to name a few.
B. Fighting for change — how to stop doomscrolling from affecting you?
The 21st century is the century of information. While it is necessary to remain up to date with current events, it is equally important that we have control over what we consume. A slight alteration in your day to day behaviour can result in the consumption of healthy information and mindfulness towards the importance of distancing yourself from negative news.
- Offline leisure activities:
Moving out of the screen space and indulging in offline conversations can be a good way to negate the negativity flowing from bad news. This mainly involves spending time amongst your family and friends and living and enjoying the moment.
2. Communication over online forums:
Communication of your feelings, anxieties and stress over social media platforms in various online forums and discussion circles have also brought peace to introverted people by reducing their loneliness. These social circles promote people to indulge in various offline activities and then discuss their experiences which is a fun way of tone down the burden and anxiety.
3. Practice the art of mindfulness:
Being aware of your feelings in the present moment is an art and can be a powerful weapon in the fight against doomscrolling. By sensing the change in your behaviour while consuming the news, you can easily identify when do you need to stop.
4. Limit social media existence in your day to day life:
One important method to gradually shift away from doomsurfing is by deleting all your social media apps on the phone (something that is difficult to do but when done, can be quite helpful). Focus on what makes you feel good in the present moment rather than focusing on what will happen in the future.
If the users find it difficult to part ways with their social media apps on phones, they can limit the time they use apps. There are several screen-timing apps that help you to analyze the amount of time you are spending on your phone.
5. Healthy morning habits:
Inculcate a healthy morning habit away from spending time in front of the screen. It can be anything you like. We have become so much addicted to social media that the first thing in the morning, we want to run through our apps and consume the latest trends and updates. Running, cycling, playing sports, yoga and meditation etc. are some of the best ways to start your day
6. Staying away from fake media:
It is the world of social media and so is the easiness with which one can spread fake news. Such disturbing fake news in almost all cases causes damage in one form or another. Thus, it is necessary that you verify the source of news before reaching conclusions.
7. Exercise:
Exercise is one of the best forms of cure and often cost little to no money. It helps to pump up your serotonin level, a feel-good potion neurotransmitter inbuilt into the human brain.
8. Train your mind to the signal of “STOP”:
You should always check your phone consciously and not compulsively. Whenever you try to pick up your phone, give it a break and consciously think of what you are doing. If the stop sign isn’t working and you find yourself engaging in too much scrolling, try wearing a rubber band around your wrist as a physical reminder. It is a very helpful technique widely followed in the field of psychology.
9. Gratitude:
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more” — Melody Beattie. Practice the art of gratitude as a way to fuel your happiness. Turn what you have into what you feel grateful about. Jotting down even a single thing that you feel grateful about, on a daily basis, can help in fostering a sense of calmness and happiness in your mind.
So, if you are one of the doomscrollers who love to scroll across social media platforms for negative news, give an everlasting kick to the habit of doomscrolling now and say hello to a happy mindset. Adopt any of the above practices that you find easy to adopt and part ways with this trending phenomenon. In the words of Richard Davidson — “The key to a healthy life is having a healthy mind”.
