Doomscrolling in easy terms is when some of us pay more attention to the news during times of crisis or uncertainty just looking for answers, so we just keep scrolling post after post article after article so on and so forth.
I think doomscrolling is a terrible thing we all experience yet don’t realize what it’s doing to us.
Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic people were left locked in their homes the earliest of March 2020. Each night ended the same way it started, consisting of people getting online reading reports of covid cases, death rates, and how it’s affecting everyone around the world, so all people were left to do was think and worry about everyone including their well being making them paranoid to ever step out of their house again.
Doomscrolling can lead to worsening depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and negative thoughts and out-look on life, according to The Science Of Health (2024). Young adults and teenagers are more likely to spend more time on social media since they’re so drawn to the type of content put out even if it’s affecting them negatively. 11th grader, Octavio Vargas says “I think it’s just pure curiosity – I can never seem to look away no matter how much I want to.” Proving doomscrolling is a very tricky situation you can’t seem to get yourself out of.
Older citizens think it’s something that they too can experience but not as often since they have more self control and know when to stop. They could get distracted by the news or articles online but Jersey Village High School principal, Maggie Wiley says “You have to really commit to silencing your phone and engaging in something else.” That’s if you really want to break the habit of doomscrolling.
There are plenty of ways to scroll responsibly and not get stuck in the habit of doomscrolling. Tips from others are to set time limits or to just keep mind of how long you’ve been on your phone, take control over what pops up on your feed, for example clicking “not interested”, and prioritize better activities, put your phone down for once in your life, all the answers you need are definitely not on your phone, go outside, do homework, whatever it is you want to distract yourself from your phone do it!
In conclusion, there are very harmful things on the internet that can badly influence or consume you. Be mindful of what you’re taking in on social media at all times.
