What Is Doomscrolling?

The digital age has introduced many new behaviors into our daily lives, but few are as pervasive or as poorly understood as doomscrolling. While the term itself gained popularity recently, it describes a deeply ingrained psychological response to the modern information environment. For many students, the day begins and ends with a thumb moving rhythmically across a glass screen, taking in an endless stream of headlines that often lean toward the tragic or the alarming. This article serves as an introduction to this behavior, aiming to demystify why we do it and how to recognize it as a specific pattern rather than just a general use of the internet.

At its most basic level, doomscrolling is the act of continuously consuming negative news on social media or news applications, even when that information causes significant emotional distress. It is characterized by a feeling of being stuck in a feed. You might sit down intended to check a single notification, only to find that forty-five minutes have passed and you are now reading about a crisis thousands of miles away. It is important to realize that this is a common experience and not a personal failure. By defining it as a behavioral pattern, we can begin to look at it with the same objectivity we might use for any other habit.

To better understand why this happens, we can look at simple analogies from our everyday lives. Consider how people behave during a period of bad weather. Even if you have already checked the forecast and know that rain is expected for the next several hours, you might find yourself checking a weather app every ten minutes. There is a small part of the human brain that feels as though having the most up-to-date information provides a layer of protection. We tell ourselves that if we know exactly when the storm will hit, we are safer. Doomscrolling operates on this same logic of information seeking as a survival strategy. We feel that by knowing every detail of a global event, we are somehow preparing ourselves for the future.

However, in the digital world, the storm never truly ends. Because news cycles are now twenty-four hours a day and global in scale, there is always something new and potentially worrying to read. This creates what researchers call an attention loop. Unlike a physical book or a newspaper, which has a clear beginning and end, social media feeds are designed to be infinite. When our natural desire to stay informed meets an infinite supply of negative news, we become trapped in a loop where the act of seeking information no longer provides the feeling of safety we are looking for. Instead, it leads to a cycle of increased anxiety.

For students, these loops are often triggered by specific environments or emotions. You might find yourself doomscrolling during the quiet moments between lectures, while waiting for a bus, or as a way to procrastinate on a difficult assignment. In these moments, the brain is looking for a distraction or a way to fill a gap in activity. Because negative news is so effective at grabbing our attention, it quickly fills that gap. Recognizing these triggers is the first step toward regaining control. When you pick up your phone and start scrolling, try to ask yourself if you are looking for specific information or if you are simply caught in the loop.

In conclusion, doomscrolling is a modern manifestation of a very old human instinct: the need to stay informed about potential threats. While it feels like we are staying updated, we are often just exposing ourselves to a repetitive cycle of stress. Understanding that this behavior is a demystifiable pattern of habit and attention allows us to move away from feeling guilty and toward a more conscious relationship with our devices. By identifying the loops we fall into, we create the necessary space to decide when to keep reading and when it is time to look away.