“This scares me to death,” a friend said to me recently. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that from him. Different week, different doomsday story, and he’s not the only one. I have several friends who routinely hit me with, “Have you heard about this? I’m furious about it.” The thing referred to is some possible negative outcome that may or may not happen. It’s all so exhausting, and there’s a cause: doomscrolling.
Have you heard of it? Are you doing it? Or worse, are your kids doing it? According to Newsweek, 46% of millennials and 53% of Gen Z doomscroll regularly. It’s having a terrible impact on our personal health and our society. Here’s what it is and what it does to us.
What is doomscrolling?
Doomscrolling is looking through an endless feed of negative content. It could be on social media, but it also includes newsfeeds and other sources on the web. It is primarily about disturbing and negative content, such as financial and health crises, violent crime, or global conflicts. While there’s a focus on doom and gloom in the stories viewed, doomscrolling can also include mindless scrolling for long periods of time.
Unfortunately, it can have the following effects.
Pessimism
Feelings of dread or that everything will turn out badly. The more we view troubling stories and information, the more it plants in our minds negative outcomes. It can turn into self-fulfilling prophecies. I’m not suggesting that thinking good things makes those good things happen (even though there’s something to be said for the contribution of positivity). But the more we focus on gloomy and bleak scenarios, the more difficult it is for us to see the good and significant blessings in our lives. We start to develop a negative attitude about people and our circumstances. Miserable people are miserable to be with. Is that who we want to be? Is that who we want our kids to be?
Anxiety
If you do a search for the number one problem for young people today, it’s anxiety. We perceive bad news as a threat, which triggers adrenaline and increases our heart rate. A study reported by JMIR Mental Health during the COVID pandemic revealed how the daily news cycle negatively impacted the public’s anxiety levels. We need to find ways to combat the anxiety levels of our kids. One of the ways we can make a difference is by helping them stop doomscrolling.
Escapism
Each day brings problems to be solved and moments of stress. We can either confront those challenges or run from them. Endless scrolling gives us the latter. It allows us to escape our responsibilities, but only temporarily, leaving us with more stress to carry when we return to it. And if the scrolling we’ve done was filled with disastrous stories, our anxiety can be elevated even more.
Stopping the Cycle
In Philippians 4:8, the Apostle Paul encourages us with this: “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Teach your kids to think about and focus on the good things in their lives. It doesn’t mean we ignore painful and threatening stories, but there needs to be a balance. Our kids need more optimism in their lives. A recent study showed that optimism is a psychological protector against concerns that rise from negative news. They need us to model this now more than ever.
Sound off: What are some other possible negative effects of doomscrolling?
Huddle up with your kids and ask, “What is a positive story you heard recently?”