Doomscrolling
Also known as: doom scrolling, anxiety scrolling, news doom loop, compulsive news checking, infinite scroll addiction
Doomscrolling describes the compulsive behaviour of continuously scrolling through news feeds, social media, or other online content focused on negative, alarming, or distressing information: continuing despite feeling worse as a result.
The term combines 'doom' (impending disaster) with 'scrolling' (the physical gesture of moving through digital content). Doomscrolling is reinforced by anxiety (negative information activates attention-seeking threat-detection mechanisms), platform design (infinite scroll removes natural stopping points, algorithms serve emotionally activating content), and uncertainty (during crises, people consume more news as they seek resolution to ambiguity that rarely comes). The behaviour increased significantly during COVID-19 lockdowns, political uncertainty in 2020, and other periods of high ambient societal anxiety.
Doomscrolling, explained at three levels
At home
Doomscrolling is when you keep scrolling through bad news online even when it makes you feel anxious or sad, and you can't seem to stop. During major events (a pandemic, a political crisis, a natural disaster), people often find themselves refreshing news apps repeatedly, looking for updates, even when the information is distressing. The problem is that the news cycle never provides the resolution or reassurance you are looking for (there is always more bad news) so the anxiety stays high and you keep scrolling hoping the next story will make you feel better. It rarely does.
At work
Doomscrolling affects workplace productivity and employee wellbeing: employees who doomscroll during work hours have reduced focus and higher stress levels, affecting performance and decision-making quality. Organizations with employee mental health programs increasingly address media consumption habits, not just interpersonal stressors. The COVID-19 period when many employees worked from home alongside all-day news consumption showed measurable effects on both wellbeing surveys and productivity metrics. Awareness of doomscrolling as a named phenomenon makes it easier for managers and HR professionals to address it as a workplace wellbeing issue.
At home
The psychological loop of doomscrolling: uncertainty triggers anxiety, which activates threat-monitoring behaviour (seeking more information), which exposes you to more negative content, which increases uncertainty and anxiety, which triggers more threat-monitoring. Platform design perpetuates this loop: infinite scroll (no natural stopping point), algorithmic content selection (emotionally arousing content generates engagement, so emotionally arousing content is served more), and notification systems (each notification creates a new reason to check). Breaking the loop requires intentional intervention: setting time limits, turning off notifications, scheduling designated news check-in windows rather than continuous consumption.
At work
Platform design features that enable doomscrolling: infinite scroll (its inventor, Aza Raskin, later said he regretted removing natural stopping cues; Sean Parker, Facebook's first president, said in 2017 the platform was built to exploit 'a vulnerability in human psychology'), variable reward schedules (the unpredictability of whether the next scroll will show something interesting activates dopamine systems similarly to slot machines), notification design (intermittent notifications maximize app opening frequency), and algorithmic content amplification of emotionally activating content. Several countries and regulatory proposals have considered design standards requiring platforms to provide friction mechanisms (daily time limit notifications, non-algorithmic feed options) as defaults for younger users.
At home
Research on doomscrolling and mental health: studies during the COVID-19 pandemic documented significant correlations between high-frequency news consumption and anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance. However, the causal direction is complex: anxious people may seek more news (anxiety driving doomscrolling) as well as news driving anxiety (doomscrolling driving anxiety). Research by Graham Davey and others on media consumption and anxiety shows that news viewing style (passive consumption vs. active processing) matters: watching news 'to stay informed' with active engagement shows different wellbeing outcomes than passive drifting through negative content. Intentional media consumption (specific, time-limited news check-ins) is consistently associated with better wellbeing than ambient, continuous consumption.
At work
Doomscrolling as a consumer behaviour pattern for digital health and wellness brands: the documented prevalence of doomscrolling (surveys suggest 70-80% of smartphone users report it during high-anxiety periods) creates market opportunity for apps and products addressing the behaviour. Screen time management apps (Apple Screen Time, Android Digital Wellbeing, Opal, Freedom), news apps designed for intentional consumption (brief, curated formats without infinite scroll), and meditation apps positioned as alternatives to anxiety-driven consumption all address doomscrolling directly or indirectly. The wellness positioning is effective because doomscrolling has sufficient cultural recognition that consumers understand the problem the product addresses.
Real-world examples
At home
Sophie noticed during a major political election cycle that she was checking news apps every 15 minutes, refreshing social media constantly, and spending 3+ hours per day on news despite finding it made her anxious and disrupted her sleep. She recognized doomscrolling and implemented: morning and evening designated news check-in windows (20 minutes each), removing news apps from her phone home screen, and replacing late-night social media with reading. Her anxiety decreased measurably within a week, and she still felt informed from the intentional news check-ins.
At work
Thomas worked for a digital wellness startup developing a screen time management app. User research revealed that doomscrolling was the most cited behaviour users wanted to change, not social media in general, but specifically compulsive anxiety-news checking. He reframed the app's positioning from generic 'screen time management' to specifically addressing doomscrolling: the app prompted users to set intentions before opening news apps, provided a daily news consumption summary, and offered a 'check-in with intention' alternative flow. This specific positioning improved user activation rates by 34% in A/B testing compared to generic 'reduce screen time' messaging.
Common confusions
- Many people believe that consuming more news makes them better informed and therefore doomscrolling is a justified habit — Research on news consumption shows diminishing informational returns above a certain threshold: after initial news check-ins, additional consumption during a news cycle rarely adds meaningful new information and significantly increases anxiety. The quality of news consumed (reliable, well-sourced journalism read with engagement) matters far more for being well-informed than the quantity consumed. Doomscrolling typically involves lower-quality content consumption (algorithmically surfaced hot takes, reactive social posts, commentary on commentary) rather than primary journalism. Being intentionally informed through high-quality, time-limited news consumption produces better information retention and lower anxiety than doomscrolling.
- Some assume doomscrolling is a new problem created by social media — Anxiety-driven overconsumption of distressing news predates social media: researchers documented patterns of compulsive news watching during the 24-hour cable news era (particularly post-9/11 traumatic stress research), and excessive newspaper reading as an anxiety behaviour was described in clinical literature. Social media and smartphone technology made the behaviour more accessible, more frequent, and more algorithmically optimized for emotional engagement: intensifying an existing human behaviour pattern rather than creating a new one. The evolutionary roots (staying alert to threat signals) are ancient; the smartphone context is new.
For analysts
Doomscrolling is relevant as both an employee wellbeing consideration and a digital product design consideration. For clients developing consumer-facing digital products: building intentional consumption features (time well spent design: time limits, natural stopping points, summary views) differentiates from addiction-by-design competitors and positions the product with wellness-conscious users. For clients in HR or organizational wellbeing spaces: digital consumption habits are a legitimate workplace wellbeing topic, and programs addressing doomscrolling alongside exercise, sleep, and nutrition are aligned with evidence on mental health. The behaviour's high cultural recognition makes it a tractable topic for awareness and behaviour change interventions.
History & origin
The term 'doomscrolling' circulated in small Twitter communities before 2020 but entered mainstream vocabulary primarily during the COVID-19 pandemic when millions of people found themselves compulsively refreshing news feeds for pandemic updates. Karen K. Ho, a journalist who ran a popular Twitter account actively urging followers to stop doomscrolling ('Put the phone down'), was one of the earliest popularizers of the term. Merriam-Webster added it to their word watch list in 2020. Research on doomscrolling found significant correlations between time spent consuming COVID news and anxiety, depression, and impaired sleep during the pandemic. The behaviour is partly an evolutionary mismatch: human threat-detection psychology that evolved for physical environments (stay alert to danger signals) activates in response to news content, but the news cycle's constant new threat information never resolves the way physical threats do (you either escape or you don't), creating ongoing threat-activation without resolution.