Doom scrolling: that moment when you get home from school, open Instagram or TikTok, and find yourself stuck scrolling for hours on end. What this phenomenon really is, however, is a form of confirmation bias.

If someone is in a bad mood and they interact with upsetting content, they can become entranced with it and spiral down a rabbit hole of negative posts. This, in a way, validates their emotions.

This negative feedback loop can have serious impacts on health. For one, this behavior can worsen pre-existing mental health issues like depression or anxiety, but it can also lead to the development of them. According to the Cleveland Health Clinic, doom scrolling may lead to insomnia, and can also cause the viewer to struggle to differentiate between fact and opinion, even to the extent of struggling to discern reality.
And while mindlessly scrolling on TikTok or Instagram may not seem inherently negative, falling into traps of negativity from comparison to upsetting news may worsen one’s mental health and drain optimism. Problems can arise, however, as the algorithm is built to encourage such behavior.

One way to help avoid becoming trapped in the algorithm is to simply remove access to social media–physically step away from the phone. Leave it charging downstairs when it’s time to go to bed, and don’t bring it on every single outing if it’s not needed. Try to create physical space between the device and the person. One can set screen time limits, but that may only be effective if someone else has the password, not the user. Try deleting social media apps for a few weeks, and see if there is a noticeable difference.
Another possible solution is to curate one’s social media feeds. Focus on positive media, and choose to interact with it more than with negative media. This will, in turn, lead to more positive posts in one’s feed. Actively decide to look for happy and joyous content over something grim and upsetting.

The final piece of advice is to just slow down. Don’t scroll through content until you find one thing that interests you. And take the time to appreciate what’s going on in life at that moment. Take a walk, read a book, watch the sunset. Remember to appreciate life as it is, not just as it is portrayed on social media. Keep in mind that the world represented by social media is incredibly curated, and is not an absolute representation of what someone’s real life is like.
Doom scrolling is a very real reality of modern life. But it does not have to be in control. Remember to create physical space, and take the time to prioritize content that brings positivity over negativity.