In lockdown my life consisted mainly of messaging my friends, watching Youtube in the background, and scrolling on my phone. My attention span seemed non-existent; Hours and hours just spent on my phone. Although I’m much older now and try to use my phone less, I still don’t feel like much has changed. It wasn’t before I began University and tried to stay focused in lectures but just couldn’t, that I realised I had to stop this habit of doom-scrolling which was controlling my life. So in this article, I will talk about ways I’ve found best to break this cycle.
Firstly, many of you might be confused about what ‘Doom-scrolling’ actually is. Doom-scrolling refers to the negative overconsumption of social media, which can include social media apps or even the news. It’s often not associated with positive connotations, as it implies wasting away your life to spend time confronting meaningless media. When I first learned about this term I thought it only applied to the general news, which we all know is depressing, however, it can be anything online, even for just a few hours. Many times I’ve scrolled on my phone when I was bored, and not realized hours have passed until I looked out of my windows and saw the sun had gone down. It’s completely unnecessary, yet so difficult to try and break the habit. However, a good tip to realize if you’ve doom-scrolled is to take a break and try think how you landed on this media, and if you can’t then it shows you need to stop.
An easy way that I’ve found useful to tackle this pattern is to try to break up your day and plan what you want to do. I mostly found that I’d overconsume media when I was bored or didn’t have anything planned to do. So, by adding things to your day, regardless of how small or pointless the tasks are, it still allows you to feel productive, and avoid feeling bored. This could be planning a solo walk outside, listening to music, or catching up with friends! Or if you’re feeling bored and still want to go on your phone, try to change the way you use your phone. Instead of scrolling, look through your pictures or notes to reminisce and focus on your experiences rather than things you cannot control.
However, you don’t have to stop going on your phone altogether. A good change could be setting a timer or screen time on your phone to restrict your usage. As a child, screentime was easily the most annoying thing in my life, yet as an adult, I’ve found it very practical in helping me stay focused. Or if you want to allow yourself more freedom, maybe focus on switching your apps frequently to ensure you don’t get stuck in a rabbit hole of negative media. Conversely, you could make personal rules about your own phone usage. Possibly, you could restrict the use of apps such as TikTok, or Instagram reels which have algorithms that perpetuate endless scrolling, and instead focus on the true reasons you use social media, which may be to message friends or post nice photos.
Further, doom-scrolling feeds off fear. Naturally, if you’re worried about current life events or world problems (which is sadly becoming increasingly more common nowadays), you’ll seek to find out more information about it. However, we all know this doesn’t usually help us. I know when I’m reading about global affairs that might impact me, I don’t stop until I see something that is alarming and almost forces me to stop out of fear. But this just shows how this cycle of overconsumption thrives from fear and shows exactly why we should all try to stop this pattern.
A way to confront this would be to try to find the root problem that is causing you to rapidly search for more information about these issues. If it’s that you feel uneducated on the topic, then it’s likely scrolling on TikTok or Instagram won’t well inform on these pieces anyway. So to avoid a biased and often purposely orchestrated fearmongering post, aim to consume media that is objective such as more reliable non-political news sources. If you realise the true issue causing you to doom-scroll is that you’re scared of the media you’re consuming and are searching for more answers to make you feel better, then talking to people could be an invaluable way to express how you’re feeling and to try to break this cycle. In Lockdown as I’m sure many can relate, overconsuming media was the norm to me, and often, it was because I was scared of the world around me. In a global pandemic, it was hard to not try and find answers through social media as that was all that was accessible to us. However, it’s important to use this as a learning curve and be more mindful of media consumption in the future instead of feeling regretful about the past.
Whether you scroll through social media just for fun or use these platforms to try to find new information, just be aware of the difference between a normal amount of this and overconsumption. Whilst social media can be so incredibly useful in many ways, it is structured in a way that thrives from algorithms and adverts which can lead you down a rabbit hole, so its important to try implement tasks in your life to help you focus on the positives and not let doom-scrolling control your life.