The term “doomscrolling” or the habit of compulsively scrolling through our newsfeed and postings has become a part of the lexicon for 2020. We have become obsessed with reading the many headlines, articles, tweets and comments that focus on negative events such as the pandemic, the election, wildfires, protests and systemic racism. According to San Francisco-based therapist, Ken Stamper, the allure of doomscrolling is the “sense of excitement, even when it’s bad news.”
If we consider the broad definition of addiction as anything we take from the external environment to change the way we feel, doomscrolling fits this definition. We can, however, reduce some of the addictive properties of doomscrolling, if we learn to use the internet mindfully.
