I have a serious problem. Doomscrolling.
According to the American Brain Foundation, doomscrolling is regularly reading or viewing disturbing current events, especially online, which can leave us feeling emotionally overwhelmed. Whether you’re consuming stories and perspectives on disease, natural disasters, political upheaval, or any other issue that increases your anger or fear, your brain is forced to deal with a lot of stress.
And it can take a toll on more than just our mood.
Repeatedly activating the body’s stress response can contribute to high blood pressure and increase the risk of developing deposits in the bloodstream that can clog arteries. It can also affect the brain, impairing cognitive abilities such as concentration, decision-making, and emotional regulation.
Normally, when a stressful situation ends, our bodies begin to calm down and return to a relaxed state. Doomscrolling can interrupt that process. Constantly taking in negative and disturbing news keeps our stress response activated instead of giving our minds and bodies a chance to relax.
In other words, we may be sitting comfortably on the couch, but our brains can feel like we’re still in the middle of a crisis.
And I was doing this voluntarily.
Over and over and over and over again.
YIKES!
DOOMSCROLLING can cause:
- 😟 Increased anxiety and stress
- 😔 Lower mood and irritability
- 🧠 Mental fatigue and information overload
- 😴 Poorer sleep
- 🎯 Reduced focus and attention
- ⏰ Loss of time and productivity
- 🔄 Difficulty breaking the scrolling habit
- 🌎 Increased feelings of negativity or helplessness
- 📱 Less engagement with real-world activities
- 🧘 Difficulty relaxing or being present
I fell into this habit, BIG TIME!
I would check my phone for news updates and frequently hit refresh for the latest headlines from center-, left-, and right-leaning news sites. Then I’d move on to my go-to social media apps, where I found similar, and often much more devastating and dramatized content, along with equally disturbing videos.
Was I craving this negativity? Was I becoming calloused to sights and stories that I once would have turned away from?
YES!
I needed to make a change.
The first thing I did was delete several social media apps from my phone. Out of sight, out of mind. However, this wasn’t enough. I could still search the internet and check the ever-changing news headlines with the click of a button.
I needed something to divert my attention from my phone.
I love to exercise, but even between sets, I would find myself scrolling. The solution? Leave the phone in my car or locker. At work, leave the phone in my bag or on my desk.
But what about downtime at home?
A hobby, staying busy, or meeting with friends are all excellent alternatives to focusing on my phone. But what about when I truly need a break? What about those times at the end of the day when I’m settled on the couch or lying in bed, not quite ready to fall asleep?
Solution:
READ A BOOK
I remember when I was a young boy. Whenever I declared that I was bored, my mom would say, “Go read a book.”
At the time, I thought that was the most ridiculous advice possible. For one, I had the attention span of a six-month-old puppy, and I had never read anything longer than Goodnight Moon.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. So, for my New Year’s resolution this year, I decided to try to read at least 30 books. More specifically, whenever I had the urge to doomscroll, I would instead pick up a book and read.
SEE MY LIST OF BOOKS BELOW
Like many of my resolutions, I wasn’t exactly confident in this endeavor. After all, I wasn’t exactly a frequent flyer at the public library, and I hadn’t read much beyond short articles and the mandatory summer reading I needed to complete for work.
But weighing heavily on me was my growing addiction to doomscrolling. I needed to do something.
My first book, Beartown by Fredrik Backman, was recommended by a parent from my school. Without a library card of my own, my daughter used hers to pick it up for me.
Once I cracked the cover and read the first chapter, I couldn’t put it down.
I found myself riveted not only by the story, but also by Backman’s style of writing, the choice of words, the descriptions, and the way he could take thoughts and emotions and somehow string them together so brilliantly. I was in awe.
So far, my resolution was working.
After finishing Beartown, I couldn’t wait to read another Backman book. This time, I drove to the library, applied for my own library card, and checked out a book myself.
Unfortunately, the second book in the Beartown series was already checked out, so I chose another Fredrik Backman book, A Man Called Ove.
Something started to change.
As my screen time decreased, my reading time steadily increased. I began to crave pages over scrolling.
It was working.
And it still is.
To date, I’ve read 26 books from a variety of authors and genres.
Not bad for someone who once thought “Go read a book” was the most ridiculous advice imaginable. As of today, here is a list of the books I’ve read this year.
-
- Beartown – Fredrik Backman
- A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman
- Us Against You – Fredrik Backman
- Winners – Fredrik Backman
- Anxious People – Frederick Backman
- Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
- The Death of Mrs. Westaway – Ruth Ware
- Berry Pickers – Amanda Peters
- Bull Mountain – Brian Panowich
- Broken Country – Clare Leslie
- Night Shift – Stephen King
- My Friends – Fredrik Backman
- Girl,11 – Amy Suitor Clark
- Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng
- The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins
- The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides
- Big Kids, Bigger Feelings – Alyssa Balsk Campbell
- The Widow’s House – Carol Goodman
- Bel Canto – Ann Patchett
- The Last Thing He Told Me – Laura Dave
- Why is the Foul Pole Fair? – Vince Staten
- The Names – Florence Knapp
- Yes, My Accent is Real – Kunal Nayyar
- The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman
- The Last Devil to Die – Richard Osman
- Nothing to See Here – Kevin Wilson
Do you find yourself doomscrolling? If so, has it affected your physical, mental, or emotional well-being?
Find a strategy that works for you to limit the time you spend on your phone. Leave it behind when you don’t need it. Find another hobby to redirect your attention. And before you unlock your phone, simply ask yourself, “Do I really need to check it?”
Like a pacifier for a baby, our phones can keep us from experiencing boredom. They satisfy our need for constant stimulation and instant gratification.
But is boredom really a bad thing?
Maybe not.
Maybe boredom allows us to think, create, read, exercise, connect with others, or simply be present.
We don’t need to fill every quiet moment with a screen.
