Doomscrolling – Part 2: From Anxiety to Wellness Strategies

Impact of doomscrolling

Elevates psychological issues: Doomscrolling can elevate psychological issues in a person suffering from anxiety, sadness, or anxiety. The negativity of doomscrolling can often lead to panic attacks and worsen the symptoms of depression, stress, or anxiety.
Insomnia: Scrolling at night, before sleeping, increases insomnia. Sleep does not come easily and the dooming news makes us anxious and afraid to sleep.
Confusion: While scrolling, you come across two contradicting news stories about a single topic, it tends to confuse your mind as you do not know which is correct. E.g. an article that says “wake up at 5 a.m. for enhanced productivity “and another one “sleep longer than 5 a.m. for enhanced productivity”. Well, which is correct? Why not scroll some more and find out?
Loneliness: Spending too much screen time doomscrolling makes you miss out on the finer things in life. You stop socialising and end up lonely or even depressed, with your scrolling for company. You miss out on meaningful conversations, friendly banters, and quality time with your family and friends.
Exhausting: Stress releases cortisol in the brain, thereby increasing your stress levels. Excessive cortisol levels tend to increase inflammation levels in your body, thereby harming your mind and body.
Obesity: Doomscrolling makes us sedentary as we are glued to the sofa or bed, scrolling. We do not move around much and tend to eat and drink while scrolling. We binge on processed food and beverages, which is unhealthy and may lead to obesity.
Gastric issues: Doomscrolling makes us tense, and we tend to overeat or under-eat. In both these cases, our gastric system will not thank us. It will malfunction, and we may be prone to gastric issues like bloating, stomach aches, nausea, diarrhoea, and constipation.
Cardiac issues: Doomscrolling makes us prone to cardiac issues, high cholesterol levels, and other related ailments, as we are not mindful of our eating and lifestyle habits. Processed food rich in fat, oil, and spices is harmful to the heart.
Hypertension: Doomscrolling makes us anxious and overthink. We get upset easily, and this leads to high blood pressure levels. Added to this, the sodium content in the processed foods that we eat also contributes towards chronic diseases like hypertension.
Body aches: Doomscrolling makes us stressed and this manifests as aches and pain in our bodies. Headaches, migraines, neck pain, shoulder pain, and unexplained aches in parts of the body.
Skin issues: Doomscrolling makes us stressed and causes outbreaks of skin issues like redness, itchiness, etc. This is the way our body reacts to stress and anxiety.
Mood swings: Doomscrolling makes us prone to mood swings and behavioural changes. We tend to be more aggressive and react impulsively.
Tired eyes: Doomscrolling continuously can damage your eyes. Eye strain, dry eyes, redness are some eye issues that may occur as a result.

Effective ways to reduce doomscrolling habits

All is not lost; a bit of discipline and willpower can work wonders. No doubt, doomscrolling provides a lot of information, but it is we who decide, “how much is too much”. Let us take some steps so that we do not become slaves of doomscrolling.

Limit screen time: A very good way to prevent doomscrolling is to limit your screen time. Scroll for 15-20 minutes in one go or set a time limit, and do not scroll beyond that.
Mobile at night: One way is to keep your mobile off at night, so that it does not hamper your sleep time and night routine. Alternately, you can also keep your mobile on silent mode. Keep your mobile phone at a distance from your bed, so that you do not instinctively reach for it if you wake up at night or as soon as you awake in the morning.
Mobile at work: While at work, keep your mobile phone in your desk drawer or at a distance away from you, out of immediate reach. Something like“out of sight and out of mind”. This will reduce the urge to doomscroll.
Black and white mode: Keep your mobile phone in black and white mode. This mode will dissuade you from scrolling as the images will appear unattractive and non-appealing.
No notifications: Keep your notifications switched off, so that you do not keep receiving random alerts, which are just another invitation for doomscrolling. Be the captain of your ship; do not let the screen rule you.
Uninstall apps: Uninstall applications that you find stressful and which are nothing but a waste of time, as they prevent you from actually living your life.
No negative news: Request your friends/colleagues to refrain from sharing news links which may negatively hamper your health and are irrelevant. De-select topics of news items from your newsfeed that cause anxiety or stress.
Welcome positivity: Invest your time in some activity that makes you happy like volunteering at a pet shelter, taking the children to the park, something … anything that makes you forget about doomscrolling and invokes positive thoughts in your mind.
Opt for community news: Community news is less stressful and even positive at times. So, opting for community news seems like a better option. E.g. an upcoming community event that is ideal for you to volunteer at, is ‘just what the doctor ordered’, as this will bring your skills to the fore and keep you engaged in a positive manner.
Hobby time: Focus on your hobbies so that you do not have time for doomscrolling. Learn some new activity, write a poem, do some gardening, read a book, keep yourself occupied. This will relax you and keep you occupied too.
Relationships: Invest time in your relationships, be it family or friends. Go for excursions, chill with your children, play with your pets, cook with your spouse, lend a hand in daily chores, help your parents, go for meals/ drives with your friends. Remember there is nothing more fulfilling than happy and loving relationships.
Me time: Invest time in yourself, indulge in self-care, rest and relax, listen to music, meditate, practice journaling, take a nap, read, sing, do some artwork/craftwork, motivate yourself, reward yourself, love yourself.
Block: Block the online media platforms whose articles stress you out. Tough, but it has to be done. Do not let this foreboding information rule you. Use your better judgement and just forget about these media platforms. After all, information that negatively impacts you is not in your best interests.
Mindfulness: Be mindful of your screen time. If you instinctively log in, make a note and try to stop. Gradually increase your awareness and limit your screen time. It takes time but you will get there eventually. Small steps.
Observe: if you find yourself doomscrolling, then pause a moment and take stock of your feelings. If you feel sad or anxious or stressed, immediately refrain from scrolling. This is the cue that you need to break from doomscrolling and focus on other impeding matters that require your attention.
Reason it out: If you are worried about the outcome of some posts, try to reason out an alternative that is less worrisome and more realistic. E.g. a random post about layoffs in your company: do not assume that you are going to be sacked and hyperventilate; rather think calmly if you did anything that deserves you to be sacked. Obviously not, so relax and do not worry. It may just be some gossip, nothing else.
Slow scrolling: Scroll slowly, as rapid scrolling will only make you more anxious. Rapid scrolling will hamper your attention span and increase the speed of your racing The more thoughts, more the stress.
Be an example: Parents should set a good example for their children by limiting their screen time. A child copies his parents’ traits, and therefore if the parents limit their scrolling, so will their children.
Awareness: Parents should communicate with their children and enlighten them about doomscrolling and how to prevent themselves from getting affected by it.
Encouragement: Parents can encourage their children to participate in activities that are not beholden to a screen. Music, reading, art, dancing, sports and such activities / hobbies that make the children reduce their screentime.
Compulsory checking: Parents can check how much time their children spend online and monitor their viewing. They should make the children aware that compulsory checking their mobiles is unhealthy.
Seminars: Seminars can be conducted to create awareness about the underlying perils of doomscrolling in educational institutions, workplaces, and community gatherings.
Last but not least, seek the advice of a medical professional/psychologist/therapist to reduce stress, depression or anxiousness or any other physical or psychological ailments associated with doomscrolling or to learn how to manage doomscrolling.

Conclusion

Prioritize your wellness and participate in activities that make you happy. Overthinking is going to increase your stress, not alleviate it. The world is not a happy place right now – continuous wars, natural calamities, political unrest, pollution, environmental issues, among others. How about looking for some positivity instead? Think good and positive thoughts; help others; create awareness about events that matter; make the world a better place to live in; care for yourself and others; there is so much more to life than wasting time scrolling or doomscrolling. Live your life as it should be lived.

“Stop doomscrolling, start doing, start living”

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