Cognitive scientist explains what immersion in news does to the human psyche

Doomscrolling made my brain think about the end of the world

People feel anxious when there is an event in the news that makes them feel bad, or something unpleasant happens in their personal life. All this, according to experts, provokes doomscrolling – the process of “painful immersion in a news feed where bad news predominates.”

A common reaction to feeling anxious is to spend too much time on social media. A person may find themselves scrolling through their feed looking for links to stories that relate to how they are feeling right now, or constantly reading negative articles online. Thus, according to scientists, the brain replays the “end of the world.”

Such predictions are a modern variation on a common psychological response to anxiety called rumination. When a person is anxious, there is a tendency to run through a series of thoughts related to your problems. The new element of doomscrolling is that people use both their own thoughts and readily available information on the Internet.

“The problem with ruminating while feeling anxious, resulting in doomsday thoughts, is that it is only a temporary relief from your anxiety. While ruminating on a problem, the human psyche feels a little better because you feel like you are taking action to eliminate your anxiety. You’re actually relieving the symptom rather than addressing the root cause,” says cognitive scientist Art Markman.

He added that rumination and role-playing can make the problem worse. His explanation notes: “Eventually, you start worrying about something that is only in your head. The more time you spend scrolling through social media posts and reading articles, the more real the problem becomes. Suddenly it’s everywhere.”

To reduce anxiety, the specialist recommends distracting yourself with sports or writing out your thoughts on paper. In this way, Markman believes, the craving for doomscrolling will decrease every day.