Doomscrolling is not a new phenomenon. It has been around for years and the trend seems to be growing stronger. Doomscrolling is when you are on social media and you scroll endlessly without reading anything. You might have noticed that you have spent hours browsing through your Facebook feed or Instagram, but when you look back at your phone, you don’t remember much of what happened in between. Doomscrolling is a problem that affects millions of people around the world. It’s a disorder that can be difficult to treat and requires more than just one solution. The purpose of this article is to give some tips on how to stop doomscrolling. We will talk about how to stop accidentally doomscrolling, why people do it intentionally, and how to get rid of your bad habits so that they don’t affect your life anymore.
What is Doomscrolling?
In the last decade, the internet has become a common part of our daily lives. We use it for everything from banking to emailing to shopping—and everything else in between. But we’ve also become increasingly reliant on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to keep up with friends and family members who are spread across the globe.
Our growing reliance on social media for entertainment, news, and communication can lead us down a dangerous path: doomscrolling. Doomscrolling is defined as “the act of scrolling through social media feeds for hours on end,” according to Urban Dictionary. It’s a form of compulsive behavior that can lead to addiction if left unchecked—and it’s also an example of escapism from real-world problems by immersing yourself in an alternate reality where all your friends are happy and successful, no matter how bad things are going for them in person or online.
How does it affect health?
- Your sleep quality gets worse.
- You feel more stressed and depressed.
- Anxiety becomes a bigger problem for you than it used to be.
- You are less energetic, have no motivation, and may have difficulty concentrating on tasks at work or school.
- It can also cause relationship problems between partners because of the lack of trust one partner has in the other due to cheating or lying about the activities they do online when they think their partner isn’t looking.
- Moreover, it causes lower self-esteem among teenagers who spend too much time on social media sites such as YouTube (which happens often), Facebook (less often), Instagram/Snapchat (less often still).
Why do we do it?
The reasons we do it are as varied as the people who do it. Some of us might be bored, some might be frustrated and need to let off steam, and others may be anxious about their future or even about something very specific like a work deadline or an upcoming exam.
One reason could be that you’re lonely. You don’t have anyone to talk to and social media is the only way you can communicate with people. And that feeling of loneliness is often accompanied by feelings of anxiety over your own inadequacy in social situations – so you turn to Facebook again, hoping for someone else’s validation.
And there’s also depression at play here: when everything seems bleak and hopeless (or maybe just your life), scrolling through endless photos makes things seem better temporarily because it allows you to forget your problems for a few minutes while indulging in nostalgia…but then afterward they’re back again.
Negative impacts on mental health
When you’re constantly exposed to doomscrolling and its medical effects, you’re at a greater risk of developing mental health issues. Anxiety, stress, depression, and addiction are all common psychological disorders that can be triggered by this form of online activity. When you’re constantly exposed online on social media or through your phone screen, there’s an increased chance that you’ll develop an addiction to the negative emotions being fed into your brain.
Tips to stop Doomscrolling
Set a time limit to check the phone
One of the most effective ways to stop yourself from looking at your phone is by setting a time limit for checking it. You can do this by setting a timer on your phone.
Set the timer for 10-15 minutes and press start when you know you’ll be alone with your phone. Once the time runs out, put down the device and do something else until it goes off again. When it does, repeat this process until you have gotten rid of all of those notifications that were distracting you earlier in the day. It may seem like a small thing now but that one distraction can lead to another; if we make ourselves aware of how much time we spend looking at our phones every day, we might see just how much damage they are doing to us as individuals (and society).
Avoid watching social media
The first step to stop doomscrolling is to avoid watching social media. Social media has become a huge part of our everyday lives, with many people getting news from their Facebook feeds and Twitter accounts. However, this can lead to online addiction because you’ll see what your friends are up to, which might make you feel worse about how your life is going compared. Do not watch social media at least for an hour or two before bedtime as it can cause insomnia and restless nights.
Meditation
If you’re looking for an easy way to stop online addiction, meditation or fitness activity is a great step to take. It’s not hard to find something that can help you relax and feel more in control of your thoughts during the day. The practice of meditation involves focusing on breathing or a mantra, which can help clear your mind of worries about the future and allow you to focus on things happening right now.
When we worry about things that haven’t happened yet, this takes up mental energy and makes us less capable of dealing with whatever challenges are actually in front of us at present. By clearing out some space in our minds, it becomes easier for us to manage stress and fatigue so that we don’t get overwhelmed by them later on—and better able to sleep well. Meditation helps you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings, which is key to stopping doomscrolling.
Turn off these types of push notification
The first step to stopping doomscrolling is to turn off push notifications from the apps that are most likely to send you push notifications. If you’re not sure which apps are sending you the most push notifications, take a look at your phone’s notification center and check out which apps have the most recent alerts.
If you find that one of your social media apps has a ton of new posts, try disabling its push notifications in your app settings so it doesn’t keep popping up on screen every time there’s a new post or notification. You can also mute all of an app’s keywords so it won’t send any push notifications at all. You might be surprised by how much better your phone feels with fewer interruptions.
Engage time in fun activities
If you want to stop doomscrolling and engage in more fun activities, the right way to do that is to make time for them. This can be as simple as setting aside an hour or two a week on your calendar — or even just making a mental note to yourself that when 5 p.m. rolls around, it’s time for something else besides scrolling through social media feeds on your phone.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy either; in fact, some of the best ways I’ve found success at this are things like: playing video games with friends; going for walks/runs outdoors; swimming laps at the gym; playing basketball with my roommates (yes, we play full-court) — basically, any activity involving physical exertion and interacting with other people does wonders for me when I’m feeling down about life or bored out of my mind from sitting at my desk all day.
Focus on the positivity
One of the best ways to avoid remaining onilne is to focus on positivity. Think about all the good things in your life, from small things like a favorite cup of coffee to big ones like your family and friends.
Think about how lucky you are that you have these things in your life. Try to remember what got you through tough times before, or revisit happy memories when everything was going well.
If you can’t think of anything specific that makes this moment great, try thinking instead about who else would be having an amazing time right now if they were with you—and then wish them well.
Spend more time together with family and friends
Try spending more time with family and friends to avoid online addiction.
Don’t just spend time with them—spend quality time with them. Go on a family vacation or go out to dinner once a week with your partner. Take the kids out for ice cream and let them stay up late watching TV so they get tired and want to go to bed early. Have lunch dates with friends when you can, or organize activities outside of work where you can all hang out together (and maybe make some new connections).
In addition to spending more time together as a group, it’s also important for us all to find ways of connecting at an individual level. A great way of doing this is by simply asking someone how their day was going! You may be surprised at how much better someone else’s day is if they feel comfortable enough around you that they feel like sharing things with you.
Is Doomscrolling a great concern in Pandemic
Doomscrolling is a habit that has increased dramatically during the 2019 pandemic. It had become a serious concern during Covid 19.
As the pandemic spread around the world, people started to share false and misleading information about Covid19 and coronavirus due to overreading.
Facebook and Twitter daily hits were record high at that time as people had no work at that time other than scrolling digital devices to read social media news, be it bad news or good! People sometimes became so obsessive about reading news for hours on their mobiles.
It has made a bad effect on the workflow as people get addicted to remain online during Covid 19 lockdown.
Conclusion
There are many ways to stop doomscrolling. The first and most obvious solution is to just stop. Being honest with yourself about your habits is the real approach. While this may seem like an easy task, it’s not always so simple. If you find that you can’t stop on your own, there are other options available as well. You may want to speak with a counselor or therapist who can help you overcome this problem through various methods such as cognitive-behavioral therapy or hypnosis (or both).
