Doomscrolling

According to “Merriam-Webster”

for a second,” Helfer-Ross said. “Go do something else. Go take a walk around your house … [and] just get your mind on something else for a little bit.”

Other students like sophomore Caroline Massman face this problem when researching for debate topics, as negative or dramatic news stories often become catalysts for doomscrolling.

“I think the news definitely has more negative things because that’s what catches the reader, and a lot of times us, the readers, like to know about situations in reality,” Massman said.

Massman believes that even though some subjects covered by hard news can seem overbearing and intense, she also thinks not all hard news is exclusively negative and finding the right stories can be fulfilling.

“In the news it’s more prevalent that we face more negative information, but I think going out of your way to find positive stories and positive information can help you even that out,” Massman said.

Massman has attempted to create failsafes and prevent herself from seeing exclusively negative information by selecting a smaller number of reputable news sources. This lowers the number of negative stories and focuses more on higher quality stories, while still keeping her informed.

“If I’m scrolling through Instagram, I’m getting New York Times notifications,” Massman said. “So I kind of naturally filter through information, depending on the news websites I follow or I subscribe to.”

Despite having safeguards in place to limit her from falling into negative rabbit holes, Massman has a difficult time avoiding them and still gets distracted by media that can be distressing.

“I definitely set a lot of boundaries just so I can be more productive because it’s really easy to just scroll and then lose track of time, especially on apps like Tik Tok,” Massman said.

When researching debate topics Massman said it’s difficult to find positive information to prevent herself from doomscrolling.

“I do a lot of research … so I face a lot of these [negative] topics really frequently,” Massman said. “I’d say it affects my learning because sometimes I’ll be scrolling or I’ll be finding information, and you kind of go down a rabbit hole.”

Massman believes that while personal interests may attract general users to ‘doomscrolling’, she believes that most

Do you Catch Yourself ‘Doomscrolling?’

N 32% (23 people)

Y 68% (48 people) of the time, common human interest is enough to send people spiraling down the rabbit hole.

“I think when it comes down to rabbit holes, usually it’s really random stuff,” Massman said. “I’ll find one really niche topic and then find myself hours later like, ‘Okay, I was just researching something totally unrelated’ … So I think humans are just naturally attracted to knowing or learning about drama.”

Some students find that hard news isn’t the only media that can lead to ‘doomscrolling’. Students such as senior Archer Nolen have found this across social media.

“Whenever I’m bored at home and I have nothing to do, I’ll just get onto TikTok, Instagram or Twitter. And I’ll just scroll and scroll and scroll until I eventually find myself down a rabbit hole,” Nolen said. “I find myself in a rabbit hole and I can’t really get out until I close the app.”

For Nolen, doomscrolling has become a daily routine, and he knows friends who have the same problem.

“It doesn’t let me get as much done just because I’m scrolling so much,” Nolen said. “I know [some friends] who just scroll on Instagram or other social media for hours.”

Despite trying to limit his intake on social media, Nolen still finds himself falling into the same habit.

“I’ll say I’m gonna get on for ten minutes and then that I’ll get off and that would be it,” Nolen said. “But sometimes I’ll set boundaries for myself, let’s say 15 minutes, and then 45 minutes to an hour later or so, I’m still on it.”