603 LIVING / HEALTH
Drawn to Doom Anxious times drive many to doomscroll BY KAREN A. JAMROG / ILLUSTRATION BY MADELINE McMAHON
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n a year filled with fear, loneliness and anxiety, Americans have understandably sought escape, or at least reassur-
desire to gain control in a time of uncertainty. “It’s prevalent especially now because there’s been so much bad news,” says Ralph
Sperry, Ph.D., A.B.P.P., director of behavioral health at SolutionHealth. The pandemic alone would be bad enough, but in recent times we’ve also seen political chaos, bitter division and social unrest, and economic devastation. “People, like animals, want to be aware of any threat that’s around so they can be prepared,” Sperry explains. With unease on so many fronts and COVID-19 potentially lurking around every corner, doomscrolling has been some people’s attempt “to get a sense of where the threats are,” Sperry says, “[and] to feel like they can get some control over this very chaotic and what seems to be a threatening world.” The problem is that it doesn’t work. Instead of preparing or calming us, doomscrolling “only makes people feel more anxious and out of control,” Sperry says. Indeed, continuously questioning and Googling in an attempt to find answers can “keep you in an area of uncertainty,” says Elizabeth Ellis Ohr, Psy.D., a licensed psychologist in private practice in Portsmouth. “If Googling becomes a compulsion, and you spend hours and hours Googling to an extent that it causes you distress and interferes with your functioning in your work or home roles,” Ohr says, it might be a sign of an anxiety disorder. To stop doomscrolling, it can be helpful to ask yourself why you do this: In your mind, what is the purpose of doomscrolling and is that purpose served when you doomscroll? “As people become more aware of what they’re hoping to achieve with doomscrolling,” Ohr says, “they might realize that doomscrolling is not helping them to achieve what they hoped to, and so they should engage in a different behavior that would, in
ance. Our chosen routes to refuge are not always the wisest, however. Drinking more cocktails, overindulging in comfort food or burrowing deeper into the couch to bingewatch TV will not do our health any favors. And then there’s “doomscrolling,” or
obsessively scanning the news and social media for the latest bad news. It seems counterintuitive — if you’re stressed, why seek out upsetting news? Experts say most often, doomscrolling is fueled by anxiety and a 84
nhmagazine.com | May 2021
“People, like animals, want to be aware of any threat that’s around so they can be prepared, to get a sense of where the threats are.” — Ralph Sperry, Ph.D., A.B.P.P.
