You pick up your phone simply to "quickly check" what is happening in the world. One story leads to another. Wars, accidents, illness, economic crises, violence, political tensions, warnings, and distressing footage. Twenty minutes pass, perhaps an hour, and you feel considerably more tense than you did before you reached for your phone.
And yet, you keep scrolling.
This behaviour has a name: doomscrolling. It refers to the persistent, and sometimes difficult-to-control, consumption of negative news and distressing online content, even when we recognise that it is making us more anxious, tense, or helpless.
At first glance, this may seem paradoxical. If certain content makes us feel worse, why do we continue looking at it?
The answer lies partly in the way the human brain responds to threat, uncertainty, and the need for control.
What Is Doomscrolling?
Doomscrolling is not a psychiatric diagnosis. Rather, it is a term used to describe a behavioural pattern in which a person spends prolonged periods consuming negative news and disturbing content across news websites, social media, and other digital platforms.
The problem is not that we want to remain informed. Being informed is both useful and necessary.
The difficulty arises when we are no longer seeking information because we genuinely need it, but because we feel that we have to check one more time.
"Perhaps something new has happened."
"I need to know what is going to happen."
"Just one more article."
"If I know everything that is happening, I will be better prepared."
At this point, following the news may become a way of regulating anxiety. Paradoxically, however, the very behaviour we use in an attempt to reassure ourselves can generate even more anxiety.
Why Are We So Drawn to Negative News?
The human brain did not evolve to ignore potential danger.
Quite the opposite.
Information that signals a possible threat naturally captures our attention. From an evolutionary perspective, noticing potential danger quickly was far more important for survival than overlooking it.
Psychology describes this tendency as negativity bias: our propensity to pay greater attention to negative information and assign it more significance than neutral or positive information.
A headline suggesting a new threat is therefore likely to capture our attention more effectively than one telling us that everything remains stable.
The brain detects a possible danger and wants more information.
This is where the cycle of doomscrolling can begin.
Doomscrolling and Anxiety: The Cycle of Reassurance-Seeking
One of the important psychological mechanisms underlying doomscrolling is intolerance of uncertainty.
When we do not know what is going to happen, we naturally attempt to reduce uncertainty by gathering more information.
We check the news and, briefly, feel that we are doing something useful. There may even be a temporary sense of control or relief.
Then another piece of information appears.
It raises another question.
We search for the answer.
A familiar cycle begins:
uncertainty → anxiety → checking the news → temporary relief → new distressing information → increased anxiety → more checking.
A similar mechanism can be seen in other forms of repetitive checking. The behaviour may reduce discomfort in the short term while reinforcing it in the longer term.
This is one reason why doomscrolling and anxiety can become closely intertwined.
Doomscrolling and the Need for Control
When events occur that are beyond our direct control, we may attempt to compensate for our sense of helplessness by gathering more information.
If I cannot control what is happening, perhaps I can at least know everything about it.
However, information and control are not the same thing.
Beyond a certain point, additional information no longer helps us make a decision or take meaningful action. Instead, it simply increases the amount of emotionally charged material our nervous system has to process.
This is why it can be useful to ask yourself a simple question:
"Do I genuinely need this information, or am I using it to reduce an uncomfortable feeling?"
The answer can reveal the difference between healthy information-seeking and anxiety-driven checking.
How Does Constant Exposure to Bad News Affect Mental Health?
Occasionally spending longer than intended reading the news does not, in itself, constitute a psychiatric problem. What matters is the frequency, intensity, and impact of the behaviour.
When constantly consuming negative news becomes a daily habit, people may notice:
- increased anxiety and persistent worry
- irritability and inner tension
- feelings of helplessness
- difficulty concentrating
- mental fatigue
- lower mood
- difficulty falling asleep
- an increasingly strong urge to check their phone.
In other words, the impact of negative news on mental health depends not only on what we consume but also on how much of it we consume, how frequently we seek it out, and how we engage with it.
Doomscrolling Before Bed
Reading negative news immediately before going to sleep can be particularly problematic.
At this point, we are not merely looking at a screen. We are exposing ourselves to a stream of emotionally intense information at precisely the time when the body and mind should gradually be transitioning towards rest.
We may put the phone down, but the mind can continue processing what we have just read.
If you have ever switched off your phone, gone to bed, and then found yourself mentally replaying or analysing the stories you have just consumed, you will recognise this experience.
Why Is It So Difficult to Stop Scrolling?
Doomscrolling is not simply a matter of lacking discipline or willpower.
Digital platforms provide an almost endless stream of new information. As soon as we finish reading one story, another is immediately available.
There is no natural stopping point.
A printed newspaper has a final page. Infinite scrolling does not.
Novelty, uncertainty, and emotionally salient content are also continuously combined. As a result, we can easily lose track of how much time we have actually spent consuming news or scrolling through social media.
"I was only going to check one thing."
Then you realise that 45 minutes have passed.
Doomscrolling Is Not the Same as Staying Informed
This distinction is important.
The aim is not to stop following the news or to disconnect ourselves from what is happening in the world.
Healthy information consumption has boundaries. We obtain relevant information from reliable sources, understand the essential facts, and then continue with our day.
With doomscrolling, however, there is no clear point at which the amount of information feels sufficient.
If you repeatedly check the same story across multiple sources, return to the news every few minutes, or continue reading despite noticing that you are becoming increasingly distressed, you may no longer be looking solely for information.
You may be looking for certainty.
And complete certainty is something that no amount of scrolling can provide.
How Can You Stop Doomscrolling?
The first step is not necessarily to ban your phone or stop reading the news altogether. It is to recognise the pattern.
Pay attention to the moment when you reach for your phone. Do you genuinely need a particular piece of information, or have you just experienced boredom, tension, fear, or uncertainty?
Instead of checking the news repeatedly throughout the day, consider setting specific times for doing so. Choose a small number of reliable sources rather than moving endlessly between websites, apps, and social media feeds.
It can also be particularly helpful to establish a period before bedtime in which you do not consume news or distressing social media content.
Another useful question is:
"Can I do anything concrete with this information?"
If the answer is yes, direct your attention towards what is actually within your control.
If the answer is no, reading another twenty articles is unlikely to give you greater control. It will simply give your brain more information to process.
Learning to Tolerate Uncertainty
This may be the most important part of the process.
It is impossible to eliminate all uncertainty from life.
We cannot know in advance how every situation will unfold, what tomorrow will bring, or prevent every possible problem by analysing it for long enough.
Psychological resilience therefore does not mean having an answer to every question.
Sometimes it means being able to say:
"I do not know what is going to happen, and I do not need to know right now."
That is a psychological skill, and like other skills, it can be developed.
When Does Doomscrolling Become a Problem?
Doomscrolling itself is not a diagnosis, but it can sometimes be part of a broader mental health difficulty.
If you find it increasingly difficult to control how often you check the news, if it significantly interferes with your sleep, concentration, work, or everyday functioning, or if you are experiencing intense anxiety, panic symptoms, persistent worry, or depressive symptoms, it may be useful to speak to a mental health professional.
At that point, the goal is not simply to "use your phone less".
It is important to understand what you are trying to regulate through the behaviour and why uncertainty has become so difficult to tolerate.
Doomscrolling: When Staying Informed Starts to Overwhelm Us
Doomscrolling can create the impression that we are actively doing something about our worries.
We read. We check. We analyse. We search for the next piece of information.
But more information does not necessarily mean greater safety.
Sometimes, it has the opposite effect.
Looking after our mental health does not mean ignoring reality. It means remaining informed while also recognising the point at which information is no longer helping us and is beginning to overwhelm us.
We cannot control everything that appears on our screens.
But we can decide how much space we allow it to occupy in our day and in our minds.
If you notice that constantly following negative news is increasing your anxiety, disrupting your sleep, or becoming a behaviour that you find difficult to control, speaking with a psychiatrist or psychotherapist can help you understand what is maintaining the pattern and how to change it.