ARE YOU A DOOMSCROLLER? IT COULD BE FUELING YOUR EXISTENTIAL ANXIETY

The unremitting barrage of distressing news mirrors trends established by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the climate crisis, and Israel’s onslaught in Gaza and now in Lebanon, all contributing to the phenomenon known as “doomscrolling.”

As Gaza’s humanitarian crisis unfolds for a global audience, social media platforms are flooded with graphic, uncensored images — beheaded children, bombed neighbourhoods, and parents carrying remains in bags.

Doomscrolling, the compulsion to scroll endlessly through distressing news, has become routine. Recent data from Soax.com indicates that the average person now spends 143 minutes a day on social media, with teens — especially teenage girls — averaging close to three hours.

Experts compare doomscrolling to being in a room where people are constantly yelling at you and says media needs to rethink news, according to The Guardian.

Over a third of this screen time is dedicated to news.

While staying informed seems essential, researchers are increasingly concerned that this habit amplifies existential anxiety, leaving people both overwhelmed and helpless in a world that appears perpetually aflame.

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A New Study: Doomscrolling, US versus Iran

A study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports, led by Reza Shabahang, a researcher at Flinders University’s college of education, psychology and social work, investigated doomscrolling’s effects on existential anxiety.

Shabahang said that being constantly exposed to negative news had become a “source of vicarious trauma”, where people are detrimentally affected despite not experiencing the trauma first-hand.

Researchers surveyed 800 students from contrasting cultural backgrounds in the US and Iran. The findings? Doomscrolling doesn’t just worsen anxiety and psychological distress; it heightens feelings of misanthropy and pessimism.

Among Iranian participants, doomscrolling emerged as a potent predictor of misanthropy—a deep-seated distrust and aversion toward humankind. This stream of bleak reminders, they found, shakes people’s “beliefs in the fairness and goodness of the world,” eroding the foundations of trust and optimism.

Meanwhile, US data showed similar but less pronounced trends, suggesting a complex relationship between doomscrolling, culture, and worldviews.

Intriguingly, the study explored doomscrolling’s effect on “just-world beliefs” — the comforting idea that life is fair and people get what they deserve. While the data showed that doomscrolling erodes faith in humanity, it didn’t seem to shake belief in a just world.

Researchers speculate that this belief may act as a buffer, allowing some individuals to cope with crises by clinging to an underlying sense of justice.

Experts caution that while staying informed is crucial, overexposure to negative news may destabilise mental health.

As global crises dominate our feeds, measured consumption of news might be essential not only for individual well-being but for sustaining broader faith in humanity.