There is a word that has been adopted for this practice, now known as doomscrolling. This term refers to getting stuck in a social media rabbit hole, consuming more and more information. It’s the act of continuing to scroll and read new content, even if that content might be upsetting or worrying. Doomscrolling was one of the Oxford English Dictionary’s words for 2020, as this practice seemed to arise during the pandemic when so many people were inside and using social media more than usual.
Getting stuck down a social media rabbit hole can feel really frustrating. I never want to spend hours on my phone, and yet it continues to happen. I know I’m not the only one having this issue. In 2025, the average person spends 2 hours and 41 minutes on social media every day. And this isn’t necessarily because all of the content we see is so riveting. If I asked you to describe every TikTok you saw after scrolling for even 15 minutes, would you be able to tell me? So, what is it? What is making us get stuck in our phones?
While it may just be that we, as a society, are getting lazy or that we all fall victim to procrastination, the algorithms behind social media websites are playing a large part. An algorithm is a variety of rules and processes that are used to determine what kind of content and advertisements to show to users. An algorithm decides which Instagram story to put at the front of your page, which TikTok you’re going to see next, and what YouTube video to recommend to you.
These algorithms track every move you make. What you like, what you search, what you comment on, what you spend the most time watching, and how long it takes you to scroll. All of this data is being used in order for these social media platforms to show you the content that they think you will interact with the most. Social media websites want you to spend as much time on them as possible, so they tailor the algorithm so that you will.
Why exactly do social media websites want users to stay on their websites for as long as possible? For most cases, the answer is revenue. Since social media websites are still businesses, they need to make money. The way they do this is through advertisements. Brands pay for marketing on various platforms which are then promoted towards the user.
You may have noticed that some social media sites like TikTok now have shopping tabs that are easily accessible on the interface. This new feature cuts out the middleman completely and lets you purchase straight from the app, earning TikTok a commission fee from every product. So many videos now on TikTok are hidden advertisements that I constantly scroll by while stuck in an infinite scroll.
So, while it feels like procrastination, doomscrolling is really a product of intentional design. Algorithms are tailored towards you to keep you on the app for long enough that you see advertisements and buy more goods.