In modern-day schools and workplaces, we are taught that the reason why we feel unproductive is because of our attachment to our phones — the constant need to connect with others online and scroll through short-form content. However, access to the internet in this way is not new. It dates back to MySpace, Vine, and even earlier. Today’s issue with phones isn’t 15-second brainrot videos or Instagram memes, but rather the constant exposure to reality disguised as mindless media. Lately, it feels like everywhere we turn, we are constantly being bombarded by political information, most of it extremely distressing. This constant exposure to reality raises the question: is doomscrolling dead?
The issue with doomscrolling isn’t the doomscrolling itself, but the content we are exposed to while doing so. According to the World Press Institute, over 50% of Gen Z gets their news from social media. I’m sure this statistic doesn’t come as a surprise to most. Over the past few years, the line between social media and political content has blurred significantly. After less than five minutes of scrolling through TikTok, I came across 36 political videos. While a good chunk of these were directly from news outlets, a lot were also just satire videos meant to poke fun at political absurdity or try to make sense of serious and confusing situations, or even to celebrate successes. These videos were all over the map, from joyous celebrations about Mamdani’s mayoral win, to ICE raids, to fatal plane crashes, and everything in between — just in the span of five minutes and roughly 50 scrolls.Â
It takes active work for our brains to be able to purposefully decipher and comprehend news events, and having to do so rapidly between scrolls can be extremely stressful. We can be exposed to distressing human rights issues from all over the world, immediately causing us to believe we need to help with every global issue all at once. For those next 15 seconds, we are this cause’s biggest supporter. We are reading comments from thousands of people and making our own claims and judgments about the situation. And after less than a minute, we move on to the next; that issue we were once passionate about is long gone.Â
I think there is also something to be said about where we are getting our news from and how available certain information is outside of social media. A lot of times, official news outlets can be confusing, unclear, or even inaccessible — many of which are behind paywalls. It is also hard to put what we see on the news into context. Getting news on social media seemingly does all of this for you in one smooth process: you get to see firsthand accounts and opinions all at once. However, this also means that a lot of the information found on social media is not true. Even though it seems as though news via social media is easier to follow, a lot of the time it actually isn’t. While sometimes the information we see on social media is accurate, there is unfortunately no way of knowing immediately whether it is true or false, so most time it is better to just stay away.Â
Trust me, I’m as much of a doomscroller as anyone else my age. At the end of a long day, all I want to do is mindlessly scroll through videos. The simple tasks of reading a book or picking a show to watch seem like too much mental gymnastics after a particularly stressful day. There is no choice or thought when it comes to social media. The only decision you have to make is choosing to open the app. Once you start scrolling, what you previously thought would be a relaxing, mind-numbing experience quickly turns into an onslaught of the day’s events cycling through at a rapid pace. Personally, when I want to scroll, I want to do it to get away from reality, even just for a few minutes. This activity has now turned into something that pushes us further into the extremes of reality without us even realizing it. While it may not be what you want to hear, sometimes the best option is just to stop scrolling. Mindless scrolling is dead, and trying to bring it back will only cause you more stress. Getting out of that reality spiral is difficult, but it is unnecessary to push yourself further in.
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