There are two kinds of people: those who doomscroll and those who lie about it.
Maybe you doomscroll about an election or the next Seahawks game.
You might be obsessed with something that will never happen (zombie apocalypse) or a thing nobody talks about that is terrible and inevitable (Yellowstone supervolcano waking up, or the Iceland mega-eruption that happens every 300 years).
So you read story after story, watch endless Tiktoks, or scan tweet after tweet on the platform Elon Muskrat paid $44 billion to set on fire.
Here’s why you do it, why it’s so hard to quit, and what to do about it.
Why you do it
You read all you can find, right?
Because you care. The more you’re invested in a topic, the more you want to read.
I don’t give a frog’s whisker about the Kardashians, so I read ABSOLUTELY NOTHING written about them unless it’s a headline telling me the Kardashians have changed their names and gone into hiding. That I would check out.
I care about the Seahawks, so I consume all kinds of stories about our new coach, trades, upcoming games, and sports brainiacs explaining Coach Mike’s shifty and nifty defensive scheme until we lose the next game and LOSE OUR MINDS.
And I care about elections, and the war in Ukraine.
You probably have a similar list. Maybe three things you’re passionate / terrified about and one that you are HARD CORE about. Those are your doomscrolling monsters hiding in your pantry. Yeah, the closet is a myth. What can a monster eat in your closet, socks? The need some nutrients like anybody else. Cashews, chocolate chips, brown sugar, Rice Krispy Treats–real stuff.
Why it’s so hard to quit
You might feel like an addict, unable to quit doomscrolling.
I believe that’s normal. You do it because you care, deeply, about an issue. Maybe because the stakes are so high, or because it affects your neighborhood or family. Or maybe because you can’t remember the last time the Seahawks won a playoff game.
Unless you’re willing to chuck your phone in the ocean and cancel internet services, chances are you’ll keep doomscrolling until the thing either happens or doesn’t.
The other non-solution is simple: stop caring about that issue or topic. Wipe your brain of it.
Yeah, that’s not an answer.
What to do about it
Just for a day or two, track the time you spend doomscrolling. Roughly, not by the minute.
Maybe you stay up late at night, in bed, reading story after story about the election on your phone until the clock reads 2 a.m. and you can’t get back to sleep. Or you find yourself refreshing some favorite news sites multiple times a day, hungry for a fix.
Track that time and add up the minutes, or the hours.
Here’s what you do the next day: find ways to DO something about the thing you’re doomscrolling.
If it’s the offensive line of the Seahawks, get a side gig, hustle, and save up money for tickets. Because there are only two practical things that would actually help the cause: (1) training full time to become a stellar starting Left Guard or (2) showing up at home games to yell loud enough that San Francisco commits seven false start penalties.
If it’s an election or local issue, get in touch with people out there doing the work and use your doomscrolling time to DO SOMETHING.
If you’re obsessed with some kind of apocalyptic scenario, spend your previous doomscrolling hours lifting weights, learning bushcraft, and building your catamaran of the apocalypse, because WATERWORLD is a prophecy.
You get the idea. Because reading and thinking about a thing, relentlessly, feels like taking action. It takes energy and brainpower. But it doesn’t actually do anything.
Professional animal trainers understand this. They don’t try to directly correct animals when they misbehave. Instead, they train the animal to do something that’s physically incompatible with the bad behavior. Can’t do two contrary things at once.
That’s why the real solution to doomscrolling is DO-scrolling.
Do something positive and real about your obsession or worry.
After spending your normal doomscrolling time on actual labor that helps the problem, you’re going to actually feel better. And it’ll free up your attention for other important parts of your life, like going to the gym or taking that oil painting class you keep talking about.
Do it. Do it NOW–there is no tomorrow.
The Red Pen of Doom 