If you find yourself endlessly scrolling on social media, taking in all of the news and opinions of the day, you may actually be doing something called “Doom Scrolling”.
While it may seem like just a bad habit that you’ll need to get out of, new research from Flinders University has found that it could actually be re-shaping your perception of reality and severely impacting your mental health.
In fact, if this study is anything to go by, breaking the habit could just change your life.
Lead author, Mr Reza Shabahang from the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work said: “Doom Scrolling can have some dire consequences on our mental health and wellbeing leaving us feeling stress, anxiety, despair and questioning the meaning of life.”
I’ll take the hit here and admit that I definitely am very prone to both Doom Scrolling and falling into the pits of despair. It’s perhaps not entirely surprising that the two are often related.
Shabahang explained: “By being exposed to images and information about traumatic events, people have been found to experience symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) such as anxiety and despair.”
Doom Scrolling was associated with existential anxiety, including worries about existence, life, and death in both the Iranian and American people surveyed by the researchers, and was a significant predictor of misanthropy in Iranian people.
Yikes.
Shabahang urged that we should be more mindful of our social media usage saying: “We suggest that people pay attention to how much time they are spending on social media and to be aware of the impact it is having on their emotions, thoughts and feelings, especially when it comes to negative news and events
“It’s a good idea to keep track of how much time you spend Doom Scrolling and start making changes to reduce that time if it’s problematic.”
