Doomscrolling: The Psychology of Why We Can’t Put Our Phones Down

Written by Annie, on work experience placement with NW Counselling Hub CIC,

Reviewed by Dr Stephen Hopkins, registered Counsellor.

How often do you reach for your phone to check a message, only to be pulled into a wormhole of pointless, attention-seizing content? So what is doomscrolling? It’s spending excessive time scrolling through negative, worrying content on social media, like the news or politics. Recent UK research suggests the average adult is on track to spend nearly five years of their life on unintentional phone use, and more than half of us regularly check work apps outside of working hours. If you’ve ever wondered why can’t I stop doomscrolling, the truth is that this isn’t really your fault, there are algorithms at work, deliberately crafting a feed of content designed to keep you engaged on a platform for hours.

Why Can’t We Stop? The Role of Negativity Bias

Your brain actually has a negativity bias, a neurological tendency to focus on and emphasise negative experiences over positive ones. This was once an extremely useful trait: identifying threats and danger, like predators, gave our ancestors a survival advantage. Today, though, this feature of our brain is capitalised on by social media platforms, regardless of the longer-term effects on polarisation and anxiety. Platforms show us negative, provocative information because it holds our attention and keeps us on the app for longer. In turn, this can influence people to feel threatened or angry towards those with opposing beliefs, so people become more divided and extreme rather than working together.

The Reward Loop Behind Doomscrolling

Another reason doomscrolling consumes so much of our time is how algorithms exploit our reward-seeking systems. The unpredictable nature of whether the next piece of content will be interesting creates what’s known as a variable ratio of reinforcement. Because there’s a seemingly random chance the next piece of content could be boring or interesting, your brain releases a small amount of dopamine in anticipation of what might come next. Dopamine is associated with pleasure and reward, it’s a bit like a form of engagement gambling. You become hooked, curious to see whether the next swipe will reveal something exciting or something unremarkable.

The Impact on Your Mental and Physical Health

Regardless of how addictive it feels, doomscrolling can have a real effect on both your mental and physical health. Sitting in one position for a prolonged period can cause aches, like shoulder and back pain, and it can also trigger our fight, flight or freeze response, raising stress hormones and blood pressure. More concerningly, it can affect brain functioning in other areas too. Our brains are highly plastic and changeable, and the artificial, unnatural triggering of dopamine can make the slower, less overstimulating pace of real life harder to engage with and enjoy. This is part of why doomscrolling anxiety is such a common experience, the more we scroll, the harder it can become to switch off and feel settled.

How to Stop Doomscrolling

Building new habits can help stop you being dragged into the damaging depths of doom. This isn’t always an easy habit to break, and that doesn’t make you a weak person, the algorithm is designed to be genuinely difficult to resist. But the more aware you are of its tricks, the more equipped you’ll be to work against them. A few things that can help:

• Keep your phone out of arm’s reach at night – in a different room, if possible.
• Put your phone into greyscale mode to make scrolling less visually rewarding.
• Plan activities away from social media, like baking, being in nature, or socialising with friends.
• Set screen time restrictions on the apps you find hardest to put down.

When Doomscrolling Might Be Something More

For many of us, doomscrolling is an occasional, if frustrating, habit. But if it’s leaving you feeling persistently anxious, low, or disconnected from real life, it may be a sign that anxiety or phone addiction more broadly is affecting your wellbeing. Get in touch with our team if you’d like support working through it.

FAQs

Is doomscrolling a form of addiction?

Doomscrolling isn’t a formal clinical diagnosis, but it shares features with behavioural addictions, particularly the variable reward loop that keeps you scrolling for “just one more” update. Phone addiction is a growing concern, so if it’s affecting your day-to-day life, it’s worth taking seriously.

Why do I doomscroll when I’m anxious?

When we’re anxious, we often seek information to try to feel more in control. Doomscrolling can feel like it’s helping in the moment, but it tends to trigger the fight, flight or freeze response and reinforce anxious thinking rather than easing it.