Lindsay McMahon
"The English Adventurer"

Do you doom scroll?

Have you heard of this common trend in English?

With so much going on in the world today, it’s quite possible that you have gotten pulled into all of the negative news that is out there.

Today we’re looking at what exactly doom scrolling is, how it’s come to be so common, and even what you can do to be aware and combat it in your life.

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Negativity Can Be Everywhere

So you may have heard people talk about the idea of doom scrolling, as it may come about often.

Perhaps you have heard this term used in English, as it has become a common topic and way of exploring the Internet lately.

To give you some background, we touched on this in a previous episode which lead us to this very topic as it’s so pertinent.

We did an episode a while back on the idiom “go down the rabbit hole”, and in that we mentioned that we wanted to talk about doom scrolling.

You’ll want to check out that episode first so you can get an idea of what this whole concept is all about.

What Does To Go Down The Rabbit Hole Mean In English?

So what is doom scrolling or doom surfing as you may hear it called?

We’re going to look into this as it’s a common topic of conversation right now.

There’s an article on this topic that can be very helpful to you to check out, as it can offer you some insight into the topic.

Your ‘Doomscrolling’ Breeds Anxiety. Here’s How To Stop The Cycle July 19, 20206:28 AM ET Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday Lulu Garcia-Navarro 2017 square LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO https://www.npr.org/2020/07/19/892728595/your-doomscrolling-breeds-anxiety-here-s-how-to-stop-the-cycle

This article talks a lot about what doom scrolling is, and the issues that this may bring about.

As you may expect, though it is common, it can really be a rather negative behavior that you want to be aware of.

Even if you don’t partake in this on a daily basis, you want to be aware of it in case others that you know participate in this.

We’re going to look at this common trend, what it is, and how it has come to be so prevalent with people.

With everything going on in the world, it’s no wonder that doom scrolling has become such a common trend—so we’re going to help you to understand it and hopefully avoid it moving forward.

Breaking This All Down

So you want to read the article above as it will give you some helpful background on this topic.

Let’s start however by understanding the basics here, because you want to know what this is and what you are dealing with.

When you look at the trend of doom scrolling, it’s really a very simple albeit negative topic.

Basically, the word “doom” is negative and talks about bad things—and then the word “scrolling” or “surfing” has to do with moving around on the Internet.

So you put this all together and the word comes out which can give you an indication of what this is and why it’s so common right now.

Doom scrolling or doom surfing is essentially checking things out on the Internet that are negative in nature.

When you are doom scrolling, you are checking out and getting lost in all of the bad news out there on the Internet.

You may often do this from your phone or even laptop when you have free time.

You may seek out the negative or bad news, or it may come to you and you end up getting lost in it.

With everything going on in the world these days, it’s easy to find a lot of negative news out there and so this trend has become very common.

Is this the same thing as going down the rabbit hole?

Yes it can be because it’s as if you open up yourself to a wide array of negative material—but it goes even further than that.

It’s specifically about bad stuff here, and that’s why it differs from the rest and it’s based in modern day online content on the Internet.

An Unintentional Common Trend

The reality is that so many of us can be guilty of doom scrolling, even without meaning to.

It may just be that you continue to watch the news or read the articles, even though it’s often centered around so many negative stories.

It can be hard to tear yourself away, as this is what so many of us experience!

Does this seem hard to understand?

There was a quote in the article that may help you to understand why you partake in this common trend.

On NPR, Dr. Amelia Aldao , a clinical psychologist, says:

“Our minds are wired to look out for threats,” she says. “The more time we spend scrolling, the more we find those dangers, the more we get sucked into them, the more anxious we get.” “Now you look around yourself, and everything feels gloomy, everything makes you anxious. So you go back to look for more information.”

It’s so interesting because it seems like in a way, we are trying to feel better by learning more.

This is counterintuitive though because the news is all bad, and so it may not make sense!

It may be hard to ultimately understand why you do it exactly, but Dr. Aldao’s explanation above can give you a bit of insight into this.

It may also be that with so many questions in the world today, it is easy to desire more information.

Does doom scrolling ever help you to feel better?

Do you ever get any actual answers?

On NPR, Dr. Aldao also gives some tips for working through doom scrolling such as using a timer, being aware, and knowing your goals for searching for something.

You can see if you accomplish your goal, and then try to do something fun and connect with others to combat the negativity in the news.

You may also hear another term used in this area which is “all doom and gloom.”

The idea is the same, in that you are taking in a lot of negative thoughts and news.

This idea is really all about your state of mind too, in that the negative news can get to you after awhile and make you feel down.

See this example so that you can see how this may be discussed in conversation, as it is likely to come up fairly frequently.

Lindsay: “Hey Michelle. Stop doom scrolling. You’ve been all doom and gloom lately.”

Michelle: “You’re right. Thanks for the reminder.”

Takeaway

Do you doomscroll?

Do you feel as if you get sucked into a lot of negative news these days?

It can be good to put a name to it, and then you can recognize what it is and try to stop it!

The reality is that there is a lot of negative news out there these days, and you don’t want to get sucked into it.

You may find yourself interested in some of the news out there, but you don’t want the negativity to take over your day.

Doom scrolling is a common trend, but hopefully with some awareness you can combat it and ensure that it doesn’t take over your life.

If you have any questions, please leave them below in the comments section.

We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

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