Doomscrolling can lead to existential crises, study suggests

Health in a Heartbeat

Ever caught yourself endlessly scrolling through troubling news and feeling defeated? Read a headline that left you needing to put your phone down and stare into space? Do you wonder how an endless supply of information is affecting you?

Well, you’re not the only one. A new study from Flinders University [Flin-drz] suggests that doomscrolling isn’t just a harmless habit — it might be reshaping how we view life itself. Findings suggest that routine, habitual consumption of negative news can lead to a profound shift in our outlook on humanity and the meaning we construct from our lives.

Researchers found that scrolling through negative or disturbing stories can result in a kind of vicarious trauma, or one where you experience negative psychological impacts without directly going through the trauma yourself.

In their study, the researchers surveyed 800 university students from Iran and the United States, to better understand two culturally distinct groups and how they might respond to repeated negative news or stories. Participants reported how often they engaged in doomscrolling, their feelings about their existence, and their worldview — like whether the world is a fair place, and how they felt about humanity.

The results? Doomscrolling was linked to increased existential anxiety in both the American and Iranian groups.

Most days, we’re inundated, so it can be hard to keep tabs on how much time we spend consuming negative news. But this study, and pre-digital generations, remind us that taking breaks from social media and paying attention to our emotional well-being is crucial.