Some thoughts on my flatmate’s doomscrolling habits
“chocolate mug cake recipe no eggs”
“nintendo wii met controllers kopen”
“How do I tell my flatmate that I don’t care about Russia’s current military prowess”
Now, clearly one of these is not like the others. And no, I’m not talking about the chocolate mug cake, although I can confirm that it was really good (here’s the recipe). And really, it’s not like I don’t care about war or the state of the world, no, my studies and just how I am as a person unfortunately make nonchalance really hard. Really, it’s more the fact that lately (and by lately, I mean for the past 8 months), every time I walk into the living room, I am immediately met with what feels like a war bulletin that a government official would shout in the town square. Or something like that.
It’s not even my flatmate’s fault, he can’t help it. Doomscrolling can be a real addiction, and, turns out, it’s really bad for everyone involved. So bad that somebody created a whole twitter account dedicated to reminding people to stop doomscrolling.
For those who don’t know, doomscrolling is a fairly new term given to the act of spending “an excessive amount of screen time devoted to the absorption of negative news.” (On ‘Doomsurfing’ and ‘Doomscrolling,’ n.d.). The way I initially conceptualized it, you’re actively going out of your way to read and absorb a huge amount of negative information that you can’t do anything about. As an outsider that tries not to partake in this, it really sounds like the worst activity. But then again, it always depends on how you look at it, right?
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
Wrong. Well, kinda? There’s no inherent silver lining about doomscrolling. Various studies are already showing how detrimental the continuous absorption of bad news is to one’s mental health (I really want to say duh). But while my brain actively tells me to avoid it, other people’s brains actively crave this endless consumption of information.
My reasoning is, there’s nothing I can personally do to fix all these things that are happening, hence there’s no reason for me to fixate on them. I’d only feel overwhelmed and useless – the only possible outcome that my brain fathoms are negative.
However, after talking to my flatmate about this, I realized that this is not everybody’s thought process.
The way he explained it to me was very effective: he compared the act of needing to know a lot about any distressing topic to a horror movie.
Good horror movies are oftentimes especially good also because they do not show the monster for as long as possible. That sense of mystery, and not knowing what exactly one is facing, can induce a lot of psychological terror to anyone. In his opinion, the urge to doomscroll comes from that part of his brain trying to identify what the big monsters in his life are.
“Taking away the fear is partly knowing the limits and boundaries of that fear, right? Knowing what the monster can and cannot do”
My flatmate Rutger, October 2022
In his mind, Russia’s foreign policies nowadays are very scary. Which is, you know, understandable, with Putin promising nuclear warfare to a new opposing force almost every week. By knowing how exactly Russia can hurt us, what types of nukes they have and where they would launch them and when, he strives to gain control over whatever part of his life he still can. The only problem is that this attempt at gaining control only works so well, as I will often find him on his phone or his laptop researching the same topics over and over, in an endless vicious cycle where information calls for more information.
I tried it myself: I sat down, opened Twitter (which is already a mistake in itself), looked up the hashtags #Ukraine and #Russia, and let the flood of opinions articles, memes and internet fights wash over me for a good 20 minutes.
And in the end, it felt like I didn’t really gain anything other than a huge amount of void information. I felt overwhelmed, too overwhelmed to actually make use of those same news I just read.
I hate to sound like my mother, but like, put down your phone and go outside or something? I wouldn’t know really, but maybe we all should try it – my flatmate in primis. I really need him to stop telling me about Russian tanks.
SOURCES
On ‘Doomsurfing’ and ‘Doomscrolling.’ (n.d.). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/doomsurfing-doomscrolling-words-were-watching
Chiou, J. (2018, February 13). The Moistest Chocolate Mug Cake—Mug Cake For One or Two—No Eggs! Table for Two® by Julie Chiou. https://www.tablefortwoblog.com/the-moistest-chocolate-mug-cake/
Doomscrolling Reminder Bot [@doomscroll_bot]. (2022, October 10). Hi, are you doomscrolling? This website continues to be full of bad opinions and will still be here tomorrow. You still deserve time to rest and recover. [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/doomscroll_bot/status/1579313162284765184
Yang, J. (n.d.). Im-271377 (553×369). Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://images.wsj.net/im-271377?width=860&size=1.5057471264367817
Thank you for this entry about doomscrolling, and mug cake. I also doomscroll quite a bit, and it does get overwhelming too. What I’d recommend to your flatmate, is to set up an alt-account with only positive and wholesome things or news. It is not the solution to his craving of information, but it can be a helpful gateway.
Agree with heurtebise’s comment, definitely make sure to include positive news too. I recommend @jessicakleczka (Instagram)’s “positive climate news of the week” posts to begin with, as well as just generally following positive and fun accounts and sticking to the home feed. For me, it helps satisfy that desire for news while still having more control over what I see. Of course, it’s going to take longer to kick the habit of clicking on the explore pages :’)