There’s a lot of bad news in the world. It’s easy to scroll through your phone and rarely find a positive story on your social media feeds. It’s leading to something called “doomscrolling.”
Dwight Widaman, Editor
As a 35-year-old news outlet, Metro Voice aims to give you the “whole” picture of the world – both good and bad. We always take the news seriously and use Matthew 26:41 to encourage Christians to take on the responsibility of informing themselves. “Watch and pray,” Jesus said, “so that you will not fall into temptation.”
“Watch the world around you so that you may pray more effectively,” we’ve encouraged.
This year we’ve accepted a greater responsibility and had a “self-check.” Did we publish enough “good” news? Were we finding the right balance of informing and inspiring?
A recent study made us question if we were contributing to the disorder known as existential anxiety, in which people begin to wonder about the meaning and purpose of existence. It can be brought on by spending too much time looking through frightening and depressing social media posts and bad news. This tendency, called “doomscrolling,” has been related to existential dread, according to a groundbreaking study reported in the Epoch Times and numerous other news outlets.
Data from 800 college students who regularly used social media, both in Iran and the US, was examined by researchers. They discovered that doomscrolling considerably raised the risk of existential distress in both groups, regardless of cultural differences. There are stark contrasts between the US and Iran, so you can imagine the significance of a study that finds the same social pattern.
“The existential aspects of news consumption, especially when it involves negatively toned news, are not thoroughly explored in psychological research,” said Reza Shabahang, the study’s lead author, in an interview.
Doomscrolling: A Digital Epidemic of Young and Old
Image: Pexels.
In today’s digital environment, when negative material is more prevalent than ever, Shabahang’s research is especially pertinent. Even while receiving bad news is not a novel experience, our interactions with it have evolved dramatically, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic. During this time, “doomscrolling,” a word used to characterize the obsessive behavior of searching for upsetting news, became popular. This behavior can cause feelings of overload, anxiety, and sadness.
Psychologist Ehab Youssef has observed an increase in these symptoms. According to Youssef, “It’s as if they’re carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, constantly bombarded with bad news that makes everything seem so bleak,” Youssef explained. He added that many people feel trapped in a cycle of negative news, and like a drug addict, are unable to stop.
The Effects of Bad News on the Mind
The American Psychological Association states that media-induced post-traumatic stress disorder may result from this ongoing exposure to unfavorable content. Those who regularly read about the pain of others may suffer from psychological consequences that are comparable to those of people who have witnessed the events firsthand.
Negative news has a tendency to capture our attention more quickly than happy stories. Positive terms in headlines or posts reduced engagement by 1%, while negative words had a 2.3% greater click-through rate, according to a 2023 study published in Nature Human Behavior.
Emotionally neutral news has decreased in frequency as media sources and social media platforms increasingly highlight content that encourages interaction, the news outlet concluded. Shabahang said that feelings like fear, hatred, disgust, and grief characterize a large portion of today’s media. Extended exposure to such material has the potential to challenge our fundamental convictions, making us wonder about the kindness of people and the meaning of life.
Before the advent of social media in the 2000s, most people held the belief that people were inherently nice according to psychologist Dr. Stacey Rosenfeld. That’s changed how we interact with each other. Today, we automatically question another’s motives, before we’ve even heard them speak.
But there’s a way to fix it
Psychologists say that our media and social media consumption needs to be deliberate and not something we naturally gravitate towards when bored anxious about an event. According to their research, limiting the news we take in can lessen existential anxiety symptoms.
They provide these tips that they say are doable and within reach of everyone to stop doomscrolling:
- Eliminating apps that promote consuming unfavorable news
- Selecting particular news sources as opposed to scrolling across feeds
- Removing phones from reach at night to prevent scrolling before bed
- Limiting the amount of time spent on social media and news
- Taking part in real-world pursuits, such as hobbies or quality time with loved ones
The study suggests that we be aware of the reasons behind our media consumption, as well as the ways in which it influences our feelings and ideas. By doing this, we can better control how much information we consume and keep a more positive outlook on our neighbors, co-workers, families and communities in general.
As for us at Metro Voice, we’ve now made a conscious effort to include as much good news with the expected “bad news” a media outlet must cover. Have you noticed?
While we may lose some followers who only want the “bad news,” I hope this new emphasis brings encouragement and hope to those looking for the positive side of life.
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice