Doomscrolling When You're Already Anxious

A crisis breaks somewhere in the world, and you begin to check. You check the news, then social media, then back to the news. An hour later you know every detail of a situation you cannot change, and you feel worse than when you started. You check again.

Doomscrolling during anxious times is not curiosity and not masochism. It is the mind doing what anxious minds do: seeking information to reduce uncertainty. The problem is that a feed provides volume without resolution.

Why anxiety drives the search

Researchers use the term intolerance of uncertainty for the difficulty some people have with not knowing. A meta-analysis of 181 studies found a moderate association between intolerance of uncertainty and symptoms across anxiety-related conditions [1]. In a nonclinical sample, intolerance of uncertainty predicted worry above and beyond other variables, including anxiety sensitivity and perceived control [5].

When something threatening is happening and the outcome is uncertain, the mind pushes you toward information. This is not irrational. In many situations, gathering information helps you plan and respond. The trouble starts when the information is bottomless and the uncertainty is not the kind that more reading can resolve.

A news feed during a crisis fits this description exactly. There is always one more update, one more opinion, one more angle. Each new piece gives a brief hit of “now I know,” followed by a new question that pulls you back. The cycle mimics the anxiety cycle itself: discomfort, a safety behavior, brief relief, return of discomfort.

What the surveys show

Several studies looked at news consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic:

• In a US nationally representative sample of 6,514 people surveyed over multiple waves, greater media exposure during the pandemic was associated with increased distress [2].
• In a German online survey of 6,233 adults, time spent consuming COVID-19-related media was associated with more anxiety and depression symptoms [3].
• A longitudinal survey of 800 adults found that both social media and traditional media consumption were negatively associated with mental health symptoms during the pandemic [4].

These studies share a limitation: they cannot show direction. It is plausible that anxious people seek more news, that more news feeds anxiety, or both. The loop is likely bidirectional, which is what many people’s experience suggests.

A fictional example

The following is an illustrative example, not a real person’s story.

Ravi hears about a natural disaster on the morning news. He checks his phone on the way to work. At his desk he refreshes the news site between tasks. During lunch he reads social media threads about rescue efforts, then checks again on a different site. By evening he has spent three cumulative hours reading about the disaster. He feels drained, anxious and oddly guilty that he cannot do more.

If someone asked Ravi why he kept checking, he would say he wanted to know whether things were getting better. But that question never reaches an answer in a feed. The situation is still developing. The next update arrives. The uncertainty remains.

What the scrolling is not giving you

Each check promises resolution and delivers more material. The pattern has several features worth noticing:

• New information stops helping early. After the first few checks, you have the essential facts. Further reading provides detail, repetition and speculation, which increase arousal without reducing uncertainty.
• Social media adds emotional intensity. Personal stories, outrage and speculation sit alongside factual reporting, which raises the emotional temperature without adding clarity.
• The feed never signals “you have read enough.” There is no endpoint. The session continues until you decide to stop, which is hardest when anxiety is high and the need for certainty is strongest.

A monitoring plan instead of an open feed

The goal is not ignorance. It is a check that serves you rather than consuming you.

1. Choose a fixed time. Once or twice a day, at set times. Morning and evening is enough for most situations. Avoid checking first thing when you wake up, when your defenses are lowest.
2. Choose a finite source. A single trusted news site, a daily newsletter, or a radio bulletin has an ending. A social media feed does not.
3. Set a timer. Ten or fifteen minutes. When the timer goes, close the tab or app. You will know enough.
4. Write down what you learned. A brief note forces the mind to consolidate. It also reveals whether the latest check taught you anything new. If the answer is the same as last time, the monitoring interval can be longer.
5. Notice the urge to check again. When the pull returns before your next scheduled check, write down what you are hoping to learn. If the answer is “that everything is okay,” recognize that the feed cannot give you that.

When doomscrolling follows a personal worry

Not all doomscrolling is about the news. The same pattern can appear around a personal situation: checking a text thread, refreshing an email inbox, searching symptoms. The mechanism is the same. Uncertainty is uncomfortable, the device offers a way to seek information, and the information does not resolve the discomfort.

If the checking is about a personal situation, the articles on checking your phone during conversations and why you keep scrolling when you’re no longer enjoying it may help with the specific pattern.

When to talk to someone. If monitoring the news has become compulsive, if it takes up hours of your day, if you cannot sleep because of it, or if the anxiety persists well beyond the acute event, talk to a doctor or therapist. Generalized anxiety disorder involves chronic, excessive worry that is hard to control, and it is treatable. If you are in distress or having thoughts of harming yourself, contact emergency services or a crisis line now: in the UK, Samaritans on 116 123; in the US, call or text 988.