Here's What Doomscrolling Is Doing to Your Brain – And How to Fix It

Many people have experienced chronic stress. Climate crisis, increasing cost of living and threats to European and global security due to the conflict in Ukraine are some of the things added to this.

Some may think that there is no good news anymore. We can become locked into thinking it is when we spend too much screen time reading negative news.

Depression and anxiety can be promoted by the game. When watching a drama with sad events and sad music in the background, you may feel sad and exhausted.

If you watch a funny film or romantic comedy with lively music, you may feel good. The reason for this is due to two psychological phenomena.

Serotonin is a brain chemical that regulates mood and can drop when we are stressed or sad. Studies show that playing sad music can make healthy people feel worse. Depression and anxiety can be treated with pharmaceutical treatments.

A flourishing society is promoted by the virtue of empathy, a good trait which helps us live successfully with others. When viewing tragic world events on the news, excessive empathy can lead to ruminating on negative thoughts which can have an impact on our mental health and wellbeing. Negative thoughts can lead to depression.

Such conditions can have a huge effect on our minds, leading to cognitive impairments such as reduced attention or problems with memory and reasoning.

If negative information hijacks our attention and memory, it will drain cognitive power that could be used for other things. We feel more down when we are soaking up negative news and recording negative memories.

The longer we are stuck with a low mood, the harder it is for us to think. This is how we can become stuck, with a thought such as "this is never going to end" or "there is no good news", leading to feelings of powerlessness and helplessness.

You don't have to be depressed to have problems with attention. Technology can affect mental health and attention is critical for it.

One study looked at the effects of receiving real-time instant messages on mobile phones while studying for a test. The group who were interrupted by messages took longer to complete the test and experienced increased levels of stress compared to the group who were able to study without distraction. We know that distraction is a problem in attention deficit disorder.

The negative content we are consuming is not the only problem, the technology we are using to access it is also a problem. This could affect our performance at work, school or even in social settings.

Problems with attention can make us anxious. Over-focusing our attention on threatening things can be detrimental to our wellbeing. It can lead to repetitive checking behavior, which can be seen inOCD. We know that children with OCD have increased levels of anxiety.

What can we do about it? It is important to show resilience and gain mastery over the situation in order to avoid obsessive doom scrolling. Positive moments of respite are needed to do that.

Try to schedule something you enjoy that relaxes and de-stresses you daily, such as reading a good book, watching a fun film, visiting friends and family, or meditating. Learning a new language or playing a musical instrument can boost both mood and cognitive function.

Another way to control the situation is by taking action and supporting a charity that is helping civilians in Ukraine. The reward system in the brain is activated when you perform an act of kindness.

If you continue to be disturbed by doomscrolling, you may want to contact a clinical psychologist who can help you reduce this activity and its effects through the use of cognitive behavioral therapy. One study shows that it is possible to improve your mood by rewarding people for their performance on a cognitive test.

It is important to identify your goals in a modern world with many forms of technology and constant bombardment of stimulation. It's equally important to have a strategy for achieving them and avoiding distraction. For your sake and others, the bottom line is to stay positive and resilient.

If we are so depressed that we can't think of the best actions to take, what use are we in helping to solve difficult global challenges, such as conflict and climate change?

The University of Cambridge has a Professor of Clinical Neuroscience and a Post-Doctoral Research Associate.

This article is free to use under a Creative Commons license. The original article is worth a read.