What is Doomscrolling and How CBT Therapy May Help

A new habit has emerged recently where people struggle to get off their phones at the end of the day. It is a slang word used to describe a situation where people get inside their beds and continuously keep scrolling their phones to check out what is going on in the world instead of sleeping. They happen to come across bad news after another, yet they keep at it. This self-destructive behavior has become so popular that it has been labeled down scrolling. Experts believe that the recent happenings in the world where people have been stuck at home due to the coronavirus pandemic have had a significant role to play in all this. Unfortunately, the habit of scrolling down our devices to find more disturbing news continues to destroy most people’s mental health. These experts believe that people need to stop the infectious habit of scrolling down their phones to find even more disturbing news with each passing day. Instead, they should find a way to ensure they engage in healthier activities as an alternative. It appears as though many journalists identify with this behavior, and many acknowledge that it has been a weakness they have dealt with for years. Unfortunately, psychologists believe that this behavior of doomscrolling does us no good but traps us in the vicious cycle of negativity, something no one wants to deal with. The grim kind of content has the power to throw us off-balance and make everything seem gloomy. As such, it could contribute to the high levels of anxiety most people suffer from today.

Interestingly, the sad news makes you doubt and develop even more fear, pushing you to check for more information. Consequently, the cycle of negativity continues, and the negative consequences compound even more. However, doctors have tried a few techniques to help people deal with this highly destructive behavior. One expert specializing in cognitive therapy has a few suggestions to contain this behavior.

Setting a Timer

Experts have resorted to helping people manage their scrolling time. This means they have to set timers to help them get out of this bad habit. Experts understand that it may be impossible to have people quit a habit they are so used to, especially if it is done abruptly. They may even sink deeper into the habit if the resolution is rushed or forced. Therefore, most experts have decided to take a gradual approach and treat the issue to focus on helping their clients gradually minimize the time spent on this bad habit. It means that they will slowly learn how to spend less time online, so they do not have to keep scrolling and read more of the negative content. These experts have realized that the solution is unnecessary to have the affected people avoid going online. Still, it is more of helping them minimize their hours on sites with harmful content. Having time limits is the first step to achieving this goal.

Staying Focused

This has to do with training yourself to be deliberate with the content you want to access. Every time you go online, your focus should be on finding positive and relevant content. This means that every time you open a site to scroll and read through posted content, you want to remind yourself why you are there and the exact type of content you want to access. This may seem like an easy thing to do until you find yourself in a situation where you must check again and keep reminding yourself. The idea is to keep in touch with the content type that builds you and helps fuel your positive energy instead of one that beats you up and pushes you towards the negative.

Find Better Activities to Do

In most cases, you may struggle to ditch a behavior because you do not have another one to swap it with. Develop hobbies that can be replaced with this bad habit. For instance, instead of going online to search for negative content, you could invest your time by chatting with friends. Talk about the good times and encourage each other instead of doomscrolling. Suppose you tend to doomscroll during the day. In that case, you should look for positive activities such as hanging out with friends, enjoying your favorite meal or snack, and other building activities that will improve your character and creativity instead of an activity that stresses you out.

4-step strategy Alternative

Besides using the suggested approach to deal with the doomscrolling menace, a different 4-step strategy can also help improve matters. The CBT therapy should be as follows:

1. Identification of the Problem

You only get to resolve an issue if you fully understand what it is about. Take time to know why you keep going to sites full of negative information. Define with clarity what doom scrolling or surfing is since this is the only way you can tackle it appropriately. Once you pinpoint the behavior’s negative elements, you can tackle that successfully. For instance, it is essential to know that not all online surfing is bad, and also, not all news is negative. Some of the content you find online can be quite useful and informative. The important thing is to be deliberate about choosing content that positively builds you.

2. Minimize Your Exposure to the Content

This is an approach that follows your problem understanding. It calls for one to limit their time to access the negative and destructive content. Once you know what comprises the negative behavior, do everything possible to minimize exposure to this kind of content. Use whatever means possible to help you take charge and control the exposure time. This may mean using apps and other reminders to help you train yourself. Consider adding steps to the process of surfing. This means that you set the phone so that it prompts you to remember by either asking you about the next step or something similar. This way, every move you make will be a conscious one, and you will not regret your choices. You can also consider making the behavior difficult by ensuring you cannot reach your phone with so much ease. Cutting off access entirely is also an excellent way to handle this.

3. Replace the Doomscrolling With a Healthy Habit

Simply choose positive and rewarding behaviors and ditch those that push you into bad behavior.

4. Repeat the Process Severally Until It Sticks

The best way to get rid of a bad habit is simply changing to a new one and doing it several times until it sticks. This means that you can easily ditch the bad habit of doomscrolling by simply ensuring that you adopt new practices. Keep finding ways to improve yourself, and if you do it long enough, you never have to worry about specific outcomes.

In the end, doomscrolling does more than it will ever do good. Invest in changing this habit, and you will be rewarded as long as you are deliberate and committed. You should be ready to put in the work because it will not be as easy as it seems. Getting out of a bad habit may most often seem easy, but it can be the most challenging thing anyone can do, so you need to be prepared.