The habit of spending hours reading news on social networks has already become a reality in most people's lives. However, since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, this has intensified and is growing more and more.
Both in Brazil and in other parts of the world, the media is full of negative news. They are scandals and unpleasant facts that cause uncomfortable feelings and, in some cases, even trauma.
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For this reason, nowadays surfing the internet has become synonymous with a real dip in this sea of bad information, a trend that has been called “doomscrolling” out there.
But what is doomscrolling?
The term "doomscrolling“, which evidently comes from the English language, is composed of a combination of the words “doom”, which has Christian origin and refers to the doomsday, and “scrolling”, which refers to the act of scrolling the mouse or finger across the screen to view publications or news on networks social.
Therefore, considering this junction of meanings, we can say that “doomscrolling” is the definitive word to express the tendency, sometimes unconscious, to navigate through negative news.
These days, this bad news can come from anywhere and on any subject, from the recent coronavirus pandemic, to the war in Ukraine, through political problems and disasters natural.
And the worst thing is that, although this habit is harmful, it is possible that we end up falling into it, and part of the responsibility can be attributed to our own brain.
This is because we are programmed to pay more attention to the negative aspects of life, which, in fact, is an evolutionary tool that has greatly served our own survival as a species.
This habit can be very harmful.
In the past, human beings had their brains programmed to pay attention to the accidents that occurred around them. This ability was the main way he learned to avoid problems.
However, the world evolved and instead of attacks by wild animals or other humans, our brains began to detect disasters more easily.
It's fair to say that in the modern world this ability has the potential to backfire on us, as paying excessive attention to negative news can overwhelm our minds.
As an example of this, it has already been proven that doomscrolling can cause or exacerbate various psychological and psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, depression and feelings of isolation.
Affected people may also have sleep disorders, drop in productivity at work and even social phobia. In addition, individuals who tend to have heart problems or high blood pressure may experience worsening health conditions.
4 tips to eliminate doomscrolling from your life
As you've seen so far, doomscrolling is not beneficial at all. To avoid this problem, follow these tips:
- practice physical exercises, because in addition to being a great way to take care of the body, this practice helps improve mental health in many ways;
- Try to read only positive news when checking your social media profiles;
- find a hobby, such as reading, practicing sports, fishing and even playing video games in your spare time;
- Block or delete your profiles on social networks, if you feel this is necessary.
Mental health is one of our most precious assets. Take care of yours!
Graduated in History and Human Resources Technology. Passionate about writing, today he lives the dream of acting professionally as a Content Writer for the Web, writing articles in different niches and different formats.