I hear it all the time and I always thought it is when you can’t stop scrolling? And it’s a bad thing too. So could you maybe give an example and explain what it is and say why it is so bad?
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It’s when you allow yourself to get stuck reading negative news in an unproductive, harmful way. The “doom” comes from the fact that doing so can leave you feeling hopeless: if you continually consume stories about problems and tragedy that you can’t do anything about, it can leave you feeling hopeless.
So someone who already feels anxious might feel drawn to reading about scary, upsetting news, which validates their feeling of anxiety, which drives them to continue consuming scary, upsetting information. This becomes a feedback loop: the more the read, the more anxious they get, the more the feel like they need to be prepared, which drives them to read more.
It’s not healthy to constantly focus on problems that are beyond you to deal with. It’s important to break out of doomscrolling and focus on the things in your life you CAN do something about, as well as allowing yourself time for positivity. It’s fine to want to stay informed (and probably not healthy to completely isolate yourself from the real problems out there), but you can’t let it become an obsession.
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