Dear Editor,

“Doom scrolling” is the habit of spending excessive time on the phone scrolling. Everyone is a victim of it. It takes away valuable time and makes us robots. It can take place anywhere: bathroom, classroom, meeting, restaurant, even walking across the street. It needs change because it’s affecting people of all ages. People get used to making it a habit in their daily routine.

It started to take off as early as 2018. As we were in quarantine in 2020 that’s when it was at its peak as we were stuck in our homes. One of the main reasons why we doom scroll is to avoid uncomfortable situations and to deal with stress. Avoiding these situations allow us to numb our emotions and push what’s really important aside.

According to the article Medical News Today (2025), doom scrolling can contribute to negative effects such as anger, sadness and anxiety. A study from 2024 involving contributors from Iran and the U.S  found that doom scrolling was connected to increased anxiety. It also came with the exposure to physical symptoms such as sleeping problems and headaches. The study shows how doom scrolling isn’t just a mindless habit, but a detrimental affect towards our health and how we live in our day-to-day lives.

As a college student, I see how doom scrolling is easy to get caught into. I am a victim myself of waking up and pulling the phone out; or when I struggle to go to sleep, I pull out my phone for some scrolls until I pass out. It reduces our brain activity and decreases our attention span to the point where we can’t tell you what the video three scrolls about was, or even fully concentrate for minute-long and above videos.

Doom scrolling produces social media panic, which puts your brain to what to keep up with breaking news or tik tok drama. FOMO, or Fear of missing out, is also a huge part of it. Not being able to go to that party or event, and then something big happens, makes you want to dive deeper, finding every detail into what happened that day.

Sincerely,

Tramayne Shivers