'Doomscrolling' was for 2020 but it may as well have been the word that resonated the most with people all over the world. As Covid-19 took hold of all our lives we were beholden to our screens - even more so. What's the latest on lockdown? What are the Covid stats of the day? What happens next? These were some of the questions circling around in our heads as we refreshed our feeds again and again. And that's how doomscrolling was born - our constant drive to feed our need for information no matter how depressing the news maybe.
I found myself caught up in the doomscroll much like everyone else, constantly refreshing my feed to see whether there were new border closure announcements and if we would still be able to have the holiday we had planned during the school break, or to see what the latest was with Trump over in America. But then as 2020 started to taper off I found myself sick with anxiety before I had even opened up my social media apps.
The constant backbiting on my Twitter feed and rampant negativity was seeping into my bloodstream.
The constant backbiting on my Twitter feed and rampant negativity was seeping into my bloodstream. I saw feuds break out over state borders - something that previously had been done in jest was now driven by fear and anger.
Meanwhile American politics had lead to . Groups that had previously lived in the dark recesses of the web were now taking the main stage and being discussed at length on public forums. As much as it's good to keep your enemy close, how much does it empower them to be discussed on many of our social media platforms as they currently are? Does it make them a bigger threat than they are? And did I need to know as much as I did about them? That last question perhaps was the most important one of all - did I need to know every last detail? And what impact was that having on my mental health?
As the Christmas break drew closer I did the best thing I could for my mental health - I took a social media break.
As the Christmas break drew closer I did the best thing I could for my mental health - I took a social media break. As an avid Twitter user it was hard for me to delete the app, but I did because it had become necessary. I was becoming annoyed at some of the people I had been following for a number of years - people who I had never even met. And more than that, the fear and anxiety that many people were expressing on various social media platforms was starting to become part of my own worries. It needed to stop. And so I did. I deleted the app and only logged on on my laptop when I needed to for work - a necessity that's part and parcel of what I do.
I wasn't the only one of course. People all over the world were beginning to realise the spiral we had caught ourselves in needed to end.
The are real, with a number of scientists suggesting it could lead to the . But despite knowing that social media isn't that great for our wellbeing, we still continue to use it because of course we are addicted. I am too.
A month after I restricted my social media habit I was back online but this time things are different. I still haven't downloaded the Twitter app and I'm forcing myself into a habit of not checking my phone as much. It has taken a lot of practice but I'm slowly getting there. Of course we all start the new year with renewed hope that we will make some big changes and yet by the middle of the year many of us are back to our old habits. So I accept I may well be back to my social media usage levels from before, but at least I'm trying as much as possible to stop the doomscroll, before the scrolling has a major negative impact on my mental health.
