#doomscrolling

[jmtorres]

doomscrolling is not activism

doomscrolling is not activism

doomscrolling is not activism

"don't look away" is a meaningless phrase. who are you benefiting by inundating yourself with misery porn?

DO something about things you care about. Go to a protest for something you believe in, if you can. Donate money to a cause if you have it to spare. Volunteer your time to help people if you have the energy. Write a letter to your political representatives if that's something you can do. These are meaningful ways to try to make change in the world.

And then? don't feel bad about insulating yourself from horrible news. Don't make yourself look at images that make you feel sick. Don't read endless things that depress you. Because frankly it gets harder to actually do the more you doomscroll. Reading constantly about things you can't change because they're happening at a systemic level or on the other side of the world is paralyzing. It makes you less able to help where you can.

I'm not saying be willfully ignorant. I'm not saying pretend horrible things aren't happening. I'm saying don't destroy your mental health going in-depth and cycling through horror after horror on your phone. I'm saying there is no virtue in making yourself experience other people's traumas because mere awareness is not activism. you inflicting suffering on yourself is not activism.

doomscrolling is literally sapping your energy and focus away from doing anything useful to help other people. you can burn yourself out without ever lifting a finger by exposing yourself to all the bad news in the world and who does that help? no one.

[glowettee]

your dream life is jealous of how much time you spend doomscrolling.

hey sweethearts!! mindy hereeeee, so i've realized something… like how we're all literally addicted to our phones?? and how our dream lives are sitting somewhere in the corner of our minds, pouting and wondering why we never hang out anymore??

i had this moment last week where i realized i'd spent THREE HOURS scrolling through videos of people organizing their fridges (which like… is satisfying but also?? what am i doing with my life). and then i had this thought that actually shook me: what if my future self could see how i'm spending my time right now? would she be proud or would she be like "girl… what are you DOING?"

the truth is that our phones are literally engineered to be more interesting than our real lives. they're designed by actual geniuses who understand our brain chemistry better than we do. it's not a fair fight!! and yet we blame ourselves for not having "enough willpower" which is honestly just mean??

✧ why we're all trapped in the doom-scroll cycle:

our phones deliver perfectly timed dopamine hits (the happy brain chemical!!) that make us feel momentarily good but leave us wanting more

the algorithm knows exactly what will keep us scrolling (it's literally studying us)

our brains are wired to seek novelty and our phones offer infinite novelty

real life has friction and requires effort; scrolling requires zero effort

we use our phones to escape uncomfortable emotions that actually need processing

the comparison trap makes us feel like we're "researching" our dream life rather than building it

i realized something that changed everything for me: the time i spend consuming other people's lives is time i'm not creating my own. and like… that's the whole game??

✧ how to break free (in ways that actually work):

identify your "scroll triggers" - for me it's when i feel anxious about my work, when i first wake up, and weirdly when i'm hungry?? once you know your triggers you can create little alternate pathways

create "phone-free zones" in your home - i have a little basket by my front door where my phone goes when i come home, and my bedroom is completely phone-free (i bought an actual alarm clock like it's 2005 and honestly?? life-changing)

practice the "dopamine pause" - when you feel the urge to reach for your phone, pause for 60 seconds. just sit with the discomfort. often the urge will pass, and if it doesn't, at least you're making a conscious choice

redesign your home screen to be boring af - delete all social apps from your home screen, make everything grayscale, turn off all notifications except calls/texts from actual humans who matter

schedule specific "input" and "output" times - block 30 minutes for consumption and 90 minutes for creation. your ratio should always favor creation over consumption

try "analog hour" before bed - read physical books, write with pen and paper, stare at the ceiling and let your mind wander (this is where all my best ideas come from tbh)

use the "future self" visualization - whenever you're about to fall into a scroll hole, close your eyes and visualize your future self. what would she want you to do with this precious hour of your life?

create ✧ focus-core ✧ routines - these are deeply satisfying rituals that give your brain the same dopamine hit as scrolling but actually build toward your dreams (for me it's making fancy coffee while listening to a specific playlist, then writing for 45 minutes)

practice "productive procrastination" - if you absolutely must avoid your main task, have a secondary important task ready (like if i don't want to write, i'll organize my study materials instead)

implement the "touch it once" rule - when you pick up your phone, have a specific purpose and do ONLY that thing, then put it down

the hardest truth i've had to accept is that there's no magic hack that makes this easy. creating a life that's more interesting than your phone requires actually building that life brick by brick, day by day. and the beginning is SO HARD because your brain is literally withdrawing from its favorite drug.

but i promise you something magical happens after about two weeks - you start to feel… different?? more present? more alive? and you realize that all along, the life you were searching for in your phone was waiting for you to look up.

your dream life is waiting for you to stop watching other people live theirs and start building your own. it's jealous of your phone, yes, but it's also patient. it knows that eventually, you'll come home to yourself.

xoxo, mindy 🤍

p.s. if you catch yourself scrolling after reading this, please don't feel bad!! just gently put your phone down, take a deep breath, and remember that you're breaking a literal addiction. be kind to yourself through the process, okay? tiny steps in the right direction are still steps. 💗

[cat-cosplay]

It's dangerous to go alone.

Take this.

[dreadlord-mr-son]

Hey.

I'm not going to tell you "stop doomscrolling" or "get off the site until everything is over".

I'm just going to make your dash just a little bit nicer with some pretty photos I found on a free stock photo site.

ETA:

Flowers: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-lavender-flower-field-under-pink-sky-1166209/ Kitten: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-and-grey-kitten-on-brown-and-black-leopard-print-textile-45201/ Water: https://www.pexels.com/photo/body-of-water-between-green-leaf-trees-709552/

[cipheramnesia]

Living under hypercapitalism is hilarious because it's like some guy stomped out of physics class because he insisted infinite acceleration is always possible for everything and he was like "I'll show you, I'll make my own math and prove everything can always get larger faster FOREVER!" Then like a week later he smugly shows the physics prof his economics excel chart and he's like "You forgot one key factor! I found a way to create infinitely increasing growth using a resource you didn't account for and which never runs out! Human labor!" And then he goes off and is put in charge by people who also hated the dumb physics professor who wasn't even talking about like finances or anything. But then it turned out line still doesn't go up forever so the same guy comes back and is like don't worry I have a solution for this problem too, and it's that you always have to remember the line does go up forever no matter what and everyone else is wrong, it's what you want that matters, so they come back and are like okay throw more babies into the line go up machine and now we're here.

[drchucktingle]

After coming down with a mysterious illness, Gary is at the end of his rope. His brain is fried and he can barely function, but after a conversation with his doctor, Gary learns the terrible truth: it’s just not healthy to stay up for ten days scrolling through social media posts on your phone.

Gary’s doctor orders him to get some sleep, but it appears this action plan is easier said than done. Now, Gary is in a bedtime standoff with Kogan, the physical manifestation of his obsessive scrolling, and the results of this conflict could be life or death.

Fortunately, these two find a positive way to work out their differences… with a hardcore gay encounter!

----

please enjoy new tingler POUNDED BY MY OBSESSIVE NEED TO ENDLESSLY SCROLL THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS BEFORE BED INSTEAD OF GETTING A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF SLEEP out now on amazon or true buckaroo tier patreon

[your-queer-dad]

Hi. You. Yes you reading this. I'm proud of you. You haven't done anything wrong. You can let go of the thing you're worried about. You can breathe and take a break. You can rest. Love you <3

[akindplace]

to anyone doomscrolling like I am: are you comfortable in the position you’re in? Remember t stretch a little (don’t hyperextend your muscles), to drink some water, to take any medication if you need to, to change positions, to make your body more comfortable. And if doomscrolling isn’t helping but you’re too tired, try watching a youtube video or rewatching a comfort movie, or take a nap if you’re exhausted. Take care of yourself 🌱❤️‍🩹

[birdhism]

✋You cut that out right now.

[artyeen]

HEY, YOU!

No doomscrolling.

Stop.

Be kind to yourself.

[deebrisbyfish]

Now, I KNOW we aren't the only folks who spend longer scrolling through streaming menus than we do actually watching stuff sometimes. It was a fairly straightforward concept for a strip, so with this one, I had a LOT of fun coming up with a little business for the scene. The bit with scritching Mewsikeen adds a bit of fun to the overall image, I think.

[alexa-santi-author]

A note from your cringe Tumblr mom:

Things are bad here in the States, and they’re going to get even worse, very fast.

Doomscrolling and reblogging the bad things you find will not make you feel better. It will make you feel worse.

Taking actual action will make you feel better. Set down your phone and go volunteer somewhere. Get involved in local politics. Show up at the animal shelter and offer to help. If you have physical or psychiatric limitations, there are online opportunities as well.

Doomscrolling and reblogging is what they want you to do so you stay mired in despair. Break the cycle and take action instead.

[cat-cosplay]

[dizzyhslightlyvoided]

Doomscrolling: when you browse through social media in a way that negatively impacts your mental health.

Moodscrolling: when you browse through social media exclusively on hashtag-Aesthetic blogs and posts.

Doodscrolling: when you browse through social media exclusively looking at men (or possibly Prinnies from the Disgaea series).

Moomscrolling: a secret fourth thing

[iesnoth]

I made the choice to go from a smartphone to a "dumbphone": one that essentially only does calls and texts.

The transition hasn't been as immediate as I thought, as I didn't realize how much I relied on my phone, from Spotify to car insurance. It'll probably take a couple weeks for me to not boot up the smart phone to access information there.

But I can't do the doom scrolling anymore. I can't lose hours of my day in mindless games and social media. I also realize this change may come with some restlessness, confusion, and withdrawal symptoms, but my hope is, at the end, I'll be better at time management and more at peace in myself.

I don't know if I'll keep this up for the foreseeable future, or just a year or so (until the social media dependency is gone), but I'm excited for the Internet to be a place I visit, not a place I live.

If you want to look into getting a dumbphone, I'd suggest the Dumbphone Finder. That's how I found mine. It allows you to pick and choose which features you want in a phone. I still wanted GPS, and I use Verizon, so ended up with a Nokia 2780.

[turns-out-its-adhd]